ATLANTA _ The Max Fried vs. Trevor Bauer duel lived up to the hype, which meant nine innings weren't enough to settle Game 1.
In the first contest of the best-of-three wild-card series Wednesday, Freddie Freeman's walk-off RBI single in the 13th pushed the Braves past the Reds 1-0. It was the third-longest postseason game in Braves history.
This was the first MLB postseason game to go into extra innings scoreless since Game 6 of the 1997 American League Championship Series. It was the first postseason game to enter the 12th inning scoreless.
The extra innings were ridden with excruciatingly poor swings and missed opportunities. The Reds had runners at the corners with none out in the 12th; they struck out three times against Tyler Matzek. Travis d'Arnaud singled to open the Braves' half of the inning, yet the team couldn't get him past second.
In the 13th, Cincinnati loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. A strikeout and groundout later, the Braves were again out of a jam. The Reds left the bases loaded in the 11th and 12th, and stranded runners at the corners in the 11th.
Wednesday provided all-time offensive ineptitude. The teams combined to strike out 37 times, a postseason record. The Braves went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position; the Reds went 1-for-12 in such scenarios.
Making his first postseason start, Fried scattered six hits across seven scoreless innings. He struck out five and didn't issue a walk. The Braves lifted him at 78 pitches.
Bauer, who might soon be named the National League Cy Young winner, threw 103 pitches over 7-2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits, struck out a franchise-record 12 and also didn't issue a walk. He was the first pitcher in postseason history to accrue such numbers.
The cherry on top: Bauer did the tomahawk chop when walking back to the dugout after recording the first two outs of the eighth.
Fried allowed two hits within his first three pitches. He settled in to retire seven consecutive Reds until Nick Senzel singled with one down in the third.
Following the single, Fried retired the next nine. He ran into trouble in the sixth, when Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto hit back-to-back singles. But former Red Adam Duvall gave Fried an assist.
Castellanos tried taking third on Votto's single. Duvall gathered the ball in left field and fired to third baseman Austin Riley, who tagged Castellanos' foot as he was sliding into the base. Fried struck out Eugenio Suarez to end the inning.
The Braves dodged a deficit again in the seventh. A single and hit by pitch gave the Reds an opportunity with one out. Kyle Farmer grounded into a potential double play but beat the throw at first to extend the inning, bringing up pinch-hitter Matt Davidson with runners at the corners and two out.
Farmer was caught in a rundown during the at-bat between first and second. Aristides Aquino darted home, shifting the rundown to the 90 feet between third and home plate. Riley chased him down and slid for the tag to end the inning. Fried, standing by home plate, pumped his fist and screamed in what was his biggest burst of emotion this season.
