Fried ready to 'leave it all on the field' for G6

HOUSTON -- Max Fried gets it, and he always has.

He understands the situation, he knows what is riding on his left arm, and he’s not going to be overwhelmed by it all.

It’s his time to shine.

“I think as a kid that you just look forward to winning the World Series and contributing in any way,” Fried, 27, said. “To be able to be here in this moment, I am extremely thankful, and honestly, ready to go.”

Fried will take the mound Tuesday in Game 6 of the World Series with his club one victory away from its first title since 1995 and a chance to be a postseason legend in Atlanta.

Will Tuesday be forever known as “The Max Fried Game,” or will history throw him a curveball?

This is what we know:

“I'm ready to go out there and leave it all on the field,” Fried said. “It's probably going to be my last outing of the year, so there's nothing to hold back.”

In Game 2 of the World Series on Wednesday night, Fried was charged with six runs on seven hits and one walk in five-plus innings on lots of soft contact, one untimely shift and a stroke of bad luck. He threw 27 of his 86 pitches in the eventful second inning that changed the course of the game, but he bounced back immediately, sitting down 10 batters in a row and retiring the side in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

It’s worth noting that four of the five hits (all singles) Fried allowed in the second inning were not “hard-hit,” meaning they were below the 95 mph threshold. Overall, he allowed five non-hard-hit balls in the game, the most by any pitcher in the postseason this year. Fried was among the league leaders in producing non-hard-hit balls all season (82nd percentile), but the Astros still found a way to get hits on balls that typically do not produce hits.

Look for Fried to keep throwing lots of sliders and curveballs in Game 6. Here’s why: Of his 15 swinging strikes in the game, 13 were on sliders and curveballs. The Astros whiffed on 48% of their swings against Fried on those two pitches alone.

Moreover, he threw 47% breaking balls during the regular season, but a whopping 60% in Game 2.

It just wasn’t enough.

“Any time that you go out there and you don't perform the way that you want, and you don't win, you want to go back out there and redeem yourself,” he said.

Fried is being hard on himself, and Braves manager Brian Snitker knows it. The skipper doesn’t feel as if Fried struggled in Game 2, and there’s a chance that he wouldn’t say it publicly even if he did. Snitker trusts his pitcher.

Sure, Fried hasn't had his best command in his past two outings. He allowed 11 baserunners and didn’t make it out of the fifth inning in Atlanta’s 11-2 loss to the Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Oct. 21, but none of that means anything anymore.

The only thing that matters is Game 6.

“I think he's been off a little bit the last couple times, and hasn't been himself,” Snitker said.

“I expect to see Max on top of his game [Tuesday]. I expect that every time he goes out. I mean, this guy probably, since the All-Star break, is one of the best pitchers in the game. So that's kind of the version of Max that I expect to see [Tuesday].”

Snitker is right. Fried ranked second in ERA (1.74), WHIP (.850), batting average allowed (.190) and OPS allowed (.522) among the 46 pitchers who threw at least 71 innings after the All-Star break.

Ask Fried, and he’ll simply tell you he wants to do his job. If he does his part, he’s confident he’ll return to Atlanta a World Series champion. But if he doesn’t do his job, well …

“The way I see it is I'm going to go out there and do what I do,” he said. “I'm going to be myself and just try to pitch my game and help us win this ballgame. Whatever capacity that is, I'm going to go out there and leave it all out there. When Snit takes the ball from me, my job's done.”