In hindsight, the awaited return of Max Fried apparently needed a little more awaiting.
It was all set up neatly for Fried, making his first appearance since the All-Star break after a case of left forearm neuritis. In the Miami Marlins, the Braves’ star lefty was matched up with a team drained of talent at the trade deadline. Further, it was a team that he has recently owned. And, for good measure, the Marlins had won just seven of 37 games against left-handed starting pitchers this season before Sunday’s meeting at Truist Park.
But those advantages were no match for Fried’s rust and lack of command and his teammates’ empty showing at the plate against a starter (Edward Cabrera) who came into the game with a 6.65 ERA.
Under a baking sun and in front of a supportive if presumably dehydrated Truist crowd, Fried was not able to make it to the end of the fourth inning before manager Brian Snitker came for him in what turned out to be a 7-0 defeat to the Marlins.
“I was off,” Fried said. “Not in rhythm at all.”
Fried made his return to the mound after his visit to the 15-day injury list to address the discomfort he felt while warming up for his one-inning All-Star appearance July 16. He had last made a start for the Braves July 11, 3½ weeks ago.
After throwing side sessions, he deemed himself ready for major-league competition without the help of a rehab assignment at Triple-A Gwinnett.
Given his experience and maturity, it seemed a safe bet. But it came up empty for Fried, Snitker and the Braves.
His five walks tied his career high.
“Just out of rhythm, just not able to make that adjustment when I needed to,” Fried said.
He had his moments. He struck out six and had the Marlins flailing at his looping curveball. The four hits he gave up were all singles. He helped himself in the second inning by foiling a sacrifice-bunt attempt and getting a force out at third. Aided by a mound visit from catcher Sean Murphy, he got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the third with back-to-back strikeouts.
“I don’t say anything lifechanging out there,” Murphy said. “I just tell him what he knows and let him catch his breath for a second.”
And, perhaps most importantly for a pitcher coming back from a nerve injury to his pitching arm, Fried said he felt good.
But he wasn’t himself, particularly compared to his All-Star form this season. He left the game with one out in the top of the fourth down 3-0 with two runners on base. By the time the half-inning was over, it was 6-0.
“I didn’t give us a chance to win,” Fried said. “I put us in a big hole.”
Said Snitker, “Just nothing more than rust, I think.”
It did raise the question of why Snitker didn’t send Fried to Gwinnett for one start, have A.J. Smith-Shawver take on the Marlins and then bring Fried back in five or six days. Snitker’s answer was a little puzzling.
“He probably would have (benefited from a rehab start), but I’d rather have him making this start and being able to make the next one instead of two from now,” he said. “He makes a rehab start and now you’re 10 days away again. I just think it’s good that we could get him back out there sooner than later.”
Either way, the whole team can wear this one, not just Fried. Had the Braves done any kind of damage against Cabrera, they could have managed Fried’s rust. But they were complicit in handing Cabrera his first scoreless outing of the season (five innings, no runs, three hits allowed). After scoring nine runs in the first two games of the series to run their winning streak to four games, the Braves petered out with three runs in losing the back two, going 13-for-62 (.210) with one home run.
The Braves were shut out at Truist in the regular season for the first time since August 2021, ending a streak of 231 consecutive home games with at least one run scored.
And so it goes for the Braves, who this season don’t turn corners so much as they endlessly circle roundabouts. This weekend, they had an opportunity to put additional pressure on the faltering Phillies by taking care of business against a Marlins team that on Sunday started a lineup that lacked a single player with one major-league season of 500 at-bats.
But with an entirely unsatisfying series split with the Marlins, they go into a day off Monday not having won back-to-back series since winning three in a row in mid-June (Tampa Bay, Detroit, New York Yankees). They ended the day six games back of Philadelphia in the National League East, the Phillies having won in Seattle to end a six-game losing streak.
“Every time you get a foothold or something in this game, you get smacked in the mouth and you’re right back having to get back going again,” Snitker said. “So that’s what we’ll do.”
They’ll try to get going again against the Brewers starting Tuesday at Truist. The next time Fried pitches, he’ll surely be less rusty. The Braves are more whole than they were before his return.
But there was little to like about what took place Sunday.
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