Braves beat Astros to win World Series

Max Fried hurled six shutout innings and Jorge Soler smashed a towering home run as the Atlanta Braves captured their first World Series since 1995 with a 7-0 rout of the Houston Astros on Tuesday.

Starting pitcher Fried bounced back from a couple of subpar performances in his most recent outings to strike out six batters for the Braves, who wrapped up the best-of-seven series four games to two.

Fried got plenty of support from the Braves’ batters, who scored most of their runs on Tuesday via the long ball.

Designated hitter Soler blasted a 446-foot three run homer out of the ballpark in the third, Dansby Swanson belted a two-run shot two innings later to give the Braves a commanding 5-0 lead and Freddie Freeman had a solo shot in the seventh to round out the scoring.

While Fried put on a clinic in game six, the Astros couldn’t overcome their pitching woes, which included a patchwork of relievers coming on after an early exit by rookie starter Luis Garcia in front of a crowd of 42,060 at Minute Maid Park.

The Braves jumped out to a big lead early for the second straight game. They hit a grand slam in the first inning of game five but couldn’t hold onto the lead.

This time there was no letdown as Fried and his two relievers, Tyler Matzek and Will Smith, held the powerful Houston batters in check and the Braves won their second championship since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966. (AFP)