Max Fried is lucky he didn’t break his ankle in scary error on first-base line

Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried managed to stay in the game after his ankle was stepped on by outfielder Michael Brantley on a dubious error.

Michael Brantley was called safe on the play, even though he quite clearly was not. Max Fried fell on first base, while Brantley technically never make contact with the bag.

Still, Brian Snitker didn’t have the sense to challenge the play, in part because he was so concerned about his starting pitcher. Snitker has already lost one pitcher for the season in this World Series in Charlie Morton, who started Game 1. He’d rather not lose a second in the biggest game of the season thus far.

Fried must have ankles of steel. It’s the only explanation for the following video which, had it led to a broken bone, we would not be showing in full.

Pain. All kinds of pain.

Braves: Max Fried was fine, luckily

Fried limped around and threw a couple warm-up pitches, but in the end was fine. The Braves pitcher would probably need a literal broken ankle to be removed from a game of such significance.

Instead, Fried remained, and churned through the heart of the Houston Astros order with ease — and this was with two runners on base.

After taking a 3-1 lead over the Astros in Game 4, the Braves now face a daunting task of winning the World Series on the road. This is the same team which lost the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers last year after owning a 3-1 advantage, so there’s history here.

Snitker claimed there was no pressure after losing Game 5, which is easy to say but tougher to literally feel. Should they fall on Tuesday night, they will definitely be feeling it heading into a do-or-die Game 7 on Wednesday night.