Fried finishes runner-up in NL Cy Young race
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ATLANTA -- Max Fried will have to wait at least one more year to try to become the Braves’ first Cy Young Award winner since Tom Glavine in 2000.
The Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara was announced as the unanimous winner of this year’s National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night. Fried finished second, while Julio Urías finished third in balloting conducted by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
• Here are the Cy Young Award vote totals
Fried was a key reason the Braves enjoyed their first 100-win season since 2003 and captured a fifth consecutive NL East crown. The left-hander ranked third in the NL in ERA (2.48), ERA+ (164) and fielding independent pitching (2.70).
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Fried credited teammates and members of the organization for his success this past season.
“For me, it’s just going out there and winning every ballgame,” Fried told MLB Network. “We have an unbelievable group of guys. Their main focus is to win the ballgame they are playing that day. When you have 26 guys with the same mentality, same focus, it’s easy to go out there and do your job.
“On top of that, I have unbelievable people that I’m able to lean on day in and day out. [Pitching coach] Rick Kranitz has been huge for me -- [catching coach] Sal Fasano, [catcher] Travis d'Arnaud and even [manager Brian Snitker]. Just having those people that I have in my corner and being able to throw things off of in the middle of a game, it has been really valuable.”
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This marked the second straight year that the Braves benefited from Fried getting stronger as the season progressed. The 28-year-old hurler produced a 2.15 ERA over his final 17 starts of the season. The only NL pitcher to post a better ERA during this span, beginning on June 20, was Urías (1.89).
Fried rose to the occasion during some of the biggest games the Braves played down the stretch. He allowed two runs or fewer in each of the five starts he combined to make against the Mets and Phillies over the season’s final two months. He set the tone in Atlanta’s big late-season sweep of the Mets, and he allowed just one run over five innings while battling the flu in that series opener.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson contributed to this story