Braves Ride 'Team Pitching' To Historic Game One Win
Max Fried And Mates Hold Reds Scoreless For 13 Lucky Innings In 1-0 Classic
The Atlanta Braves used an ordinary single by an extraordinary player to take a big step toward breaking a bad postseason streak. Freddie Freeman came through in the bottom of the 13th with a line drive single to center off Reds’ reliever Amir Garrett to bring home pinch runner Christian Pache from 3rd base, ending a long day in happy fashion for the home team. Never before in MLB playoff annals had 2 teams gone scoreless through 12 innings.
In taking a 1-0 lead in games, the Braves are in position to win a postseason series for tbe first time since 2001. They’ve been bounced out in round one 10 times since then.
The game featured a classic duel between the Reds’ Trevor Bauer and Braves’ lefty Max Fried who matched zeroes through the first 7 innings. Bauer continued into the 8th inning, facing 2 more Braves before leaving the game. He dominated the Atlanta’s lineup, striking out 12, allowing only 2 hits and walking none. Fried was less dominant but quite skillful in scattering 6 hits, with no walks and 5k’s. From there, 6 different Braves continued the shutout, working out of several jams. Under Brian Snitker’s management, none from Atlanta’s bullpen worked more than one inning, which may become significant in this short series.
The game featured the likely NL Cy Young winner Bauer and along with the winning hit from Freeman, quite possibly the league MVP.
The Braves take on the Reds again today at 12:08, with Atlanta’s Ian Anderson going against the Reds’ Luis Castillo.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports