Recap: Max Fried with a shaky start on the mound and in the field in blowout loss
Max Fried was not his typical dominant self on the mound Friday night, and maybe even stranger, not his typical dominant self in the field Friday night, as the Orioles run away with a 9-4 victory at Truist Park.
The game started out on a positive note as the Max Fried threw scoreless first inning on 7 pitches and the Braves jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after a Matt Olson single, a groundout moving him to second, and a Sean Murphy RBI single in the first.
But that first inning is where pretty much all the fun stopped for the home team.
The Orioles tied it up in the third after a swinging bunt from Ryan McKenna, who then moved to third on a two-base throwing error from Fried on a pick-off attempt, and then later scored on an RBI groundout.
Baltimore would take the lead on an Anthony Santander home-run in the 4th inning for his 4th of the season, but not his last of the game.
The offense for the Braves just couldn't get anything going early on. They had 5 hits between the 1st and 8th inning, and none of them for extra-base hits, highly unusual for the normally powerful offense. Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer came into the game with an ERA in the sixes and struggling with the home run ball, so the matchup seemed favorable on paper.
The score was still 2-1 when the 7th inning started and Max still on the mound, but it wouldn’t end that way. Cedric Mullins led off the inning with a home-run to make it 3-1. Then the Orioles went bunt single, walk, another Fried throwing error, walk, and a grand slam from Santander to blow the game open. They’d add one more run on consecutive hits after the homer and all totaled, scored 7 runs in the 7th inning to turn a 2-1 game into a 9-1 blowout.
And that was that.
The Braves made a little noise in the bottom of the 8th inning as Sean Murphy connected for his 9th homer on the year, a 3-run shot to make it 9-4. The Braves actually had two more guys reach base after that when Marcell Ozuna grounded into an inning-ending double play, ending the rally.
Sean Murphy cleared for pic.twitter.com/AeWvSjPqje — Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) May 6, 2023
With the loss the Braves fell to 22-11 on the season. They'll look to bounce back tomorrow night with Spencer Strider on the hill facing off against Kyle Bradish for Baltimore.
Source: Battery Power
