Atlanta Braves: Max Fried dominates without curveball, Pache’s debut
By Seth Carter
Atlanta Braves – Austin Riley and Johan Camargo
Austin Riley‘s walk in the second inning was a good sign. He battled, he fouled pitches off, and he laid off of the balls out of the zone to earn the rare walk against Aaron Nola. It’s easy to forget that Riley has only has 344 career at-bats. Some veterans have gone through slumps that lasted that long.
Johan Camargo came up next and drove one deep to right-centerfield which set up Scott Kingery‘s spectacular catch against the wall. When I say against the wall, I mean leaping into the air and slamming into the wall, then dropping to the ground.
In Riley’s next at-bat he worked a 3-0 count, then got the green light but swung at a fastball on the outside paint. Riley reached on a fielder’s choice.
Camargo worked a full count by laying off several borderline pitches until he got a changeup over the heart of the plate. He blasted it to right-centerfield for a double to score Riley.
Johan Camargo ended the night with two doubles and two RBI.
Atlanta Braves – Cristian Pache’s Makes Major League Debut
The big story heading into the game was the debut of the Braves’ top prospect Cristian Pache. He was called up on Wednesday and scheduled to start Thursday. That game was suspended due to weather and so he was forced to wait until Friday night for the big chance under the bright lights.
In his first at-bat, Aaron Nola started him off with a 93 mph fastball off the plate, low and away, which Pache took for what should have been a ball. The ump called it a strike… welcome to the majors.
He took the next two curveballs about a foot off the plate to make it 2-1 count. Nola slashed a fastball across the outside corner as Pache watched for strike two. He was sitting 2-2 and hadn’t taken a swing yet.
Nola then put the next fastball in about the same spot he got the call on the first pitch. Pache again stayed true to his instincts and laid off the pitch. This time the ump got it right. Nola moved the next fastball over a couple of inches and Pache watched strike three cut the outer edge of the zone.