Max Fried gave fans an encouraging performance in his return to the Atlanta Braves rotation on Wednesday night.
Fried allowed four hits and one earned run while striking out six in his five innings of work in a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals.
The left-hander spent a few weeks on the IL after injuring his right hamstring on April 13. And it appeared that the time off may have been good for Fried's game as well.
92.9 The Game's Braves reporter Joe Patrick joined the Midday Show to discuss if there was anything specific that Fried did differently this time around.
"You could see that he was--his stuff--was so much better last night," Patrick told Andy and Randy.
"I think he was, maybe, just thinking too much, and trying to do too much out there (prior to his injury). I think it was, maybe, a blessing. You know, (manager) Brian Snitker said maybe it was a blessing in disguise; just let him sit down for a little bit, calm down, collect his head, study himself and get back on track."
The Braves ace put up an 11.45 ERA allowing 23 hits, including three home runs, in just 11 innings prior to his stint on the injury list. So, did we see Fried return to form last night?
"He certainly looked that way last night. It's just a shame he couldn't throw more pitches. He wasn't stretched out enough because he was very effective... That's so great to see. It's got to be such a boost to these players to get a guy like Max Fried, when you look at him come back in this kind of form and be like 'okay, now we're just adding an ace potentially, or something close to it, to the rotation."