NEW YORK – It was a few minutes after the clubhouse doors swung open this past weekend at Dodger Stadium, and Max Fried was pacing the carpet, stewing underneath his hooded sweatshirt. A sixth-inning lead had evaporated, and for the first time, the Yankees were examining how their new left-hander behaved after being tagged with a loss.
The outcome did not sit well with Fried, spitting that he would “use this as motivation to go out next time and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” None of this was the Guardians’ fault, but they paid the price as Fried hurled six sharp innings of one-hit ball, leading the Yanks to a 4-0 victory on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
“Last time I let the lead go, so I just wanted to make it a point to keep them in it and hold the lead as long as I could,” Fried said. “For me, it was just important getting back to doing what I do really well.”
He had help. Cody Bellinger had a big fourth inning, making a leaping catch near the right-field wall that robbed David Fry of extra bases, then belting a two-run homer off a Slade Cecconi four-seamer. Fried gulped when the ball left Fry’s bat, still learning which flies carry and which don’t in the Bronx. But Bellinger had his teammate’s back.
“It’s a fun place to play,” Bellinger said. “The home fans, the energy, the excitement. I’m really enjoying it. The fans are right there; I’m just making sure I get a good jump and trying to reach the ball as best I can.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone called Fried “the No. 1 guy on our board to go after” in free agency, the biggest domino of the post-Juan Soto shift this past offseason. He has been worth every nickel of his eight-year, $218 million contract thus far.
“He’s really good,” Boone said. “They made him work; it was a lot of deep, 3-2 counts. He had to work pretty hard for it tonight, but I thought his stuff was great. He had a lot of swing-and-miss going tonight, and he featured a little bit of everything, I thought.”
Continuing to embrace his role as the Yankees’ stopper, Thursday marked the seventh time Fried has taken the ball following a Bombers loss. The club is 7-0 in those games, with Fried personally going 6-0 with a 0.57 ERA in those starts.
“I’m not trying to do too much as far as putting extra pressure, but you just want to win every game that you can when you go out there,” Fried said. “Getting back home after a long road trip, [I’m] just starting a new month off right.”
Fried rebounded from a 28-pitch first inning that contained plenty of deep counts and the only hit he’d allow, José Ramírez’s super-soft single (38.8 mph exit velocity) to the left side of the infield.
Retiring 11 straight through one stretch, Fried tossed the kitchen sink over 103 pitches (62 for strikes), leaning heaviest on his four-seamer (50) and curve (27), spicing the mix with his sweeper (12), sinker (8), changeup (5) and cutter (1). Fried credited catcher Austin Wells for having “a really good feel of the game today.”
“We made him throw a lot of pitches. We just weren't able to get baserunners going,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “It's hard to square his ball up.”
With an 8-1 record, Fried’s 1.78 ERA is the lowest by a Yankee in his first 13 starts of a season since Phil Niekro in 1984 (1.73). Vogt lauded Fried’s ability to add and subtract from his fastball, while Bellinger observes that Fried’s unpredictability keeps opponents guessing.
“He has five quality pitches and can locate any pitch at any time,” Bellinger said. “He keeps opponents off balance. On top of that, he’s very smart and understands his plan and how he wants to execute pitches.”
Cleveland threatened against Mark Leiter Jr. in the seventh, loading the bases on two singles and an Anthony Volpe error. Tim Hill escaped the mess, striking out Bo Naylor and getting Jhonkensy Noel to fly out.
“You’ve just got to trust yourself,” Hill said. “In past situations, I’ve walked a guy with the bases loaded, and I was pretty disappointed in myself. So it’s like, make them beat you, you know?”
Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm, Jr. padded the advantage with run-scoring singles off Kolby Allard in the home half; Jonathan Loáisiga polished off the win with a perfect ninth.
“They’ve been doing such a good job all year,” Fried said. “It was obviously huge of Tim to come into that situation and get two really big outs, hold them to no runs. I just thought it was a really good team win tonight.”