It’s Max Fried Day as Braves go for series win against Pirates

Following a win that saw Atlanta’s pitching staff make two runs stand up for a victory, the Braves are looking to keep the good times on the mound going as Max Fried will be getting the start against the Pittsburgh Pirates this evening.

The Pirates aren’t sending a huge slouch to the mound either, as JT Brubaker will be getting the start for Pittsburgh tonight. While his ERA (4.19) and FIP (3.67) may indicate that the Braves may end up having a feast of runs at this guy’s expense tonight, Brubaker has shown multiple times this season that he can go deep into games while quieting the other team’s lineup. Brubaker made it through seven innings against the Braves back on June 9, as three runs through the first three innings didn’t deter Pittsburgh’s 28-year-old hurler from going another four innings without giving up any more damage.

JT Brubaker will also be coming into this game on a high note, as he struck out seven Red Sox batters over seven shutout innings in his last outing. He managed to do this with a blister on his pitching hand, which sounds utterly unpleasant to think about but apparently he was out there thriving. While Brubaker has been having a perfectly fine season, this could still be an opportunity for the Braves to break out after having a relatively quiet night at the plate last night. Brubaker is a solid pitcher but it doesn’t seem like he’s a world-beater, either.

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Meanwhile, Max Fried will probably be happy to see someone other than the Mets. He’ll probably be excited to see the Pirates as well, as he’ll be looking to build on the six innings, eight strikeouts and one run allowed that he picked up during his last start against Pittsburgh. What’s interesting about that game is that the Pirates racked up eight hits in that game and constantly had traffic on the basepaths. Despite that, the only run for Pittsburgh came from a home run by Jack Suwinski. Fortunately, Fried won’t have to deal with Suwinski since he’s currently in Triple-A but I don’t think that Max should have any serious problems against a team that currently sports the National League’s worst Team wRC+ at 82.

Baseball is a strange game but this is one of those games where it really seems like it’s a matter of one team taking care of business. The Braves are playing some pretty good baseball right now and they managed to win last night despite being unable to get any sort of extended offense going. If Max Fried can keep the good times rolling for this pitching staff and Atlanta’s lineup can return to form then this could be a pretty good night for the Braves. Once again, baseball is a strange game where anything can happen but if we’re being honest, this is a game Atlanta should be on top of.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, August 23, 7:05 p.m. ET

Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

TV: Bally Sports South

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan