Fried sharp, Braves blank Brewers to tie series at 1
MILWAUKEE — Max Fried pitched six sharp innings and Atlanta’s bullpen held on after manager Brian Snitker’s quick hook, sending the Braves over the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 Saturday to tie their NL Division Series at a game apiece.
The Brewers brought the tying run to the plate in each of the last three innings but couldn’t get a key hit.
Austin Riley homered and Ozzie Albies hit an RBI double for the Braves, who bounced back after losing 2-1 in Game 1.
The best-of-five series heads to Atlanta for Game 3 on Monday.
Fried struck out nine, allowed three hits and didn’t walk anybody. The Brewers didn’t get a runner in scoring position until Willy Adames hit a two-out double in the sixth, and Fried responded by striking out Eduardo Escobar.
The left-hander went 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his last 11 regular-season starts. Counting Saturday’s performance, Fried has allowed just one earned run over 29 innings in his last four starts.
This was the second straight exceptional outing by a Braves starter in a series that has been dominated by pitching.
Atlanta’s Charlie Morton held Milwaukee scoreless through six innings Friday, but allowed a two-run homer to Rowdy Tellez in the seventh inning on his 85th and final pitch.
Snitker made sure Fried didn’t get quite that far. Fried had thrown 81 pitches when he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh.
The move nearly gave Atlanta two extra runs. After pinch-hitter Joc Pederson singled, Jorge Soler hit a deep drive that left fielder Christian Yelich caught in front of the wall.
Then the Brewers made things interesting against Atlanta’s bullpen.
After reliever Luke Jackson struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh, Luis Urias singled and Lorenzo Cain walked to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Tyler Matzek replaced Jackson and got out of the jam by striking out pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor.
Jace Peterson walked and Kolten Wong singled to start the bottom of the eighth, but Matzek worked out of it by retiring Adames, Escobar and Avisail Garcia in order.