Orioles attack Max Fried early, shut out Braves, 4-0

Fresh off the IL, Jorge Mateo chipped in a three-run bomb. Austin Hays had three hits.

These days, it’s in very bad taste for the Orioles to play the “underdog card,” even against the 2021 World Champion Atlanta Braves. Especially because the ’24 Braves, as is well known, have lost huge pieces of their team: twenty-game winner Spencer Strider, plus last year’s NL MVP Ronald Acuña in late May, among others.

But still, can we admit that tonight’s starter matchup—a two-time Top 5 Cy Young finisher in Atlanta’s Max Fried versus Albert Suárez, a 34-year-old journeyman who went six years and 204 days between MLB starts—felt lopsided in the Braves’ favor, yes?

Well, if you just shut your eyes and ignore the second inning, you can stick to that conclusion. Max Fried pitched with finesse and got lots of weak contact, while Suárez pitched kind of ugly, walking three, wasting lots of pitches and allowing six fly ball outs of 300 feet or more in distance.

But why would you shut your eyes and ignore the second inning? It was . . . awesome. Fried, his command flickering for a second, walked Santander, then allowed consecutive hits to Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo, both just cleared for duty today. Hays’ was a sharp single, one of three hits on the day for the outfielder, and Jorge Mateo’s was a bomb into the Orioles’ bullpen that made it 3-0, Orioles.

The stadium was rollicking, and it felt amazing to see the Orioles offense stick it to a marquee starter. They’d tack on a fourth run in the sixth inning, and a bullpen outfit of Jacob Webb, Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez and Dillon Tate carried the baton to the finish. A convincing victory.

Let’s discuss Albert Suárez’s outing first. No discredit to Suárez, but word on the street is that the Braves’ offense is not good. Today’s results will not disprove that hypothesis. Losing Ronald Acuña is surely hard, but this doesn’t explain a collective swoon by big names like Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley. Or a team 0-for-9 with RISP.

Or how Albert Suárez could allow a leadoff triple against the game’s first hitter and still keep Atlanta off the board. Michael Harris II’s fluky three-bagger scraped the wall above a clumsily-leaping Anthony Santander (the ball had an .040 expected average—I’m all for heroics, but also for knowing your limits…). But it didn’t matter because Albies, Riley, and Olson were meekly retired on a groundout, a three-pitch K, and a pop foul.

More bad Braves hitting saved Suárez from a self-created mess in the second after he walked two with one out. Two flyball outs (one at nearly 392 feet, gulp) ended the inning.

Suárez delivered a shutdown third, despite two more deep drives.

Then he tightrope-walked through a dicey fourth. For the third time, the leadoff man reached. With the Braves’ best hitter, Marcell Ozuna, up next, this was no bueno. But surprisingly, Big Al got Ozuna to swing through a 2-2 cutter. Then, Adam Duvall’s deep fly fell just short of the fence (361 feet), and Jarred Kelenic flew out, too. It was a busy inning for centerfielder Colton Cowser.

Despite skipper Brandon Hyde’s hope to stretch out Suárez, the veteran couldn’t get the O’s out of the sixth. Hyde pulled his starter with one out, two on, and Suárez at 97 pitches, but still the scoreboard remained 3-0, Orioles. Imperfect, like I said, but effective.

Meanwhile, Max Fried had kept the top third of the Orioles lineup 0-for-8, but was still down 3-0 after Jorge Mateo’s Earl Weaver Special. Let’s pause there for a second so I can share three things that were great about this home run. One, it was huge to see Austin Hays and Jorge Mateo show no ill effects, timing-wise, after missing several games due to injury. Two, the more I see Jorge Mateo hitting breaking balls (erstwhile Kryptonite for the speedster), the more it makes me wonder about his ceiling. Three, how ‘bout that Cionel Pérez web gem in the bullpen?

Meanwhile, Austin Hays, so hopeless at the plate earlier this season, turns out to be a ninja when he’s facing Max Fried. After Ryan Mountcastle and Santander reached to start the bottom of the sixth, Hays rocketed a fastball to left at 109.9 mph. Third base coach Tony Mansolino made an aggressive call to send Mountcastle from second, but thanks to a bobble by the outfielder Kelenic, there was no close play at home. 4-0, Orioles.

That would do it for Fried, who’d give way to a dominant Braves bullpen of Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee, and Ray Kerr.

Onto the Orioles’ bullpen, too, which had a sizeable 11 outs to cover. A lockdown Jacob Webb relieved Suárez in the sixth inning. With two on, one out, he got a huge strikeout of Adam Duvall and, facing Jarred Kelenic, he dotted a 2-2 changeup on the corner. Strike Three? No, said home plate ump Chad Whitson, and an apopletic Brandon Hyde looked like he was ready to be tossed. But Webb saved his manager and the shutout with a fly ball third out.

Webb was still on the mound in a tense top of the seventh. After getting two quick outs, he let two reach. Hyde yanked Webb and brought in Yennier Cano earlier than normal. Cano went 0-2 to Austin Riley, then seemed to land a third strike on the corner. Nope, said home plate Chad Whitson again, and the crowd roared in anger. Cano went low once more, and Riley swung over it. Inning over.

Cionel Pérez had the eighth. With one out, one on, the home plate ump squeezed Pérez on another potential Strike Three call, then Pérez took a ball off the shin. Ramón Urías made a heads-up throw to second off the ricochet to get the second out, and he fielded a grounder himself for a third.

Three more outs to go. I can never not get nervous when Dillon Tate takes the mound. He’s so wild, sometimes I think even he doesn’t know where he’s aiming. Sean Murphy, the Atlanta backstop, hung tough, but swung through Tate’s sixth pitch. One down! At 3-2 to Orlando Arcia, Tate dotted a sinker on the corner of the plate. Again the home plate ump refused to call the strike. The Braves had one on with one out, and Craig Kimbrel started throwing in the ‘pen as James McCann trotted to the mound for a reassuring visit. But Michael Harris II played nice, flying out for the second out. Ozzie Albies was the Braves’ last chance, and he went down swinging on a changeup outside.

This was a lopsided starter matchup, no doubt about it, and still the Orioles came out smelling like roses. Tonight’s win was their fifth in a row, and their sixth shutout of the season, putting them a season-high 22 games above .500. This is a complete team, no doubt about it.