On Friday night, though, they cruised to a second consecutive not-too-stressful victory, as the bats teed off on Carlos Martinez while Max Fried cruised through seven breezy frames.
Max Fried was not quite settled in across his first two batters, as Tommy Edman roped on a double on a full-count inside fastball and Dylan Carson hung in for ten pitches before finally grounding out to third.
Freddie Freeman then barreled a ball into left that may have been a homer under other circumstances, but hey, y’know, it’s a different baseball and all, and thus it just went for a flyout.
Fried issued a one-out walk to Yadier Molina in the second, but still faced the minimum thanks to a pickoff later in the frame.
Then, with two outs, Acuña walked, stole second , and scored on Freeman’s single.
The Braves got two walks and a single in the third, but couldn’t score due to a double play, and Fried’s own groundout with two outs and two on.
A single and a walk loaded the bases, and while Guilllermo Heredia popped out, Woodford then walked Max Fried for perhaps the ultimate ignominy: a bases-loaded, RBI-yielding free pass to a pitcher.
The Braves didn’t do much of anything offensively, either, after the fourth, as Woodford threw a scoreless fifth and Wade LeBlanc held them scoreless in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings.
Acuña finished this game having reached base four times without the benefit of a hit; he was also the only member of the starting lineup to go hitless.
With the win, the Braves improve to 32-35 and pick up a game on the Mets, who were somehow held scoreless by Erick Fedde and then lost when Edwin Diaz went walk-single-walkoff single in the ninth without retiring a batter.