Fried silences Dodgers in return to Cy Young kind

LOS ANGELES — The Braves have the sport’s strongest lineup, and it seems like they may additionally enter the postseason with a Cy Young-caliber pitcher who has a contemporary arm.  

Max Fried picked the proper time to get again to being himself after a three-month layoff. The lefty silenced one of many sport’s prime lineups and helped the Braves make one other assertion with a 6-3 win over the Dodgers on Friday night time at Dodger Stadium.  

“This was big,” Fried mentioned. “I definitely feel like I’ve been going through the motions at times, and I haven’t really been as sharp and focused on making pitches and winning ballgames the way I was today. It was a jolt, and I’m going to try to use this as a springboard.”

The first two video games of this four-game sequence have gone auspiciously for the Braves, who’ve prolonged their result in six video games over the Dodgers in the battle for the National League’s finest file. They held on to win Thursday’s sequence opener and dominated Friday’s sport to the purpose MVP candidates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman had been pulled within the eighth inning.

This is after Fried had scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings. Betts and Freeman mixed to go 1-for-6 in opposition to the Braves lefty, with the one hit being a single Freeman slapped to the left facet of the infield with third baseman Austin Riley shifted towards second base.

“That’s a really good ballclub over there,” Fried mentioned. “They’ve been really good for a long time. They don’t take very many pitches or very many games off. So, you kind of have to bring your A game. We just know that we’re a really good team. We really believe in ourselves.”

It’s actually simple to be assured once you’ve constructed MLB’s prime file with a lineup that features Ronald Acuña Jr., who created the 30-60 membership on Thursday after which homered once more on Friday to strengthen his bid for what can be simply the fifth 40-homer, 40-steal season in AL/NL historical past. Marcell Ozuna additionally homered to again Fried and bolster his personal try to additionally be a part of Matt Olson, who has already surpassed the 40-homer mark.

Even Travis d’Arnaud obtained into the act, along with his second inning solo homer off Julio Urías. The veteran catcher turned the tenth Braves participant to tally a double-digit homer whole this yr. This is the primary time in franchise historical past greater than 9 gamers have reached this whole.

Acuña has strengthened his NL MVP bid by homering inside a multi-hit efficiency throughout each of the sequence’ first two video games. But this weekend’s most important improvement has come from Fried, who simply wanted time to discover a groove after lacking three months with a left forearm pressure that sidelined him in early May. 

“He looked like himself,” d’Arnaud mentioned. “I think the biggest thing for me was his thoughts were correct, versus what I saw in his last few starts. I think he was very comfortable today. I think he’s right where he needs to be.”

Fried was in whole management in opposition to an offense that averaged 6.1 runs per sport in August. He retired every of the primary eight batters confronted and didn’t permit a Dodger to succeed in second base till there have been two outs within the seventh. 

“I don’t have a lot of innings on my arm, which is really nice, but it’s really about just fine tuning and sharpening and making sure I’m the same guy that I’ve been in the past,” Fried mentioned. “I feel like today was a good step toward that.”

Fried has thrown 60 ⅔ innings this yr and simply 34 ⅔ innings since getting back from the injured listing in early August. He spent the previous few weeks trying to re-acquaint himself with the circulation of the sport. He endured one tough inning in Pittsburgh after which battled by means of some inconsistencies whereas producing first rate leads to every of his subsequent three outings.  

But it wasn’t till Friday that he was in a position to stroll away glad with how he felt and carried out.  Now, he can enter the ultimate stretch and put together for the postseason with none issues about fatigue.

“That’s big,” d’Arnaud mentioned. “To have a bonafide ace and a [2021] Game 6 World Series winner, that’s huge for any team.”