Braves end 26-year drought

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 put on a clinic in Game Six striking out six batters for the Braves, who wrapped up the best-of-seven series four games to two in front of a crowd of 42,060 at Minute Maid Park in Texas.

“I had to dig deep,” said the lefthander Fried. “I knew how much they believed in me and I just had to go out there and give it one more outing. I couldn’t be happier to do it with this group of guys.”

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

Cuba’s Soler was the biggest contributor on offense and was named MVP. The veteran outfielder, whom the Braves acquired at the Major League Baseball trade deadline, hit his third go-ahead home run of the series.

The designated hitter clobbered 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.

Closer Will Smith got Astros batter Yuli Gurriel to ground out to shortstop Swanson for the final out, sparking a wild celebration on the field.

While the 27-year-old Fried rebounded from a pair of subpar performances in his two previous outings, 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.

“It’s one of those dream come true moments,” Fried said. “You dream about it happening and especially being able to come back and redeem myself after Game Two. At the end of the day I was just trying to win a ball game for these guys. I couldn’t be happier for this group.”

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 Smith, held the powerful Houston batters in check and the Braves won their second championship since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966.