Fried Handles Braves in 1st Start Against Former Team

Max Fried’s latest masterpiece at Yankee Stadium last Friday evening against his old team was a vivid reminder of why the Yankees made a long-term commitment to the veteran lefty in December 2024 — and why Braves Nation is still yearning for the days of him headlining the club’s pitching staff.

On Aug. 7, the Braves rode an eight-game winning streak into the South Bronx but were silenced in their first-ever showdown against their one-time ace as Fried, the premier Jewish ballplayer of the 2020s, was once again spectacular, tossing 6¹/₃ shutout innings. In only his fourth start since returning from the injured list (IL), Fried limited a likely postseason-bound Braves team, one still featuring his old friends Ronald Acuña, Jr., Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Michael Harris II, Matt Olson, to three hits while fanning seven. Just like during the good old days at Truist Park, Fried was not overpowering, but nevertheless kept inducing weak contact, only walked a pair, and hung around until the seventh with a relatively low pitch count (90).

After the stars didn’t align for Fried to face Atlanta when the Yanks were in town last July, the timing worked out this year for him to pitch against the franchise he brilliantly represented for eight years.

“This one’s been circled on the calendar for a little bit,” Fried admitted minutes after the Yanks took the series opener with a 3-2, 10-inning, comeback win/killer loss for the Braves. “Definitely brought up a lot of emotions and just really was able to think about my time over there. That’s a first-class organization.”

After waiting nearly a year for this emotionally-charged outing upon the release of the 2026 schedule, Fried had to wait out a nearly two-hour rain delay to toe the rubber against Atlanta. Fried, the winning pitcher of the 2021 World Series Game 6 clincher and the starter for many other high-octane October games, knows about pitching on the big stage. But Friday night’s matchup vs. Atlanta — while not a World Series game it was still a contest brimming with postseason implications — just felt different than other regular season games.

“A lot of emotions going on. A lot of sitting around, too, with the delay. A lot of anticipation,” added Fried in his postgame comments. “I was finally able to just get in the flow of the game and was about making pitches, executing pitches, and getting through it. After I got the quick inning — I think it was in the third, the double play [Albies hit into an inning-ending twin-killing] — I just felt like I was really able to settle in.”

Indeed, Fried appeared to be unsettled in the opening frame. After the Braves put runners on first and second following a Drake Baldwin line drive single and Albies walk, Mauricio Dubon slapped a ground ball up the middle that trickled into the Yankee Stadium outfield. While Albies was gunned down trying to advance to third for the final out of the inning, it was initially ruled that Baldwin crossed the plate first to give Atlanta an early 1-0 cushion. But replays instantaneously flashed irrefutable evidence that Baldwin didn’t scrape home plate in time and Fried and the Yanks got out of the inning unscathed.

“My first innings haven’t been very good,” Fried said, “so to be able to rely on the defense and just a bang-bang play, something that went my way, it was huge.”

In the second, Fried worked around a one-out walk to Riley to punch out his one-time battery mate, Sean Murphy, before retiring Ha-Seong Kim on a pop-out. From there, the slender southpaw, who’s closing in on 100 career wins, was on cruise control, not allowing a single Brave to get into scoring position while setting down the final 12 batters he faced.

A lot of emotions going on. A lot of sitting around, too, with the delay. A lot of anticipation. I was finally able to just get in the flow of the game and was about making pitches, executing pitches, and getting through it. After I got the quick inning — I think it was in the third, the double play [Albies hit into an inning-ending twin-killing] — I just felt like I was really able to settle in.

After Fried underwent a two-month layoff stemming from an elbow injury, the Yankees, with their sights set firmly on October baseball, have been treading carefully in getting him back to form. Though Fried has sported a 1.83 ERA while limiting opponents to a .169 average since coming off the IL, New York manager Aaron Boone limited Fried to 57, 66, and 78 pitches in his first three starts after the IL stint. At muggy Yankee Stadium Friday evening, Boone rolled the dice to send Fried out for the seventh and was promptly rewarded when the three-time All-Star whiffed Olson for the inning’s first out. After Fried’s 90th pitch of the inning resulted in an Olson strikeout, Boone popped out of the dugout. Fried’s first start against Atlanta was in the books and for the erstwhile Braves ace, it could not have gone any better. He flashed his seven-pitch arsenal, including a rare changeup to Olson for a swing and miss, and most importantly, kept the ball in the yard, as he’s done all season.

“Still on a pitch count, and he’s able to get an out into the seventh,” Boone said of Fried. “He was terrific.”

As the season enters the final quarter, Fried doesn’t project to be on a strict pitch count much longer. The Yankees are squarely in the mix for the American League East crown and, given their recent stretch of offensive woes, promise to lean heavily on Fried and their other talented frontline starters as the weather cools.

Meanwhile, for the Braves, this past Friday may not be the last they see of Fried this season as a rematch of the 1999 World Series certainly looms as one potential Fall Classic matchup.