Yankees’ Max Fried gets first win since April in encouraging start
· Yahoo Sports
MINNESOTA — Impeded by multiple bone bruises in his prized left elbow, Max Fried recorded his first win since April 27 on Tuesday night when the Yankees beat the Twins, 8-1.
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The southpaw also completed seven innings for the first time since April 22 while holding Minnesota to one earned run, which came on an Emmanuel Rodriguez single in the second inning. Fried struck out six, and he didn’t allow any walks over 88 pitches after a couple of free passes and long at-bats limited him to just 3.1 innings his last time out on Sept. 10.
“I thought he threw really well. He had a little of everything going. He did a good job with the shape of his breaking balls,” Aaron Boone said. “I like where he’s at after that.”
“It definitely was nice to be able to put what felt like a full start together,” added Fried, who is now four outings removed from his most recent stint on the injured list.
While Fried has a 2.63 ERA, it’s been a bumpy and achy year for the co-ace. His bone bruises have limited him to just 19 starts, making consistency and length harder to come by.
However, Fried believes he is close to being fully built up — he said he was only supposed to throw 80-85 pitches on Tuesday — and he now has reason to be encouraged with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season and the playoffs approaching.
“It’s really nice,” Fried said. “You want to be able to be throwing well at this time of the year, and I’m just really thankful to the medical staff, coaches, everyone that’s kind of been [watching] my health and getting me to this point to be in a position to succeed.”
Fried did note that he still wants to be sharper as he puts the finishing touches on his injury-riddled season, though. One pitch to watch in that regard is his four-seam fastball, which he only threw 10 times on Tuesday with a 93.7-mph average velocity. That was down 1.2 mph from Fried’s season average.
His heater’s velocity has fluctuated this year, and his bone bruises were most uncomfortable when he was extending at full force. Fortunately for Fried, he has a seven-pitch mix to work with.
With Fried fresh off a night in which he made good use of that mix, he already had his sights set on his next start, which will come against the first-place Rays next week in New York.
With the second-place Yankees, down 3.5 games, trying to overcome the odds and win the American League East, they will need Fried at his best against Tampa. He’s looking forward to the opportunity.
“It’s going to be playoff baseball,” he said.