Fried goes the distance as Braves chop down Cubs |
CHICAGO - The last time Max Fried and Justin Steele faced off against each other at Wrigley Field was last July in the first game after the all-star break. In that game, the Atlanta Braves (28-18) left-hander dominated the Cubs for seven shutout innings and 12 strikeouts, while Steele surrendered five homers in five innings and seven earned runs.
This time, it was more deja vu for the Chicago Cubs (27-23) against Fried as he was dialed in from the start. Not only did he take a perfect game into the fifth, but he managed to toss a rare complete game, allowing two runs (1ER) and nine strikeouts. Had it not been for another Jose Cuas meltdown in the seventh, this could've come down to the wire, but the Braves stood tall 9-2 for the victory. Steele's final line doesn't look great as he was charged with five earned runs in 6 1/3, but some of that wasn't his fault, as Cuas was the one that allowed two of those earned runs to score. For the most part, Steele was just as effective as Fried, holding the Braves to two runs through six innings with five strikeouts. Both runs came on one swing of the bat as the Adam Duvall homer in the third put the Braves in front for good 2-0. Those were the game's only runs until the sixth, as Steele recovered nicely to allow just one more baserunner until the sixth, when he went pitch for pitch with Fried throughout. In the sixth, you could see the Braves starting to put together better at-bats as they suddenly had something going against the left-hander. A two-out walk to Marcell Ozuna started the rally with a Matt Olson single following. Steele managed to get out of that inning without damage as he kept the Cubs in the game. “Overall, I thought he pitched well,” Counsell said after the game. “Again, the line score I don’t think looks the way it should look. But he did well. He was out there for the seventh inning, which means you’re having a good start. “The seventh inning got away from us a little bit.” It took six innings for the Cubs to have a baserunner as the leadoff Ian Happ double not only broke up the perfect game, but also ended the no-hitter simultaneously. Two batters later, this was a 2-1 game as Miguel Amaya delivered an RBI groundout. That was as close as things would get as the Braves offense was about to erupt for seven unaswered runs, with five coming in the seventh. As if a leadoff double from Orlando Arcia wasn't bad enough, try hitting a batter two hitters later before another Zack Short hit put the Braves in front 3-1. That was the end of the road for Steele, who was replaced by Cuas. Despite his struggles throughout the season, Cuas has looked better in his last two outings, but as you have seen many times this season, all good things come to an end. They quickly ended for Cuas, who walked Ronald Acuna Jr as the first hitter he saw before the Ozzie Albies sacrifice fly made things 4-1. He was then lit up for back-to-back homers by Ozuna and Olson, and suddenly, it was the Braves breaking things open and leading 8-1. Atlanta would tack on another run off of Cuas in the eight as a once close 2-1 game was now a 9-1 blowout for the Braves. With his low pitch count, Fried trotted back out for the eighth, looking to keep his one-hitter intact. Back-to-back singles from Dansby Swanson and Happ ensured that didn't happen, as the Cubs were threatening with one out. This was only the second time that Fried faced significant trouble, and after striking out Nick Madrigal, a wild pitch allowed Swanson to score as the Cubs pulled within 9-2. The big story of the night came in the top half of the ninth inning when right-hander Porter Hodge was called on to make his MLB debut. A top-25 prospect in the Cubs system, Hodge was a former starter turned reliever and is known for having a big arm. While his stuff plays to be a great pitcher, his command issues have led to some less-than-appealing results, which made this call-up a little surprising when it happened. You would never have guessed that Hodge was having command issues in the minors as he struck out the side in the ninth and did so on 10 pitches for a near-immaculate inning. Porter Hodge strikes out the side in his MLB debut! pic.twitter.com/NAaJ7pclEW He became the first Cubs reliever since Todd Wellemeyer in 2003 to strike out all three batters faced in an MLB debut. The Cubs also had another MLB debut at the bottom of the ninth, with Luis Vazquez taking his first plate appearance, only to become the final strikeout of the night for Fried. Believe it or not, the Cubs have a shot to win this series on Thursday, and should they do that, they will earn a season split with the Braves. With Kyle Hendricks bounced from the rotation, it has been announced that Ben Brown will take the ball against a starter TBD.
