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SAN DIEGO — Max Fried held sputtering San Diego in check for five innings in his return from the injured list, and Austin Riley hit a two-run homer as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Padres 2-0 Monday night for their seventh straight win.

The Padres were shut out for the second consecutive day and the third time in eight games. They’ve lost six of eight since taking three of four in Atlanta from April 6-9.

The Padres fell two games under .500 for the first time since the first two games of the season. They hope the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. on Thursday after his 80-game PED suspension will add a spark. San Diego was shut out at home in consecutive games for the first time since April 2016, both by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fried (1-0) was activated to start against the Padres, who took him in the first round of the 2012 amateur draft.

On Sunday, before Atlanta made the trip to California, Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters the club would not place any restrictions on Fried in his return.

“You have to use common sense and see, and take it inning to inning,” Snitker said Sunday. “We’ll watch for stressful innings, things like that.”

In the end, there wasn’t much of that. Fried limited San Diego to four singles while striking out four and walking none. And A.J. Minter pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Fried, who finished second in NL Cy Young Award balloting last year, was placed on the IL after leaving his opening-day start against Washington with a strained left hamstring. He allowed one run and four hits over 3 1/3 innings in that game.

“He looked really good,” Snitker said. “It’s hard to believe he had a layoff like that. As sharp as he was, he was throwing the ball really well. It kind of went like exactly how we wanted it to go. Made it through five and he was very efficient with what he was doing. I told him, next time out, you take the gloves off and turn you loose.”

The left-hander was sent from San Diego to Atlanta in a six-player trade on Dec. 19, 2014, during the Padres’ failed win-now push for the 2015 season. He made his big league debut on Aug. 8, 2017.

“I was just hoping to come out healthy,” Fried said. “I wanted to go out and give us the best chance to win.”

The Braves took a 2-0 lead three batters in on Riley’s one-out homer to left field, his fourth. Ronald Acuna Jr. was aboard with a leadoff double on left-hander Ryan Weathers‘ first pitch.

Fried said Riley’s homer “allows me to go out there and know that a solo home run doesn’t beat me. Especially Austin comes up, two-run homer, and you can be a little bit more aggressive where one ball doesn’t beat you. As long as you can go out there and stay ahead, be aggressive and get those guys back in the dugout as quick as possible, you have the best chance to add on.”

Riley said it’s fun when Fried is pitching: “He’s so competitive and he’s into every pitch. He’s always thinking. I’ve never seen anyone game plan as well as he does, and good for him. He deserves to throw well because he prepares well and does his homework.”

Weathers (1-1) allowed five hits in six innings.

To make room for Fried, the Braves placed left-hander Lucas Luetge on the 15-day IL with left biceps inflammation, retroactive to Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ex-LSU WR Lacy turns himself in, released on bail

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Ex-LSU WR Lacy turns himself in, released on bail

Former LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy, accused of causing a crash that killed a 78-year-old man on Dec. 17 and then fleeing the scene without rendering aid or calling authorities, turned himself in to authorities Sunday night, was jailed and then released on $151,000 bail, according to police records.

Lafourche (Louisiana) Parish Sheriff’s Office records indicate that Lacy was charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run with death and reckless operation of a vehicle.

A warrant had been issued for Lacy’s arrest, and police on Friday said they had been in contact with Lacy and his attorney to turn himself in.

According to a news release from Louisiana State Police on Friday, Lacy was allegedly driving a 2023 Dodge Charger on Louisiana Highway 20 and “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed by crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated no-passing zone.”

“As Lacy was illegally passing the other vehicles, the driver of a northbound pickup truck abruptly braked and swerved to the right to avoid a head-on collision with the approaching Dodge,” a Louisiana State Police news release said.

“Traveling behind the pickup was a 2017 Kia Cadenza whose driver swerved left to avoid the oncoming Dodge Charger. As the Kia Cadenza took evasive action to avoid impact with the Dodge, it crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a southbound 2017 Kia Sorento.”

Police alleged that Lacy, 24, drove around the crash scene and fled “without stopping to render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash.”

Herman Hall, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, who was a passenger in the Kia Sorento, later died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to state police. Hall was 78.

The drivers of the Cadenza and Sorento also sustained moderate injuries, according to police.

Lacy’s agent, Rocky Arceneaux, said in a statement that his client is “fully cooperating with the authorities.”

Lacy played two seasons at Louisiana before transferring to LSU in 2022. This past season, he had 58 catches for 866 yards with nine touchdowns and declared for the NFL draft on Dec. 19, two days after the crash.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.

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Texas’ Banks, top-rated tackle, declares for draft

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Texas' Banks, top-rated tackle, declares for draft

TexasKelvin Banks Jr., a junior left tackle who is one of the most decorated linemen in Longhorns history, having won the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award this season, declared for the NFL draft Sunday.

Banks, a 6-foot-4, 320-pound All-American, is Mel Kiper Jr.’s top-rated tackle in this year’s draft and is projected as the No. 10 pick on Kiper’s most recent Big Board.

Banks was the No. 33 recruit in the 2022 ESPN 300 and originally committed to Oregon, but the Houston native signed with Texas, where he started 42 games. He was the anchor of a much-improved offensive line after Steve Sarkisian set out in search of “big humans” with the Longhorns making the transition to the SEC. He helped pave the way for the Longhorns to win the Big 12 last season, their first conference title since 2009, and play in two College Football Playoff semifinals in the past two seasons.

“I am eternally grateful for the impact The University of Texas and Longhorn Nation have had on my life,” Banks posted on Instagram. “From the moment I stepped on the Forty Acres, I knew I was part of something special. The support, passion, and pride of this community have shaped me both as an athlete and as a person, and will carry these memories with me forever.”

Senior Hayden Conner, a 6-5, 320-pound guard who started 43 games for Texas and had a year of eligibility remaining, also declared for the draft Sunday, along with junior running back Jaydon Blue. Blue ran for 730 yards and eight touchdowns this season and caught 42 passes for 368 yards and six more TDs.

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Day: Buckeyes must erase ‘self-inflicted wounds’

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Day: Buckeyes must erase 'self-inflicted wounds'

Ohio State coach Ryan Day lamented all the self-inflicted mistakes the Buckeyes made on offense in their 28-14 victory against Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals, saying Sunday that his team has to play better in the national championship game against Notre Dame on Jan. 20.

Day said the Buckeyes’ offense allowed five drives to get away from them with penalties and a turnover in Friday’s semifinal.

Two of those were 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, including one on running back TreVeyon Henderson that ended up forcing the Buckeyes to punt on their second drive of the game.

“There’s nobody that came back on offense and was pleased with the fact that we had those penalties,” Day said during a Zoom news conference Sunday. “The issues are there. We certainly have the right and opportunity to persevere through those penalties, but certainly sets us way behind the sticks, and we cannot have that in this game. Efficiency is going to be something that we’ve got to do a much better job of if we’re going to win it.”

Day said Henderson felt bad about his penalty, which came after he made helmet-to-helmet contact with a Texas defender.

“He knows that he’s got to play with emotion,” Day said of Henderson. “He can’t let emotion play with him.”

Day was also asked about star freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who was held to one catch for 3 yards against Texas — his lowest output of the season. It came as a surprise considering how much Smith dominated the first two playoff games with 13 combined catches for 290 yards against Tennessee and Oregon. Day said Texas did not play Smith any differently and again pointed to the missed opportunities on offense.

“It’s a little bit more about execution than it is anything else,” Day said. “We weren’t able to sustain a few of those drives and connect on a couple other plays. [Smith is] obviously a huge part of our offense, so there’s different ways that teams will adjust based on what he’s done and what he’s capable of. We’ll identify what those are in this game and then go from there.

“But to me, the story of this past game was the self-inflicted wounds that set us back and allowed us to be in the game in the fourth quarter, when we could have done a better job executing and made it a little bit of a bigger spread down the stretch. That’s going to be the focus this week. We’ve got to play our best game against Notre Dame.”

Day said starting cornerback Denzel Burke, who sat out the second half against Texas with an upper extremity injury, will be ready to play against the Irish.

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