From tfloyd: My computer has died on me, so I need help in getting my recap posted. I’ve pasted in below my recap in hopes that one of you can get it posted for me. Feel free to put whatever title you’d like. Thanks so much!
Why is this night not like any other night? Among other reasons, for Braves fans, in a 5-0 victory over the Fish, we saw a starting pitcher pitch a complete game shutout, a feat that a Brave hurler had not accomplished since September 2022. Not only that, it was a “Maddux”, in that the starter tossed fewer than 100 pitches.
The starter in question is Mighty Max Varsity Fried, our own Pontifex Maximus. He was nearly infallible, although I suspect Max might not appreciate the comparison to the Bishop of Rome, especially during Passover. I’m a fan of the current Pope, but I doubt Papa Pancho has had many outings as strong as the one Max turned in tonight.
Fried threw 69 strikes with his 92 pitches. He struck out six and walked no one (making 18 consecutive innings in which the Braves held them scoreless while issuing no bases on balls; I’m starting to think there’s a correlation between not walking guys and successful pitching). He gave up just three singles and one batter reached on an error. But he faced only two over the minimum, thanks to two GIDPs. Most impressively he induced 16 ground ball outs that actually accounted for 18 outs thanks to the double plays.
A skeptic may point out, rightly, that Fried accomplished this feat against a lineup unworthy of the big leagues. Two of the three hits were by Arraez, the only quality hitter in the lineup. Still, Max had command of all his pitches. When he does that, he can get anyone out.
On offense Travis d’Arnaud continued to rake, with a single, double, and sac fly RBI. Adam Duvall clubbed a two run homer, and MHII added two hits. Matty O continued his Oh-fer streak, but when even David Fletcher has an RBI hit, who needs the big boppers?
Indeed, it’s pretty remarkable that this team is 16-6 when RAJ, Riley, and Olson are each OPSing under .800. Those three guys will turn it around,’and when they do, this team could break offensive records that they set just last year.
It would be immodest of me to take credit for on field accomplishments. But I can’t help but note that I have now recapped the four Tuesday games the Braves have played. The starters’ ERA in those games is 0.33, thanks to 18 innings with just one run by Reynaldo Lopez, and these nine scoreless by Fried. I’m feeling a little pressure to keep this up. I’m not sure who will take the hill next Tuesday in Seattle, but I’ll try to do my part.
Speaking of Lopez, he makes his first non-Tuesday start tonight, as the Braves go for the sweep. It’s hard to imagine him maintaining what ‘s done so far, but wouldn’t a shutout sweep be sweet against Pure Evil?
Pros:
• Fried was a man on a mission tonight; relied more heavily on his sinker, four-seamer, and changeup to great effect
• Max had some really nice sequences on some of his strikeouts (busting Arraez in with a couple of sinkers before going away with the slider, going away with breaking balls to Rivera before painting a sinker inside — beautiful stuff)
• Duvall’s HR was nice; he’s now in positive wRC+ territory
• d’Arnaud with another couple of hits; he’s now 4th on the team in fWAR despite only having 65 PA
Cons:
• Nothing! It’s always sweet to shut out the Fish
I really appreciate these pros and cons, StephenW. Keep up the good work!
Many thanks to JonathanF for getting this posted. Indeed, his contributions—the picture and the headline—are the best parts of the recap.
I’m hoping my computer can be resurrected. My phone typing and editing skills leave a lot to be desired.
Braves coming in at number 3 best run front office in baseball. That feels accurate. Rays do so much with so little, and the Dodgers, even with their continued dominance out west, still have one of the top farms in baseball. If there’s one problem with the Braves, it’s the farm.
However, AA has definitely utilized his farm, but more through the trade route. Harris, Elder, & Strider are the only homegrowns in the last 3 years that have made impacts. However, AA has traded for Murphy, Arcia, Olson, Sale, Kelenic, Bummer, Lee, Pierce, & Iglesias without a good farm.
Cardinals stinking up the joint and they just signed Sonny Gray to a 3/$75MM deal. Hmmm… Gray at 2/$50MM sounds like a perfect replacement for Morton.
If Gray’s affordable at the deadline, that would be a tremendous pickup. To your previous comments’ point, I’m sure we can round up a bucket of crap out of our farm to trade to them.
J.P. Martinez is now batting .306/.398/486 at AAA.
Re: “The Maddux” (CG shutout of 9+ innings and < 100 pitches), I was curious so did some quick Googling…
(These stats are from Wikipedia, so the best i can say is that they’re probably right. They’re also only since 1988, when accurate pitch counts started to be tracked)
Greg Maddux is indeed the leader in career Madduxes (13!)
Max Fried is the active leader (3, tied with Shelby Miller!)
The Braves lead all teams by a wide margin (25, second place is Toronto with 17)
Also the late Roy Halladay has the only extra-inning Maddux (10 IP, 99 pitches)