Max Fried leaves start early with a left groin strain

Max Fried has struggled to stay on the field for the Braves this season. Despite the fact that when he is healthy he has the stuff to stick in the major leagues, he has been battling issues with blisters on his pitching hand back to last season.

However, that isn’t what sidelined him today.

Fried had looked good early on in trying to hold down the resurgent Nationals lineup. However, at the end of the second inning, Fried took a liner off of his side. He made the play to record the out, but immediately went down into the tunnel after the play. It would be understandable if the impact of the ball itself caused an issue, but it appears that something happened when he tried to get out of the way…