Braves blast Phillies, reduce magic number to one
ATLANTA — With the Braves closing in on a division title, Max Fried wanted to pick up where Charlie Morton left off the night before.
“I think it just kind of alleviated any kind of stress or anxiety coming into it, just knowing that he went out there and laid everything on the line and had such a good start,” Fried said. “I just wanted to follow that up.”
Fried pitched seven strong innings, Austin Riley drove in three runs, and Atlanta beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Wednesday night to move within one victory of a fourth consecutive NL East title.
The Braves have won nine of 11 and reduced their magic number to one. Philadelphia, which dropped 41/2 games back in the standings with its third consecutive loss, can be eliminated from postseason contention with one loss or one Atlanta win. The teams conclude their series today; each has three games left after that.
Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 starts, and the Braves are 10-1 in those games. The lefty allowed two runs — one earned — and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
Morton threw seven scoreless innings to beat the Phillies on Tuesday.
“It’s been huge,” Atlanta Manager Brian Snitker said. “Charlie last night, and Max coming off a nine-inning complete game. Honestly, he was probably spent after the sixth and he went out in the seventh and had a 1-2-3 inning. It just shows the pitch ability of this kid and what he can do. They’re both battle tested as they continue to do now. That’s pretty good to have two guys like that you can lean on.”
BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 0 The Cardinals’ team-record 17-game winning streak ended when Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run home run backed Adrian Houser and led Milwaukee over St. Louis.
MARLINS 3, METS 2 Miguel Rojas’ tworun single capped a three-run rally in the eighth inning, spoiling Taijuan Walker’s longest start in more than four years and sending Miami past New York.
CUBS 3, PIRATES 2 Willson Contreras drove in all of Chicago’s runs as the Cubs beat Pittsburgh to to end a seven-game losing streak. ROCKIES 10, NATIONALS 5 Trevor Story had four hits in possibly his final appearance at Coors Field with Colorado, which beat Washington.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RAYS 7, ASTROS 0 Drew Rasmussen and three relievers combined for a three-hitter, Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi both homered and Tampa Bay coasted past Houston, giving the Rays the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs. BLUE JAYS 6, YANKEES 5 Bo Bichette homered twice, including a tiebreaking drive off
Clay Holmes in the eighth inning that lifted Toronto over the Yankees, tightened the AL wild card race and ended New York’s seven-game winning streak.
RED SOX 6, ORIOLES 0 J.D. Martinez homered and drove in three runs to back a dominant pitching performance by Nathan Eovaldi, and Boston beat Baltimore to break a four-game skid and bolster its playoff hopes.
TWINS 5, TIGERS 2 Jorge Polanco launched a three-run home run and Michael Pineda was solid in his last start of the year as Minnesota beat Detroit.
ROYALS 10, INDIANS 5 Salvador Perez tied a Royals record with his 48th home run of the season before leaving with a sprained right ankle, and Kansas City went on to beat Cleveland. ANGELS 7, RANGERS 2 Shohei Ohtani sparked a four-run sixth-inning rally, and Los Angeles beat Texas to send the Rangers to their first 100-loss season since 1973.
INTERLEAGUE WHITE SOX 6, REDS 1 Carlos Rodon pitched five scoreless innings in a closely watched start ahead of the playoffs, and Chicago beat Cincinnati.