Trevor Bauer and Max Fried stage old-fashioned pitching duel

Trevor Bauer and Max Fried both shutout the opposing lineup in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card series between the Reds and Braves

If you enjoy great pitching, hard fastballs, big breaking balls, and befuddled batters, Trevor Bauer and Max Fried gave you all you could’ve asked for on Wednesday.

Bauer and Fried, matched up in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card series between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, held the opposing lineup off the board into the eighth inning at Truist Park. They’re the first pitchers to each thrown seven shutout innings in a postseason game since Madison Bumgarner and Noah Syndergaard in 2016.

The Reds nearly got to Fried from the start. The first two Reds batters in the top half of the first inning reached base, but, with runners at the corners with no outs, Fried retired the side to escape the jam. Cincinnati wouldn’t seriously challenge the Braves ace until the seventh when, with a runner at third, Aristides Aquino was thrown out on an attempted double-steal. Fried left the game after seven giving up just six hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

Bauer, the presumptive National League Cy Young Award winner, was even better. He didn’t allow a base hit until an infield single by Ozzie Albies in the fourth. That was the only time the Braves got two runners on base off the Reds right-hander, but Bauer came out unscathed after striking out Adam Duvall looking to end the inning.

Bauer gave up one more hit, a double by Ronald Acuna leading off the sixth, and had Acuna standing on third with just one out in the inning. But he got Marcell Ozuna, the NL home run leader this season, to foul out then struck out Travis d’Arnaud on a 96-mph fastball.

Bauer retired the first two Braves batters he faced in the eighth before being lifted for Raisel Iglesias. He finished with 7.2 innings scoreless innings and 12 strikeouts. He induced 18 swings-and-misses and constantly had the Braves hitters waving at his slider; of the 38 he threw on Wednesday, 29 went for strikes.

Bauer is the first pitcher in MLB postseason history with 7-plus shutout innings with two or fewer hits, at least 12 strikeouts, and no walks. He did this against a Braves lineup that had the second highest-scoring offense in the league this season.

Fried and Bauer combined to give up just four balls hit harder than 100 mph. The game was still tied 0-0 going into extra innings, the first scoreless postseason game through nine innings since Game 6 of the 1997 ALCS between the Indians and Orioles.

The score remains tied going to the 12th, making this the first postseason game in history to be scoreless after 11 innings.