Max Fried threw a complete game shutout to dominate the Baltimore Orioles to give the Atlanta Braves a 3-0 victory!
What a performance Max Fried. The Atlanta Braves lefty threw a complete game shutout and only needed 90 pitches to accomplish this feat.
The night belongs to Fried. He accomplished something for the Braves that had not been done since Greg Maddux!
Max Fried's shutout on 90 pitches is the 1st Braves shutout on 90 pitches or fewer since...
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 21, 2021
Greg Maddux himself, on Sept 13, 2000. 89 pitches
It was his SECOND straight start with a SHO on exactly 89 pitches!!
The offense gave him support early. The Braves would give Fried a 2-0 thanks to a Travis d’Arnaud home run that would also score Dansby Swanson.
Of course, d’Arnaud was already in the news earlier today as it was announced that he signed an extension to remain with the Braves!
The Atlanta #Braves today signed Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year contract: pic.twitter.com/Ob1YRzdE0c
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 20, 2021
Extending the veteran backstop will be great for the Braves lineup next year and could also benefit both WIlliam Contreras and Shea Langeliers development. It appears d’Arnaud agreed as he immediately repaid the team with a home run off Orioles pitcher Keegan Akin.
They added their third and final run thanks to Jorge Soler with a third-inning home run. The 3-0 lead would prove to be enough to give the Braves the win.
As mentioned, this night belongs to Max Fried. He only allowed four total base runners throughout the game. A brilliant performance from the young Ace.
Fried struggled earlier this year, and it appears that injury that sidelined him at the start of the season was the reason for the horrendous start. After this start, Fried has dropped his ERA down to a 3.49.
Fried’s first three starts saw him with an 11.45 ERA and a trip to the IL. Since he returned on May 5th, he has a 2.67 ERA, 3.12 FIP, and 3.57 xFIP. Once he got back to being Max Fried, he started pitching well.
This is because Max Fried is a really good pitcher.
Thankfully we got A+ Fried tonight to get the win and bring their record to 66-56. It was not that long ago that we were wondering if the Braves would ever get over .500, and now they find themselves ten games above .500 and a four-game division lead.
The Braves look to keep their momentum going with Drew Smyly on the mound taking on Matt Harvey! The team moves into a more difficult stretch of the schedule after the Orioles series, they need to take advantage and win these games against a lowly opponent. The win counts the same as it would against any other team, take advantage.
Hopefully, we are talking about an even bigger division lead come next week.