Fried can't shake second-half funk as Astros wear him down

NEW YORK – During most of the first half, Yankees left-hander Max Fried was dealing as he replaced Gerrit Cole as the ace of the pitching staff. As late as June 25, Fried had a 1.92 ERA in 17 starts.

But it has been rough going since then, including Sunday’s 7-1 loss to the Astros at Yankee Stadium. Fried has allowed 29 runs (24 earned) in his past 36 innings for a 6.00 ERA.

To be successful against Houston, according to manager Aaron Boone, all Fried had to do was throw strike one. Mission accomplished, but Fried couldn’t put hitters away. That’s why he lasted just five innings, allowed four runs and threw 94 pitches (64 strikes).

Fried’s worst inning might have been his last, when he threw 36 pitches. The big blow came when Fried faced Cam Smith, who was down 0-2 in the count. But Smith worked the count full then doubled near the right-field line, scoring Carlos Correa and Christian Walker to make it a four-run game.

“Today, he was having a hard time putting guys away, and I think it’s just putting the ball in that next level of where he wants it,” Boone said about Fried. “I do think his stuff is good. He is throwing hard. His cutter looks good to me. The breaks on his pitches are good. … It comes down to command throughout. I feel like he has been a little bit scattered throughout.”

Fried said the Astros were aggressive and using all parts of the field to get on base.

“I tried to move the ball around a bunch. They were able to battle, put the ball in play,” Fried said. “I gave up a lot of hits, and there was a lot of traffic on the bases. Yeah, they really ground me down and put together some good at-bats in a game where I needed to come out … and get better results.”

Sunday marked the 10th straight game a Yankees starting pitcher didn't pitch past the fifth inning. That concerns Boone because he doesn’t want to overwork the bullpen.

“We have to improve in that area. We have to get some outings [from the starters] where we get a little bit deeper. If we do that, I think we set up very well down in our bullpen,” Boone said.

Fried’s counterpart, right-hander Jason Alexander, didn’t throw like the actor of the same name who played George Costanza on Seinfeld. The Yankees couldn’t create any traffic on the bases against him. In fact, Alexander held the Yankees hitless until the sixth inning, when Ben Rice singled to left-center field. But Rice ended up being erased after Aaron Judge hit into an inning-ending double play.

“He avoided the barrel. … He was getting outs,” Rice said.

Said Boone: “He didn’t make a lot of mistakes and his changeup was good, kind of giving us a problem. But we have to be able to muster more than that. We didn’t pressure them enough at all, obviously. No hits there [for 5 1/3].

“That said, we knew he came off a good outing against Miami and followed it up today. I felt we had some good matchups there, [but we] just couldn't punch through.”

Alexander was out of the game when the Yankees scored their lone run in the seventh. With Astros reliever Bryan Abreu on the mound, Jazz Chisholm Jr. touched home plate on a sacrifice fly by Ryan McMahon.

The Yankees have had problems in the batter’s box since the All-Star break. New York has a .216 batting average in 22 games in the second half. Judge can’t do it alone. Key players like Anthony Volpe (.231 during the second half), Chisholm (.200) and Austin Wells (.118) need to step up.

“We have a few guys that need to get on track and are scuffling,” Boone said.

“... That’s the nature of the beast with offense a little bit. You are going to have some lulls. You have to be able to win games in other ways. I feel very confident in the offense and what we should be able to do. … Today was the day you felt like we should have been able to put some things together.”

The Yankees (62-56) have gone just 20-31 since June 13. They find themselves in third place in the American League East, 6 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays (69-50). New York is clinging to the third and final AL Wild Card spot by just a half-game ahead of the Guardians (61-56), who lost to the White Sox, 6-4.

“Obviously, we are feeling it. We know we have to be better. We have a much higher standard for ourselves and expectations,” Boone said.

“At the same time, we are in control of this. I wholeheartedly believe that we are going to get rolling and turn this thing around. When it does, then you start to build that next layer of confidence where guys are feeding off each other. It’s all talk right now.”