Fried throws a Maddux, Rogers runs into bad luck

[Nate Karzmer]

Although he came into the game with a career 4.59 ERA against the Marlins, Max Fried had arguably the best start of his career en route to a 5-0 Braves win.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Max Fried is very familiar with the Miami Marlins. The 30-year-old, who has been at the top of the Braves rotation for a couple years now, went into Tuesday night's game having faced the Marlins 13 times in his career, with the majority of those starts not ending in his favor, sporting a 4.59 ERA against his divisional rival. Fried had just seen this Marlins team two weeks ago at loanDepot park and enjoyed a good outing against them, but he had an 11.70 ERA in his other starts this season. Tuesday looked like a good opportunity for Miami to end their 11-inning scoreless streak.

Instead, Fried doubled down.

The veteran lefty twirled a gem, throwing a Maddux, a complete game shutout with under 100 pitches. It was the third of his career. His final line was a staggering 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 0 HR on 92 pitches. Two of the three hits Fried allowed were instantly wiped off as he rolled two double play balls immediately after. The Marlins have hit more grounders than any other MLB team and that played right into his hands throughout the game.

Tuesday night's performance was undoubtedly the best start of Fried's career against the Marlins, as he lowered his career ERA against them to 4.03.

Trevor Rogers took the ball for Miami. If you did not watch the game and simply looked at his line, it would appear as if the Braves did what the Braves usually do.

However, Rogers was much more impressive, as poor defense and bloop hits were the keys to Atlanta's offense getting runs on the board.

In the bottom of the second inning, Marlins 3B Otto Lopez made an error on an Adam Duvall ground ball. Against a team like the Braves, they will almost certainly make you pay for free baserunners, and it did not take them long to do just that. Michael Harris II smoked a double and David Fletcher hit a sacrifice fly to get Atlanta on the board early, 2-0. Rogers cruised from innings three to five, but ran into more trouble in the sixth.

Marcell Ozuna ripped a 102.7 mph grounder by Luis Arraez that was not scored as an error, but a ball that Arraez could have made a play on. The Braves made the Marlins pay for it again, throwing up three runs in the frame, highlighted by an Adam Duvall blast that broke the game open.

Anthony Bender and Declan Cronin gave up no runs out of the Marlins bullpen, but as mentioned earlier, Fried was too much for Marlins hitters to handle, clinching the Braves a series victory after getting Bryan De La Cruz to ground out to end the contest. Dating back to 2022, the Marlins have lost 12 of their last 13 games at Truist Park.

Miami looks to salvage one game out of this series on Wednesday night. Sixto Sánchez will make his first start since the 2020 NLDS against these same Braves. Standing in the struggling Marlins offense's way is Reynaldo López, sporting a 0.50 ERA thus far in 2024.

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