Fried relieved his pinky cut isn't a blister

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Max Fried's friends might rib him about having to leave a game with a small cut on his pinky finger. But the Braves' southpaw is simply happy to finally encounter a finger ailment about which he can laugh.

"At this point, I just got to get a manicure before every start," Fried said. "Trust me, the last person who wants a blister is me. The fact it's this, I'm completely fine with it."

Given how frequently Fried has battled a blister over the past couple of seasons, it was natural to think he had developed yet another one as he was forced to exit Saturday afternoon's 7-4 loss to the Tigers in the second inning. But as it turned out, the premature end of this outing was caused by a cut created by his thumbnail slicing his left pinky finger as he threw a curveball.

"I couldn't get it to stop bleeding," Fried said. "It was one of those situations where [Braves manager Brian Snitker] said I only had a couple more batters and we didn't want to take a chance. They said you might as well end it now before it becomes anything big."

Fried and the Braves medical staff have quelled the blister problem since the lefty was felled by one while making an appearance in Milwaukee last year. But the 25-year-old hurler still has fresh memories of the frustration he felt when he missed stretches of the 2016 season because of multiple blisters.

Snitker was relieved to know the injury bug had not bitten yet another of his rotation candidates. Mike Foltynewicz (sore right elbow) is waiting to learn when he'll be cleared to pitch again and veteran Kevin Gausman (sore right shoulder) had his turn skipped the first time through the rotation. Top prospect Mike Soroka's latest shoulder ailment has erased the possibility he'll be ready to begin the season as one of Atlanta's five starters.

While there's a chance Foltynewicz and Gausman are both available to make a start within the rotation's first regular-season turn, there's now an even greater need for the top fifth starter candidates -- Fried, Touki Toussaint and Kyle Wright -- to be ready to fill any role when the season starts.

Fried surrendered hits, including Josh Harrison's leadoff double, to three of the first four Tigers faced and then retired four in a row before ending his outing by issuing JaCoby Jones a two-out walk in the second. He recorded three strikeouts and surrendered two earned runs over 1 2/3 innings. But his command was better than it had been on Monday, when he was fortunate to limit the Nationals to an unearned run over two innings.

"Physically, I'm feeling right on track," Fried said. "There were a lot of things I wanted to work on from my last outing when I didn't feel like I was as controlled through my delivery. Today, I felt like I was a lot better with my tempo and balance. This early, I'm not looking too much at results, more at the process. I felt today was a lot better for me."

A first for Camargo

Johan Camargo has been proudly carrying four gloves as he prepares for his super-utility role. His assignment on Saturday was to play first base -- a position he thinks he'd last played as a child. Camargo, who has primarily played third base and shortstop, will likely get his first start in the outfield within the next few days.

"I'm confident with him anywhere we put him on the diamond," Snitker said.

While Austin Riley anticipated possibly seeing some time in the outfield during this exhibition season, Snitker has indicated a couple times over the past two weeks, the highly touted third base prospect will likely get nearly all of his playing time in the infield this spring.

Odds and ends

Snitker said he had not heard the results of Dr. Gary Lourie’s Saturday morning evaluation of Foltynewicz’s elbow. The Braves were expecting Lourie to simply provide an indication of when the right-hander will be cleared to throw again.

Chad Sobotka showed his tremendous potential when he debuted in August and earned a spot on Atlanta’s postseason roster. The potential future closer tossed a scoreless inning in his first two outings. But while striking out two over 2/3 of an inning Saturday, he surrendered Brandon Dixon’s third-inning, two-run homer.

Up next

Sean Newcomb will make his second start of the year when the Marlins visit ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex Sunday afternoon. Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr. are expected to be in Atlanta's lineup.