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Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried will miss at least one start after exiting his Opening Day outing against the Washington Nationals on Thursday with left hamstring discomfort, the team announced.

Fried winced as he he ran to cover first base for the initial out of the fourth inning and was removed after 43 pitches. He gave up one run on four hits while striking out two batters.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the 7-2 victory at Nationals Park on Thursday that Fried, last year’s runner-up in NL Cy Young Award voting, definitely will miss at least one start and probably will end up on the 10-day injured list.

“This happens. You don’t want to see it happen. But if it’s going to, I’d rather earlier than later [in the season], that’s for sure,” Snitker said. “We’ll just make sure we get him right.”

Fried said he felt something wrong with his leg while he was heading toward the bag on a grounder by Dominic Smith leading off the bottom of the fourth.

Snitker and a trainer went out to the mound to check on the left-hander, who threw one pitch to test his leg before heading toward the visiting dugout at Nationals Park.

“It just kind of grabbed at me,” Fried said about the muscle, adding that he didn’t think the injury was particularly bad.

Fried was replaced by Lucas Luetge, who earned the victory, with the Braves holding a 4-1 lead.

Fried, 29, is coming off an All-Star campaign in 2022, when he went 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 30 starts. He was the runner-up to Miami’s Sandy Alcantara in voting for the NL Cy Young Award.

“It’s obviously frustrating. You want to start off on a good foot and get a good rhythm going. But you obviously don’t want to push it too early, ’cause there’s still the entire season left,” Fried said. “So trying to find that happy medium of pushing it to get back … to help this club out, but also not push it too far where you miss more time.”

He didn’t allow a run in four spring training starts, striking out 19 in 14 1/3 innings.

It was his third consecutive start on Opening Day for the Braves, who have won the past five NL East titles.

“I felt great. Felt like I had a really good rhythm,” Fried said. “Felt like it could have been a good one.”

Snitker thought the same.

“Max was so good today. He was so good. Throwing the ball so well. I hate that. It could have been a real nice, long opening day start for him,” the manager said. “So I hate that for him.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Journalism opens as 8-5 favorite for Preakness

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Journalism opens as 8-5 favorite for Preakness

HALETHORPE, Md. — Journalism is the morning line favorite for the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes.

The Kentucky Derby runner-up to Sovereignty opened at odds of 8-5 on Monday night when post positions were drawn for the middle leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Journalism is again set to be ridden by jockey Umberto Rispoli and leave the starting gate from the No. 2 post.

Post time is set for 7:01 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

No. 7 Sandman is the 4-1 second choice in the field of nine, which does not include Sovereignty after his owners and trainer decided not to run the Derby winner two weeks after his triumph at Churchill Downs. The Preakness goes on without a true shot at a Triple Crown winner for a fifth time in seven years since Justify swept all three races in 2018.

Bob Baffert, who trained Justify and 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, is entering Goal Oriented looking for a record-extending ninth victory in the race. Fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas can tie Baffert if he wins the Preakness back-to-back, this time with American Promise a year after Seize the Grey ended Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid.

There are three Derby horses running in the $2 million Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore: Journalism, American Promise and Sandman, the latter of whom will be ridden by John Velazquez for trainer Mark Casse. American Promise drew the No. 3 post and opened at odds of 15-1.

New to the Triple Crown trail, along with No. 1 Goal Oriented (6-1), are No. 4 Heart of Honor (12-1), No. 5 Pay Billy (20-1), No. 6 River Thames (9-2), No. 8 Clever Again (5-1) and No. 9 Gosger (20-1).

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U.S. shut out by Switzerland at hockey worlds

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U.S. shut out by Switzerland at hockey worlds

HERNING, Denmark — Switzerland, last year’s runner-up, shut out the United States 3-0 and handed the Americans their first loss at the ice hockey world championship Monday.

Damien Riat, Jonas Siegenthaler and Dean Kukan scored in the Group B game in Herning. Netminder Leonardo Genoni stopped 23 shots for the shutout.

“Give credit to Switzerland,” U.S. coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “But I know our group has a lot more in them. We’ll regroup and get ready to play Norway.”

Riat put Switzerland ahead with 7:14 remaining in the first period, redirecting the puck into the goal from the air. It was the first goal the U.S. conceded at the tournament.

The second followed 3:13 later by Siegenthaler from the blue line. Kukan’s came halfway through the final period from the top of the left circle.

“After the first goal we did a better job,” Swiss forward Kevin Fiala said. “We got into it more and more, and shut them out.”

Fiala recorded an assist in his first game at the worlds. He joined the Swiss late after his Los Angeles Kings were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in the first round.

U.S. goalie Joey Daccord made 24 saves.

The U.S., which beat Denmark 5-0 and Hungary 6-0 in its first two games, will next face Norway on Wednesday.

In other games, Martin Necas had two goals and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists as the defending champion Czech Republic used a four-goal middle period to ease past Denmark 7-2.

Nick Olesen also had a goal and an assist for Denmark.

In Stockholm, Sweden topped archrival Finland 2-1 on goals from Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin for a third victory in regulation from three games.

Austria defeated Slovakia 3-2 in a penalty shootout.

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Leafs’ Domi fined $5K for hit to Panthers’ Barkov

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Leafs' Domi fined K for hit to Panthers' Barkov

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi was fined $5,000 — the maximum amount allowed by the league’s collective bargaining agreement — for boarding Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov as time expired in Game 4 of their second-round Eastern Conference playoff series Sunday.

Toronto was trailing 2-0 when the final buzzer sounded, and Domi hit Barkov from behind, sending him headfirst into the boards. Domi was given a minor penalty for boarding at the time while several other scrums broke out before officials moved players off the ice.

Florida’s victory evened the best-of-seven series at 2-all. Game 5 is set for Wednesday in Toronto.

Toronto coach Craig Berube didn’t comment on the Domi hit directly Monday, but he did say he thought Dmitry Kulikov‘s hit on Mitch Marner “was way worse”

On that play, the Panthers defenseman caught Marner up high with an elbow, leaving the Leafs forward momentarily dazed. No penalty was called on Kulikov.

It wasn’t the first elbowing incident to draw attention in the series.

In Game 1, Panthers forward Sam Bennett sent an elbow to the head of Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz shortly before Stolarz left the game. He was later hospitalized for further evaluation and hasn’t been able to resume skating since. There is currently no timeline for his return.

The physical intensity of the series might continue to rise now that it’s down to being a best-of-three. Based on how Game 4 played out, the Leafs are prepared to push back when they host Florida on Wednesday.

“We expected [the physicality], and I think we’re fine with it,” Berube said. “We’re handling it. We’re physical. I thought we were the more physical team [in Game 4].”

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