Max Fried pitched eight scoreless innings and Marcell Ozuna blasted his National League-leading 16th home run of the season to help the Atlanta Braves defeat the visiting Washington Nationals 2-0 on Tuesday.

It was the major-league-leading ninth shutout win for the Braves. The four-game series between the NL East rivals is now tied at 1-1.

Fried (5-2) allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out six. He has two complete games this year but was removed after throwing 103 pitches on Tuesday. It was his fourth scoreless outing of the season.

Fried relied on his infield defense to douse Washington’s hopes. The Nationals hit into four double plays, and Fried did his part by picking Jesse Winker off first base.

Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out the final two batters, to earn his 13th save.

Ozuna broke a scoreless tie in the seventh. He didn’t miss a cutter down the middle from reliever Jacob Barnes (2-2) and hit it 413 feet to left-center field. Ozuna has reached base in 21 consecutive games.

It was the 48th RBI of 2024 for Ozuna, giving him the NL lead.

Atlanta added another run in the seventh when Matt Olson singled and later scored on Jarred Kelenic’s sacrifice fly.

Washington starter Jake Irvin went toe-to-toe against Fried for six scoreless innings. Irvin allowed only two hits, walked two and struck out a career-high 10. It was a different story than his only other start against the Braves, where he gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings on Sept. 21, 2023.

Fried, who has flirted with a no-hitter twice this season, didn’t have to worry about recording one on Tuesday, as Washington’s CJ Abrams led off the game with a double. Any threat was quickly negated when Lane Thomas hit into a double play.

–Field Level Media