NEW YORK – Max Fried sat near the dugout railing on Thursday at Yankee Stadium, a thousand-yard stare across his face. Most of the lefty’s stat line looked sharp: a run, a hit, seven strikeouts. But it was only the fourth inning, and already he had thrown his last pitch of the night.
Supported by four early runs, Fried labored to record 10 outs in his third start since returning from the injured list, prompting manager Aaron Boone to make an early call to the bullpen in the Yankees’ 10-3 victory over the Rockies.
Led by Anthony Volpe, who hit a grand slam as part of a three-hit, five-RBI return to the big leagues, Fried’s teammates pitched in, completing a three-game sweep of Colorado.
“It was a little of everything,” Fried said. “They saw a lot of pitches. They were having some good at-bats and not chasing. I felt like I was getting ahead, and then I just threw a lot of non-competitive pitches.”
Yankees relievers combined to hold the Rockies to two runs (one earned) over 5 2/3 innings behind Fried, who has been building stamina through his first turns since returning from a left bone bruise. He tossed 63 pitches against the Red Sox on Aug. 29 and 72 against the Padres last Friday.
“Tonight was a bit of a grind,” Boone said. “He had the swing-and-miss going. I think he was just kind of in and out of his delivery a little bit when he was trying to add or reach for it. He’d kind of spray one.”
Kyle Karros hit a second-inning homer off Fried, who otherwise limited damage, but Colorado made him work. Fried had six three-ball counts, an uncharacteristic lack of command.
“It was kind of a weird outing,” Fried said. “I was executing in certain counts, but I also had a lot of really bad misses, which caused a lot of deep counts. Obviously, only going 80 pitches and not getting through four is not ideal. I didn’t want to put the bullpen in that position, but they did a great job picking me up.”
Since returning from the injured list, Fried has no record and a 2.13 ERA in 12 2/3 innings.
Leading the American League Wild Card chase with hopes of catching the Rays (87-59) in the American League East, the Yankees (84-62) are counting on Fried to round into form. Their postseason rotation projects to lean upon Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole and Fried, with Carlos Rodón also in the mix to draw a start.
“We’re looking forward to having me completely built up for the end of the season into the playoffs,” Fried said. “They’ve had a plan. As much as I would love to fast-forward the plan and just say, ‘Let’s throw it all out the window,’ we’ve got a lot of really smart people that work really hard here to try to make sure that I’m going to be healthy for when it matters most.”