Max Fried pitched for seven strong innings, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
Atlanta stayed tied with the Mets for the last NL wild-card spot since New York won against Cincinnati 6-4.
“All I think about is that we need to win tomorrow,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The most important thing we are going to do is play tomorrow’s game. We have to take each and every day separately and do it again the next day.”
Fried (9-8) controlled the game well, striking out eight and giving up only five hits. Toronto’s only run was unearned, coming in the third inning due to an Atlanta error.
“I think I’ve just been building off each of my last couple of outings,” Fried said. “I’ve been able to command the ball a lot better and I’ve been putting my fastballs in areas where I’m not getting beat too bad.”
This was the 25th consecutive game in which Atlanta’s pitchers allowed three runs or fewer, the longest such streak in baseball this season and the longest in Braves franchise history.
“It’s not surprising knowing the group that we have,” Fried said. “Every night, each of our starters are confident that we can go out there and win a game and go deep into the game.”
Raisel Iglesias handled the ninth inning well for his 31st save in 34 chances, extending his scoreless streak to 24 1/3 innings.
“He (Iglesias) is about as good as I’ve been around,” Snitker said. “In my tenure here, we’ve had some really good, Hall-of-Fame quality closers, and he’s right there with all of those guys what he is doing right now.”
The Braves took a 3-0 lead in the second inning and maintained it. Jarred Kelenic, Gio Urshela, and Michael Harris II each had RBI singles.
