This was the Max Fried of April, May and June.
The ace who wouldn’t give an inch to the opposition.
Who was at his best when it was needed.
The Yankees faced another setback Friday night against their rivals, the Red Sox, losing narrowly 1-0 in The Bronx. However, Fried wasn’t to blame for their woes, as he managed to keep the team competitive despite Brayan Bello’s strong performance.
“I focused on utilizing both sides of the plate and implementing all my pitches to return to effective pitching,” Fried explained following the Yankees’ drop to 1-7 against Boston this season. “I’d been over-relying on the fastball, but wanted to vary my pitch selection in different counts and not shy away from taking risks.”
The southpaw allowed just four singles across six shutout innings while striking out seven.
He retired phenom Roman Anthony all three times he faced him. Each at-bat, there were runners on base as well.
Fried threw seven different pitches against the Red Sox, and none of them more than 26 times.
He cut back on his usage of the cut fastball, throwing it on just 14 occasions. That was by design.
He added, “My strength is in altering speeds and controlling both sides of the plate. Earlier, I boxed myself in by overusing the cutter. I aimed to switch things up, and it paid off. It felt good to keep the team within reach of a win.”
The only negative to Fried’s outing was his pitch count was so high — 99 after six innings — he couldn’t go deeper into the game.
That was mostly the result of three walks.
But that’s nitpicking for a pitcher who had struggled so much of late.
In three previous August starts, Fried had allowed 15 earned runs over 15 innings, a 9.00 ERA. He wasn’t much better in July, pitching to a 5.54 ERA.
Maybe this is a start for Fried as September nears.
The Yankees need this version of him moving forward.
“All his pitches contributed tonight, and that was encouraging,” manager Aaron Boone remarked. “He consistently avoided the sweet spot all game, showcasing his full skillset.”
