MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 27, 2021

Max Fried

Travis D'arnaud

Minute Maid Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Houston - 7, Atlanta - 2

Q. Max, you look back at that outing, there's a lot of soft contact, or not hard contact in that second inning, and then you're able to get to the sixth. How do you self-evaluate that outing?

MAX FRIED: Obviously, I'm not happy about it. Playoffs is a big momentum game. You got to do everything you can to keep the crooked number off the scoreboard. At the end of the day, they put up four runs in that inning. You need to do better next time, just making pitches, getting out of it.

Q. What did either of you guys think of your fastball tonight? Seemed like you weren't getting swings and misses like you normally do as the game went on.

MAX FRIED: Good team. They were ready for the fastball. Probably could have put it in some better spots, maybe elevated a little bit better. For me, my fastball is not something I'm looking to get swing and misses a ton on. It's more of a ground ball pitch for me. Sometimes they get it when I'm able to elevate and change speeds, but it wasn't great swing-and-miss pitching tonight.

Q. For Travis, Urquidy seemed to work ahead of you guys a lot. Was it just that he was getting ahead? What was he doing well?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: He was doing well. He was locating his pitches, keeping us off balance. We knew he was going to be a strike thrower, and he went out there and pitched a great game.

Q. Travis, how valuable was it for Max to give you the innings he did? I know you've got an off day tomorrow, but just for your bullpen moving forward.

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Yeah, that's terrific for him to be able to get into the sixth there, especially after they were able to score the runs they did. It gave our bullpen the rest they needed after yesterday with the bullpen game.

Q. For both of you guys, just the expectation and what do you think Truist will be like, a place you won 10 out of the last 11 games?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Electric. A lot of fun. Can't wait. Can't wait to get back home.

MAX FRIED: It's going to be -- I know they're going to bring it. We've got some really great fans, and I know that they'll be ready to be cheering us on. We're ready to get back home.

Q. What did you think of Kyle Wright? Was there anything different you saw about him out there?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: He did a tremendous job. He was locating. His sinker was moving a lot. His curveball was moving a lot. He did a tremendous job. When I caught him in a rehab game for me, he looked exactly the same as he did that day.

It was fun working with him, and it was great seeing him have the success today, especially in the World Series.

Q. Max, with Charlie out, would you be up for coming back on short rest?

MAX FRIED: We'll see how I feel over the next couple days, but not against it.

Q. Max, there was a moment in that second inning where Gurriel beat the shift. How big a moment do you think that was, like a potential double play ball? When that happens as a pitcher, what do you say to yourself, if anything?

MAX FRIED: It's baseball. Sometimes the ball gets hit and goes right to a guy. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it finds a hole.

He did a really good job of seeing where we were positioned and staying inside of it and being able to beat it. Sometimes you've just got to tip your hat.

Q. Max, following that up, there was a point in the second inning where -- I can't remember if it was that hit or another hit where you sort of took a little walk around the mound and almost seemed like you were trying to collect yourself and calm yourself down. Did I misread that at all?

MAX FRIED: No. In those moments, you try to just slow the game down to be able to try to get out of it. You know that obviously it's a momentum play, and you want to be able to slow things down, maybe shift the momentum at all. Sometimes you've just got to take a little bit longer time to settle things down.

Q. Travis, you talked yesterday after Charlie went out about how we've done bullpen games before, and you'll have off days this time. The next three days probably will be challenging for the staff. What makes you confident in this staff that they can sort of team together and get the job done?

TRAVIS D'ARNAUD: Tomorrow's an off day, which is big for the bullpen. But I'm excited to work with Ian for Game 3. He's going to be ready to go. He gets to pitch at home. I mean, like I said, I can't wait to get back home. Our bullpen guys are all ready. They want the ball in the biggest moments regardless of how much they threw yesterday or today.

Q. Max, in general, how did you feel about the outing? You settled in, but the damage was done early. You've been the biggest key for this team down the stretch as a starter. How do you feel about the overall outing?

MAX FRIED: I came out, and we were losing, we were down big, so I'm not happy about it. For me, at the end of the day, it's kind of what I've said here: If I'm leaving the game and we're winning, I did my job. Today I didn't do that.