*Photo from Sportsnet*
Series tied 1-1
The Atlanta Braves have one of baseball's best infields, with so much talent and youth, except for maybe Freddie Freeman, who is on the older side of things. Freeman hit an RBI single, Austin Riley homered, and the Braves defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The win for the Braves evens the best of 5 NLDS series at 1-1 as the series shifts to Truist Park in Atlanta for game 3, and now definitely a game 4. Whether it comes back to Milwaukee for a game 5 remains to be seen, but the Braves are making it seem that way, as they turned a corner in this victory.
Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies talked about his RBI double, saying that "He threw me back-to-back changeups. He threw one that was in the strike zone, and I fouled it off. I said, 'He's probably going back with offspeed right here.' I was kind of sitting offspeed. I know it was a ball, but I'm a small guy. I hit low balls a lot. So I put a good swing on it and good things happened."
The Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 3rd, when Jorge Soler scored on Freeman's RBI single, and Freeman came around to score on an RBI double from the second baseman Albies. It remained 2-0 until the 6th inning, when Riley launched a colossal solo home run to deep center field, putting the Braves ahead 3-0, and that lead would stick.
Max Fried put on a show for the Braves, allowing just 3 baserunners, walking nobody and recording 9 punchouts in 6 shutout innings, improving to 1-0 this postseason. Luke Jackson got the first two outs of the 7th inning, followed by 1 1/3 innings for Tyler Matzek, and a scoreless 9th inning from closer Will Smith, recording his first save of the playoffs.
Fried said of his strong start postgame that "I felt like I was able to use all my pitches today. Travis D'Arnaud was someone I was really leaning on, and just being able to talk back and forth in the dugout. It's a really good team over there, so we just wanted to try to stay on top and keep them off balance."
On the Brewers side, Brandon Woodruff was tagged with the loss, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and one walk, striking out 7 hitters across 6 innings pitched in his first start of the playoffs. If there's a positive, the bullpen combination of Hunter Strickland, Aaron Ashby, and Brad Boxberger held the mighty Braves offense scoreless for the rest of the game.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of Fried's start that "There's no free pitches for the hitters. He doesn't leave stuff in the middle. The slider's a really good pitch to the right-handed hitters, kind of bears in on their hands, and he pairs that with a fastball on their hands. He's just a really good pitcher, executing a lot of pitches. It spells a tough night for the offense."
Game 3 is in Atlanta on Monday, with the Braves looking to jump to a 2-1 series lead as they send youngster Ian Anderson to the mound. The Brewers have not yet announced a starter.
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