Max Fried, Braves set to begin a three-game series in Cincinnati Friday

The Atlanta Braves will continue their road trip Friday evening when they begin a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Atlanta began the trip with a series win in Philadelphia before suffering a blowout loss Wednesday. Atlanta enters Friday with a 44-33 record and are 3.5 games back of the New York Mets in the NL East standings. It has been a tough season overall for the Reds who are 26-49 and are in last place in the NL Central. Cincinnati did split a four-game series with the Braves during opening weekend.

Max Fried will get the start for Atlanta in the opener and will be looking to continue an excellent season so far. Fried is currently third in the National League in fWAR trailing only Carlos Rodon and Sandy Alcantara. He is coming off of a dominant performance in June where he had a 2.16 ERA and a 1.87 FIP in 33 1/3 innings. Fried struck out nine while allowing two runs over 6 2/3 innings against the Dodgers in his last start. He faced the Reds on Opening Day and allowed a season-high five runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Former Braves first round pick Mike Minor will get the call for Cincinnati in Friday’s opener. This will be Minor’s first career start against Atlanta and will be looking to turn around what has been a tough season so far. Minor was hit hard in his last outing allowing six runs, including three homers, in five innings against the Giants. He has allowed 14 hits and 10 runs over his last 11 innings.

Ronald Acuña Jr. rejoined the team in Philadelphia Thursday, but was out of the lineup for the fourth straight game due to a sore foot. Acuña fouled a ball off his foot last Saturday against the Dodgers and stayed behind in Atlanta to receive further treatment before traveling to Philadelphia Thursday. The Braves expect him to return to the lineup for Friday’s game.

Michael Harris hit his fourth home run of the season in Wednesday’s loss and is hitting .325/.347/.526 and has a 139 wRC+ over his first 118 plate appearances. He was fifth in the majors with 1.6 fWAR in June which was second on the team behind Dansby Swanson.

Friday’s game is scheduled to begin at 6:40 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, July 1, 6:40 p.m. ET

Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

TV: Bally Sports Southeast

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan