Max Fried turned in his best start of the season Thursday night at Truist Park, striking out eight over six innings of one-run ball to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
The left-hander scattered six hits and walked one, retiring 13 of the final 14 batters he faced after giving up a solo home run to Willson Contreras in the second inning. Fried (8-4) lowered his ERA to 3.18 and has now allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his last nine starts.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “That’s the Max we need, especially with everything that’s happened over the last couple of weeks.”
The Braves’ offense was paced by Ozzie Albies, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Matt Olson added a two-run single in the seventh that gave Atlanta some breathing room, and Michael Harris II doubled twice.
Atlanta built a 4-1 lead through five innings and added an insurance run in the seventh on a Marcell Ozuna sacrifice fly.
The bullpen held the line from there. Pierce Johnson struck out the side in the 7th, and Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias closed out the final two innings without allowing a baserunner.
The win evens the three-game series at one game apiece heading into Friday’s finale. The Braves improved to 48-42 on the season and remained 1.5 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East.
Friday’s series finale is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at Truist Park. RHP Spencer Strider (6-5, 3.42 ERA) gets the start for Atlanta against RHP Andre Pallante (4-6, 4.85) for St. Louis.