Fried won his sixth straight decision by pitching six tough innings as the Atlanta Braves earned their eighth straight win, 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday night.
Adam Duvall, Dansby Swanson and Travis d’Arnaud each drove in a run for the defending World Series champions, whose winning streak is the longest since winning nine in a row last August. Atlanta has outscored opponents 55-21 during this streak.
Fried (6-2) got out of a jam in the first and third before Jack Suwinski hit his eighth homer to cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth and end a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings for the left handed.
Fried worked about eight hits, struck out eight and didn’t walk. His 44 wins since the start of 2019 are the most in the National League and second in the majors, four behind the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole.
In his last 10 starts, Fried is 6-0 with a 2.11 ERA and has pitched at least six innings every time he’s had a turn in the rotation. The Braves are 8-2 in that span.
“Just knowing that I might not have had the best things or not felt my best physically, but I know when I came out, I still had to do what I could to get outs and help us through six innings,” Fried said. “He just tries to find a way, whether it’s trusting what works that day or changing game plans. It’s a lot of communication with Travis.”
Ronald Acuña Jr. was hit by a pitch in the third, stole the second and scored when Swanson singled to right field. Swanson scored from first on d’Arnaud’s two-out double down the left-field line to make it 3-0.
Atlanta went ahead in the second when d’Arnaud walked, advanced with a single and a groundout and scored on Duvall’s single.
Will Smith faced the minimum in the seventh for the Braves, AJ Minter pitched the eighth and closer Kenley Jansen got his 16th save in 19 chances with a perfect ninth.
Pirates starter JT Brubaker (0-6) retired 12 straight batters before Michael Harris II hit a two-out single in the seventh. Brubaker allowed three runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
“I feel like I shot the ball well,” Brubaker said. “I felt good. The only thing that stands out is the hit per pitch and the four-pitch walk. He can’t defend walks. They put the ball in play and ended up crossing those two guys on free passes. Balls found holes. The balls fell right into no man’s land. D’Arnaud made a good pitch and I stuck to the same game plan.”
Fried stranded four runners in scoring position. He was helped by a slick double play converted by Swanson at shortstop to finish the fifth.
“He wasn’t as tough as some of them, but he had to work,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “A few balls hit poorly, a couple balls hit hard. He’s been in a lot of trouble, but he always seems to find a way to back out of it. Dansby turns a big double play into an inning to get him out of there.”
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