Max Fried had his worst outing ever, assisted by an egregiously bad umpiring call, but the Braves cruised to a blowout anyway thanks to the bats, the gloves, and the bullpen

In the preview for this game, I noted that Max Fried and Aaron Nola were: (1) pretty similar to one another in many respects; and, more importantly, (2) really good. So, of course, in the second game of the 2024 season, they both got the snot extracted out of them in unpleasant fashion. So it goes.

• Box Score

Pretty much any way you slice it, this was the worst start of Fried’s career. He’s had a couple of clunker outings on paper where he lasted one poor inning and left with injury, but this wasn’t that. After a bloop single and a strikeout, he pitched around Bryce Harper and then also walked J.T. Realmuto to load the bases. Up next was Alec Bohm, who at one point hit a foul that trickled towards Fried. The southpaw pounced off the mound and slid to make a play on the ball and ended up awkwardly dragging his foot in the process, prompting a visit from the trainer and a few practice pitches, but Fried stayed in the game and got Bohm to pop out to first baseman Matt Olson, who made a nice over his shoulder catch.

Up next was Nick Castellanos, and BEEP BEEP BEEP

— — —We interrupt your regularly-scheduled recap for a brief whinge about umpiring — — —

Look, it’s 2024. MLB has taken drastic actions to speed up the game, tell fielders where they can and can’t stand, and cheapen the regular season. But, while we have the technology, we still let stuff like this happen:

Was this a borderline pitch? I guess. But it wasn’t that borderline. They have some version of an automated ball-and-strike (“roboump”) system in the minors, here and there. They have some version of the challenge system in the minors, here and there. In the majors, though, we get to have swingy pitches like this screwed up just like in the days of yore, even though MLB has few issues messing with everything else.

Meanwhile, every single commercial break on MLB.tv is trying to get viewers hyped for Opening Day (it’s not Opening Day anymore, guys), and few things kill hype faster than the implicit message that the powers that be don’t care about the integrity of the game in terms of letting player talent, superior strategy, and effective execution be as decisive as they could be in a sport that already features a ton of randomness. You wouldn’t play a supremely buggy video game competitively, right? Then how is this still happening?

— — —Thank you for your patience, we now return to your regularly-scheduled recap — — — BEEP BEEP BEEP

he ended up walking on a pitch in the dirt. Bryson Stott followed with a bloop single to knock in two more after Fried missed badly with three of his five pitches in the sequence, and out came skipper Brian Snitker to lift Fried from the game. There didn’t appear to be an injury in play, so it is likely that Fried just got lifted to extricate himself from an unfortunate situation and maybe prevent a future frustration-borne injury.

In the end, it went down as pretty much a disaster for Fried, the likes of which he’s never had before. He’s never had a start cut short after getting just two outs, not even when forced out with injury. He’s never had anything nearly as bad as a 1/3 K/BB ratio (though it really should’ve been 2-2). His 40.50 ERA and 16.48 xFIP in this game might easily go down as the worst of what’s hopefully a career with many more years in store, because honestly, it’s hard to be that bad. (He’s had worse FIP starts, because he actually allowed homers in those two one-inning-and-then-left-with-injury outings.)

Meanwhile, Aaron Nola also had a disastrous outing, but in different fashion. The game started with Ronald Acuña Jr. reaching on a grounder that Bohm bumbled at third. Then, Ozzie Albies went yard for the Braves’ first dinger of the year.

Right after the whole Fried debacle and the Phillies taking a 3-2 lead, the Braves just continued to rampage. Michael Harris II drew a leadoff walk to start the second, and mvoed to third on a flare Orlando Arcia double into the left-field corner. Travis d’Arnaud then followed with a perfect donut hole of a blooper down the line to retake the lead, and Jarred Kelenic then hit yet another weak flare to score the Atlanta catcher from second. Nola caught a bit of a break when Acuña singled and got thrown out trying to stretch it into a double after Johan Rojas bobbled the ball in center, but it was only a temporary reprieve.

Olson started the third with a homer.

Later in the inning, Harris doubled, Arcia reached on an infield single, and Kelenic blooped another one for another run-scoring hit. After a 1-2-3 fourth, a Harris single chased Nola in the fourth with one out. His final line was kinda nasty due to the two homers — a 3/1 K/BB ratio and 55 percent grounder rate in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings is okay, but when you get taken deep twice, it’s a lot less sanguine.

When Nola departed, the Braves led 7-4, and they would only extend their lead from there. Three singles from Kelenic, Acuña, and Albies plated an eighth run in the sixth, and Marcell Ozuna later went deep against Seranthony Dominguez to make it a bit of a laugher.

Oh, and Harris added a solo shot for good measure in the top of the ninth.

Just one more thing to cover in this game, and it was quite a happy one. I’ll put it this way; Jesse Chavez is a straight-up mensch. Chavez came into the first after Fried left, and got a harmless flyout. He then worked 2 ²⁄₃ more innings, with the only damage against him a Realmuto homer after he fell behind 3-1. This isn’t going to be where I praise Chavez’ pitching as some kind of revelation. Instead, Chavez did what you’re supposed to when your starter gets knocked out early — threw strikes and let the defense transform balls in play into a bunch of outs. Across his 2 ²⁄₃ innings of work, he only had two three-ball counts (one of which resulted in a homer) and three other two-ball counts. It was a merciful salve that combined with some good defensive play to keep half-innings short and let the bats get back to the plate and continue to rake.

The rest of the relief procession was similar. Tyler Matzek faced six batters, allowed two hits, but didn’t walk anyone while recording for outs. Pierce Johnson did have a walk, but that was it. Dylan Lee threw two frames and had a walk and a strikeout. Raisel Iglesias completed the game with a strikeout in his inning of work. The defense, meanwhile, was snazzy — Matt Olson snagged a Harper flare and turned it into a double play in the fifth, and turned a more routine grounder from Harper into another twin killing in the seventh. The Braves hit a bunch of fortuitous flares in this game but also didn’t bungle balls hit to them for the most part, while the Phillies were not as fortunate or effective in either respect.

Money Mike made it rain 💸☔️@MoneyyyMikeee | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/w9rNz5mUMO

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 30, 2024

In the end, the Braves easily end up taking the series, with a 19-hit deluge that easily overcome any of the problems caused by Fried’s worst-ever outing. They’ll go for the sweep tomorrow as Chris Sale faces off against Ranger Suarez.