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Max Fried scattered three hits over 8 2/3 scoreless innings and Sean Murphy belted a two-run homer to lift the host Atlanta Braves to a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Fried (11-10) retired the first 10 batters he faced and struck out nine batters overall to highlight his 98-pitch performance.

Marcell Ozuna scored on a throwing error in the eighth inning for the Braves (87-71), who have won four in a row to move within a half-game of both the New York Mets (87-70) and Arizona Diamondbacks (88-71) for one of the final two wild-card spots in the National League. The Mets and Diamondbacks were playing their respective games later Friday night.

Michael Massey had two doubles among the three hits for the Royals (85-75), who saw their three-game winning streak end. Kansas City can still punch its ticket to the postseason should the Minnesota Twins lose to the Baltimore Orioles later on Friday.

Fried got off to a fast start before Bobby Witt Jr. reached on an infield single with one out in the fourth inning. The left-hander induced Massey to hit into a fielder’s choice before picking him off first base to end the inning.

Massey hit a one-out double in the seventh before Fried retired the next two batters on three total pitches. Fried struck out two during the eighth inning and one more in the ninth before exiting after Witt walked and Massey doubled with two outs.

Raisel Iglesias induced a game-ending flyout from Salvador Perez on his only pitch to notch his 33rd save.

Atlanta opened the scoring in the fourth inning.

Jorge Soler had a one-out single to left field before Murphy stepped up two batters later and deposited an 0-2 sweeper from Brady Singer (9-13) over the wall in left field. Murphy’s homer was his 10th of the season.

Ozuna tacked on another run in the eighth inning after stealing third base and coming around to score after catcher Perez’s throw toward third sailed into left field.

Singer fell to 0-5 in his last seven outings after permitting two runs on four hits in six innings. He walked three and fanned five.

–Field Level Media