Braves Briefing: Despite the loss, Friday night was great for baseball

Two teams entered the fray Friday night bringing impressive streaks with them.

Both the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds squared off and the battle between the two hottest teams in baseball did not disappoint. The 11-10 final favored the Reds but the electric matchup may have been the best nine-inning frame of the MLB season.

Baseball writer Jared Carrabis of DraftKings shared the following in a tweet and it's hard to form an argument against it.

How awesome is it that we’ve got the Braves on an 8-game winning streak against the Reds on an 11-game winning streak, a sold out crowd in Cincinnati that’s been dying to see good baseball, and then both teams go out there and put on arguably the most exciting game of the season?

Also, throw in one of the most exciting players in baseball, ELly De La Cruz, hitting for the cycle in historic fashion. He was the fifth youngest player to hit for the cycle.

Atlanta will look to knock the Reds off of their win streak tonight.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	GB	Action Today
Atlanta	48-27	-	@ Cincinnati
Miami	43-34	6.0	Hosts Pittsburgh
Philadelphia	39-36	9.0	Hosts NYM
NYM	34-41	14.0	@ Philadelphia
Washington	28-47	20.0	@ San Diego

We wrote it

Jake Mastroianni covered the action Friday night for Braves Today. One of his takeaways was that the pitching was missing command in the first game against the Reds.

Great American Ball Park can be tough on any pitcher, but it makes matters worse when you're giving the other team free bases.
AJ Smith-Shawver got off to a good start, but the young righty wound up getting himself in trouble walking four batters and hitting one.
The walks were compounded as he gave up 3 home runs.
Atlanta's bullpen couldn't control things much better as they hit two batters and walked four more leading to 6 runs that allowed the Reds to pull away.

Check out the full list of takeaways here.

How to watch the Atlanta Braves vs the Cincinnati Reds

The Reds and Braves will battle again on Saturday with Jared Shuster going against Graham Ashcraft at 4:10 PM ET. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports Southeast and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

Check out Braves Today on Socials!
Follow Braves Today on Twitter!
Like Braves Today on Facebook!
Check out the homepage for more Atlanta Braves News!
Subscribe to Braves Today on YouTube!
Get Exclusive Braves Merchandise from FOCO