The Atlanta Braves and former Cy Young Award runner up Max Fried took the field against the Pittsburg Pirates today. The Atlanta Braves are down to forty-two players left at camp and the back-up position battles are still going strong.
Fried started off strong in the top of the first inning, getting a lead off strikeout from Jared Triolo. He finished off the inning facing the minimum fitter after a fly out and pop up.
The Braves’ offense looked like it was going to hit the ground running early. After Michael Hariss was retired, it was followed by three straight singles from Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, and Marcel Ozuna. Ozuna’s hit was not in a manner where Albies would risk scoring, so the bases were loaded with one out. Kelenic then had an RBI groundout, and Orlando Arcia had a fly out to end the inning with the Braves up by one.
Fried once again led off the inning with a leadoff strikeout. This time, Ali Sanchez was the victim. Fried then had his first walk of the game, but Sean Murphy took care of it when he threw Gilberto Celestino out trying to steal second. The inning ended with Fried producing a groundout.
The Braves offense could not get it going in the second with two groundouts and a strikeout. The top of the third is when Fried had his first hiccup. Canaan Smith-Njigba led off the inning with a solo shot to tie the game. Fried was able to produce a groundout, but then gave up two straight singles but evaded more damage with an inning ending double play.
Sean Murphy and Marcell Ozuna continued their hot springs with back-to-back singles in bottom of the third, but the offense shut down when the struggling Jarred Kelenic grounded into a double play. Interestingly both offenses had almost the exact same inning. Out, single, single, double play.
Max Fried was left in the game to start the fourth inning but gave up two straight singles and a walk to load the bases. Brooks Wilson was then brought in to replace him and promptly gave up a two run double to Billy McKinney, charging Fried with two earned runs and giving the Pirates a two-run lead. Another run was scored by the Pirates (and charged to Fried) via a sacrifice fly.
Fried looked solid in his first three innings but struggled in the fourth. It should not go without saying that in spring training games are what is in the name. These games are for training. There is no need overreact to Fried giving up four earned runs. It is entirely possible that he was working on something mechanically, or otherwise.
The same can be said for Raisel Iglesias who relieved Wilson in the following inning and gave up two earned runs on three hits. To his credit, he also had two strikeouts.
The Braves fought back in the fourth with Arcia leading off with a walk followed by Eli White hitting a double off Marco Gonzales. Yes, the Marco Gonzales that was briefly on the Braves earlier in the off-season.
After David Fletcher reached on an error scoring Arcia, and Harris reached on a hit by pitch, Albies walked which resulted in scoring White. The rally was squandered when Murphy, who has been on fire lately, hit into a double play.
After the fifth inning, in which the Pirates had a six-to-three lead, the Braves made a quite a few substitutions. Nacho Alvarez, Luke Waddell, Luis Liberato, Luke Williams, Andrew Velazquez, and Cody Milligan came in leaving only Murphy, Wall, and White still in the game. A.J. Minter also replaced Iglesias.
Minter was dominant, producing two strikeouts and a popup. Much anticipated prospect Hurston Waldrep took the mound for the seventh. He struggled in his first inning. After having the Pirates down to their last out, giving up zero base runners, the bases became loaded quickly after two walks and a single. However, he was able to get out of the jam unscathed.
The Braves’ B-Squad came to the rescue once again as they fight for roster spots. In the bottom of the seventh Andrew Velazquez singled, Luke Williams walked, and then Luis Liberato tied it up with a three-run home run.
After the come back to tie the game, Waldrep stayed in the game. He gave up a leadoff single but was able to get three straight outs to follow. All in all Waldrep had a good outing going 2.1 innings while surrendering two hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and zero runs.
Luis Liberato had the chance to double down on being the hero, coming to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two runners on, but he struck out.
The game ended in a tie six-to-six tie where Fried was hopefully working on mechanics, Waldrep looked formidable, and the Braves backup squad continues to show they are here to prove they are fighting for a roster spot.
