Austin Riley, Max Fried lead Braves over Pirates
Austin Riley #AustinRiley
Austin Riley continued his hot streak while Max Fried was again in complete control as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-1 Sunday afternoon at Truist Park.
The Braves spotted the Pirates a run in the first. Adam Frazier singled but was gunned down at second by Fried on a bunt attempt by Kevin Newman. However, Bryan Reynolds followed with a double into the left field corner that scored Newman all the way from first to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
That lead wouldn’t last long. JT Brubaker retired Ronald Acuña Jr. and Freddie Freeman but then allowed back-to-back singles to Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies. That would bring Riley to the plate, who jumped on an 0-1 slider and drove it out to left center for a three-run home run.
Riley and the Braves struck again in the third. Brubaker again retired the first two hitters of the inning but then hit Albies in the foot to bring Riley to the plate. This time it was an 0-1 fastball that Riley squared up and drove off the top of the wall in right center for his second homer of the day to extend the lead to 5-1.
Atlanta tacked on two more runs against Brubaker in the sixth. Albies got things started again with a lead off single. He would come around to score on a two-run home run by Dansby Swanson to push the lead to 7-1. Swanson has now hit in five straight games and has 10 hits in his last 19 at-bats including three homers.
That would end Brubaker’s day. He left having allowed seven hits and seven runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk anyone, but three of those seven hits left the ballpark.
Fried settled in nicely after allowing that run in the first. He sat down 10 in a row at one point and allowed just four hits and one run over seven innings. He walked three and struck out two. After allowing 14 earned runs over his first three starts, Fried has allowed a total of four runs in four starts since returning from the injured list and has lowered his ERA from 8.44 to 4.63.
Chris Martin worked a scoreless eighth and Edgar Santana closed things out in the ninth.
With the win, Atlanta improves to 23-24 on the season and extends their winning streak to three straight. They finish their seven-game homestand with a 4-3 record and will enjoy an off day Monday before hitting the road for a five game trip that will take them to Boston and New York.