The Braves came out on the losing end of Monday’s matchup with the Seattle Mariners as Atlanta fell 2-1 courtesy of a walkoff home run from Mitch Garver. Max Fried's performance was still a bright spot for the club.
Fried backed up his complete game, three-hit outing last Tuesday by tossing 6 innings on Monday, not allowing any hits or runs, and striking out seven batters.
“He was making easy work,” Steak Shapiro said on Tuesday as he and Sandra Golden shared their thoughts on Fried’s performance and whether or not he should have had an opportunity to, once again, complete another game.
“So, my immediate thought was of course he’s coming back out because it’s a no hitter,” Golden told Shapiro of her expectations to see the left-handed pitcher return to the mound in the top of the seventh inning. “In a million years (Bobby Cox) would not have gotten him out of there."
Shapiro agreed with Golden’s take on Cox, and added that Major League Baseball, in general, does not have pitchers throwing more than 100 pitches per game. Therefore seeing Fried taken out of the game Monday was not much of a surprise to him, especially coming off of his complete game last week.
Shapiro went on to note that he believes the loss of Spencer Strider and how well the Braves have been able to play despite notable players like Matt Olsen and Ronald Acuña Jr. not batting as well as they have in the past, could also have played a role in Braves manager Brian Snitker’s decision to take Fried out.