Braves vs Cubs final score: Max Fried leads Atlanta to 5-1

Max Fried put up a solid effort in his first major league start as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Chicago Cubs 3-1.

Atlanta gave Fried an early run to work with against Mike Montgomery. Ozzie Albies hit a one out single and then moved over to third on a hit by Freddie Freeman. Albies came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Matt Kemp to put Atlanta in front 1-0.

Chicago tied things up in the second as Ian Happ connected on a solo home run to left center to make the score 1-1.

The Braves went back in front in the fourth as Freeman led off with a double and moved up to third on a fly out by Kemp. Montgomery then issued a walk to Markakis to put runners at the corners before Dansby Swanson singled to left to score Freeman. Rio Ruiz followed with another hit scoring Markakis giving Atlanta a 3-1 lead.

Fried worked out of a jam in the fifth as Happ led off the inning with a single. Jason Heyward then bounced back to Fried who’s throw to second sailed to but was flagged down by Swanson who was able to keep his foot on the bag to register the out. Fried then struck out Rene Rivera but walked pinch hitter Jon Jay and allowed an infield hit to Ben Zobrist to load the bases. However, Fried escaped by getting Albert Almora to ground out to first to end the threat.

Fried showed a lot of poise in his first start allowing four hits and one run to go along with three walks and four strikeouts. He threw 63 pitches with 37 going for strikes.

Atlanta added a couple of insurance runs in the ninth off of Felix Pena. Markakis led off with a single and moved to third on a ground-rule double by Swanson. Ruiz followed with a two run single to increase the lead to 5-1.

Arodys Vizcaino worked a perfect ninth to secure the win.

Atlanta improves to 60-75 on the season. The Braves will return home on Monday where they will open a three-game interleague series against the Texas Rangers.