Max Fried, Braves look for second straight win in Pittsburgh

After grabbing a much-needed win Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves are back in action Wednesday when they continue a four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Atlanta dropped the opener 7-6 on Monday giving them their third straight loss. They entered the ninth trailing 6-5, but rallied for three runs off Pirates closer David Bednar for an 8-6 win.

The Braves are 11-11 coming out of the All-Star break, but at 71-40, still have a 10.5 game lead in the NL East heading into Wednesday’s game. The rotation has been a concern of late as Bryce Elder, Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider all failed to get past the fifth inning in any of their starts during the three-game skid. Yonny Chirinos made it through five innings Tuesday, but was far from effective allowing four homers and six runs.

Atlanta could use another good start from Max Fried Wednesday night who was dominant in his return from the injured list last Friday. Fried made his first start since May 5 and allowed three hits and struck out eight over six scoreless innings against the Cubs. He threw just 72 pitches and probably could have gone further had the Braves not built a big lead. They need Fried to provide some stability for a rotation that has taken some lumps of late.

The Pirates will go with rookie right-hander Quinn Priester who will be making his fifth career start in Wednesday’s game. Priester is one of the Pittsburgh’s top prospects, but has struggled out of the gate. He allowed three runs in four innings in his last start against the Brewers and has allowed 19 runs over the first 19 2/3 innings of his major league career.

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit the 31st leadoff home run of his career on Tuesday, but was forced to leave the game in the sixth inning after he was struck in the elbow by a 97 mph fastball from Pirates reliever Colin Holderman. X-Rays came back negative and Acuña is considered day-to-day. Acuña has started all 111 games this season, so we will have to see if that streak continues Wednesday.

Matt Olson drove in his 100th run of the season in Tuesday’s win with a bases loaded walk in the sixth. Olson’s 100 RBIs lead the majors and he has driven in at least one run in 11-straight games. Orlando Arcia finished with three hits, including a sixth inning homer and the go-ahead double in the ninth. Arcia is hitting .329/.398/.603 with five home runs in 22 games since the All-Star break.

Wednesday’s game has a scheduled start time of 7:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally sports South.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, August 9, 7:05 p.m. ET

Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

TV: Bally Sports South

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM