World Series 2021: Braves' Max Fried "one of the best pitchers"

After missing out on their first chance to close out the World Series against the Houston Astros on Sunday, the Atlanta Braves are confident heading into Game 6. 

World Series within Atlanta's grasp

As the teams prepare to reconvene at Houston's Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, Braves manager Brian Snitker said his side are not feeling any ill effects from their 9-5 home defeat in Game 5. 

Atlanta need just one more victory to win their first World Series since 1995, and Snitker insists the players are showing no signs of letting the pressure affect them. 

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"We're in the World Series right now. There's no pressure," Snitker told a news conference Monday. "Like I say, it's pressure in the NLCS when you're trying to get here. We all want to finish this off, but there's no pressure.

"We're one of two teams remaining in our sport, and [I haven't] sensed any kind of pressure out of these guys internally. The only time I hear about that is in this [press conference] room. In that room out there, I never hear it."

Max Fried "one of the best pitchers"

Six teams have blown a 3-1 World Series lead in a seven-game series, but it has only happened once in the last 36 years: the 2016 Cleveland Indians against the Chicago Cubs. 

The Braves will feel good about their chances of avoiding a similar fate primarily because they can expect to get significant innings out of their starting pitchers in Game 6 and, if needed, the decisive Game 7. 

Thanks to a lack of depth in their rotation exacerbated by the loss of veteran Charlie Morton to a broken leg suffered in Game 1, the Braves have had to start relief pitchers each of the last two games. 

Dylan Lee faced just four batters in Game 4 before Kyle Wright picked up the slack with an impressive 4.2 innings of relief work, while Tucker Davidson recorded only six outs on Sunday. 

The Braves will send Max Fried to the mound Tuesday, giving him another chance against the Astros after a rough start in Atlanta's Game 2 defeat.

"I expect to see Max on top of his game tomorrow," Snitker said. "I expect that every time he goes out. I mean, this guy probably, since the All-Star break, is one of the best pitchers in the game. So that's kind of the version of Max that I expect to see tomorrow."

Leaving it all out there for the Braves

Fried also got knocked around in his NLCS Game 5 start against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the 27-year-old said he views what will be his final start of the season as a chance at redemption. 

"Any time that you go out there and you don't perform the way that you want, you don't win, you want to go back out there and redeem yourself," Fried said.

"I'm ready to go out there and leave it all on the field. It's probably going to be my last outing of the year, so there's nothing to hold back."