Max Fried was so good that he didn’t even need all the support Nick
Markakis and the Braves provided for his first win of the season.
Markakis hit a grand slam Authentic Durham Smythe Jersey , Fried took a shutout into the seventh inning and Atlanta beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 on Saturday night.
”You’ve
got to give all the credit to Max,” Markakis said. ”He went out and
pitched one of the better games I’ve seen. For him, two runs early on
was enough for him. It was nice to get some runs and give him a nice
cushion there.”
The Braves have won the first two games of the three-game set. The Cardinals have dropped three in a row.
Fried
(1-2) stymied the Cardinals on 101 pitches before being pulled with two
outs in the seventh. Recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to start the game,
he struck out 11, allowed four singles and walked three.
”My
curveball was definitely on tonight,” said Fried, who also recorded his
first major league hit with a single in the fifth. ”I was able to throw
it for strikes, put it in the dirt when I wanted to. The big thing for
me was getting the fastball over. I felt like I was able to get strike
one pretty good. That was my main goal.”
Luke Weaver (4-7)
went 4 2/3 innings, giving up 10 runs on eight hits, walking two and
striking out five. He gave up homers to Markakis in his final inning and
a two-run shot to Ronald Acuna Jr. in the second.
”At the
end of the day, I was just done on a couple big swings,” Weaver said.
”I thought I threw some pitches in good spots, but it’s got to be
executed a little bit better and you’ve just got to flush these types of
days.”
The Braves sent 11 players to the plate in the
six-run fifth. After Ozzie Albies doubled in Fried, the Cardinals
intentionally walked Freddie Freeman to face Markakis. The right fielder
hit his ninth homer of the season and fourth career grand slam off a
3-2 pitch.
”To be honest with you, I was just looking to
hit something into the outfield and get a run in, and I ended up one of
the better at-bats in the season,” Markakis said. ”I looked back at the
video and (the pitch) wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, but he threw it
somewhere close to the zone and I put a good swing on it.”
He added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to bring in Albies Authentic Jason Sanders Jersey , finishing with five RBI on the day.
Albies went 3 for 5 and has a 10-game hit streak, batting .467 (21 for 47) during that span.
The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the ninth off Matt Wisler, including a leadoff home run from Jose Martinez.
LONGEVITY
Cardinals
C Yadier Molina played in his 1,800th game, joining Hall of Famers Stan
Musial, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith and Enos Slaughter as Cardinals to play
in at least that many. Molina entered the majors in 2004 and has spent
his entire career with St. Louis. He ranks 12th among active players in
games played.
MOVES
To make room for Fried,
the Braves designated OF Peter Bourjos for assignment. Bourjos, in his
first year with the Braves, was batting .205 in 36 games. He also played
for St. Louis in 2014 and 2015.
TRAINING ROOM
Braves:
RHP Arodys Vizcaino (shoulder inflammation) is expected to come off the
10-day DL on Monday. The Braves closer threw a side session Saturday
and is on target for his return to the team. … C Tyler Flowers, who left
Friday’s game with a right hamstring cramp after flying out to end the
sixth inning, didn’t start Saturday. The Braves said it was part of the
regular rotation between Flowers and C Kurt Suzuki. The two have
alternated starts for the past 16 games.
Cardinals: RHP
Luke Gregerson (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to begin a
rehab stint at Triple A Memphis on Sunday. He has yet to appear with the
minor league club since going on the 10-day DL on May 16.
UP NEXT
Braves:
RHP Mike Foltynewicz (5-4, 2.14) goes for his first win in a month.
After tossing a 4-0 shutout against the Washington Nationals on June 1,
he went 0-1 in his final three starts of the month. He failed to get
past the fifth in any his final three June outings.
Cardinals:
RHP John Gant (2-2, 3.48) is coming off his best start of the season,
giving up one hit over seven innings as St. Louis beat the Cleveland
Indians 4-0 on Monday. This is his first appearance against his former
club since a 2016 trade that saw the Cardinals send starting pitcher
Jaime Garcia to the Braves in exchange for three minor leaguers,
including Gant.
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General manager Tom Telesco believes the Los Angeles Chargers are starting to make themselves at home.
Telesco
is thoroughly pleased by his team’s resilience during a tumultuous
relocation season that began with a rocky 0-4 start, but ended with the
Bolts (9-7) as one of the NFL’s best teams.
The executive
wants the Chargers to take the momentum from their 9-3 finish into an
offseason in which they can make further strides toward becoming an AFC
power.
If they do it Cordy Glenn Color Rush Jersey ,
Telesco also believes the Chargers will start to see a true home-field
advantage at their temporary stadium in Carson, where they won their
final five games.
”I think the longer we’re here, the
better we play, the better the atmosphere will be,” Telesco said
Thursday. ”I think it’s a pretty neat place to watch a football game.
But we’re the new kids on the block, and we’ve got to show what we are,
show that we’re an exciting team to watch, get in the playoffs and get
people excited, and there will be more and more Charger fans there.”
The
Chargers definitely were exciting, but they weren’t quite a playoff
team. They finished one game behind AFC West champion Kansas City, which
beat Los Angeles twice. The Bolts then missed out on the AFC’s two
wild-card spots in a four-way tiebreaker due to their mediocre
conference record.
The Chargers’ 84-mile move up the
California coast was just part of a busy year that began with the
near-simultaneous announcement of the move and the hiring of coach
Anthony Lynn, who received praise from Telesco for instilling ”a high
level of grit and determination that we just lacked last year.”
Telesco
echoed Lynn’s determination to keep his coaching staff intact aside
from assistant offensive line coach James Cregg, who is headed to LSU.
In particular, Telesco wants to keep coveted defensive coordinator Gus
Bradley, who immediately put together a solid unit for a team that
finished third in the NFL in points allowed.
Continuity is a major goal for the Chargers after the upheaval of the past year.
”We’ve
come a long way in the last 12 months,” Telesco said at the Chargers’
training complex in Orange County. ”Think about where we were last year
this time and where we are now. It’s been a lot of change and a lot of
challenges, but we’re on the right pace. We’re going in the right
direction.”
More things to know about the Chargers’ offseason:
FIND
A FOOT: Telesco echoed Lynn’s desire to secure a solid kicker next
season after the Chargers used five players at the position and made a
league-low 68 percent of their field goal tries this year. The Chargers’
first two losses were decided by late missed field goal attempts, and
it cost them dearly. ”Obviously our kicking game was not NFL-quality
this year Preston Brown Color Rush Jersey ,”
Telesco said. ”One of my biggest regrets this year (is) I did not do a
good enough job addressing that position. I put our head coach, Anthony,
in a tough position as far as managing the football game. I’m very
confident we’ll be able to get that fixed.” Telesco didn’t say whether
he plans to pursue a tested veteran kicker.
OPEN GATES:
Telesco praised 37-year-old tight end Antonio Gates as ”one of the
greatest Chargers of all-time,” but didn’t unequivocally commit to
bringing him back. Gates is a free agent after setting the NFL record
for TD catches by a tight end early this season. After serving largely
as a backup to Hunter Henry, Gates played extensively the last two games
and determined that he wants to keep playing in 2018. ”I don’t have any
answers right now moving forward, but we’ll get there,” Telesco said of
Gates’ future.
GOT GOALS: Telesco pointed out that the
Chargers were successful in two main points of emphasis this season:
Cutting down turnovers and protecting Rivers. Los Angeles finished third
in the league with a plus-12 turnover ratio after finishing 27th last
season with a minus-7, and the Chargers allowed an NFL-low 18 sacks
after yielding 36 last season.
RIVERS’ HEIR: The Chargers
don’t have a firm timeline for finding a successor to the 36-year-old
Rivers, the only quarterback to start a game for the club since the 2006
season opener. After Rivers’ excellent 4,515-yard season, Telesco
confirmed that the Chargers ”hope he’ll be around for a good amount of
years,” and they aren’t headed into the offseason determined to draft a
quarterback. ”He played really well for us this year, and I expect him
to come back and do the same thing next year,” Telesco added.
STACKED
BACK: The Chargers expect former Pro Bowl cornerback Jason Verrett to
return at full strength after missing all but five games in the past two
seasons with knee injuries. Telesco wants Verrett, fellow cornerback
Trevor Williams, current Pro Bowler Casey Hayward and versatile
defensive back Desmond King all back on a defense that was the NFL’s
third-best against the pass this season, yielding just 197.2 yards per
game.
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