NEW YORK -- Even with the reduced sample size due to missing more than two months with a bone bruise in his pitching elbow, it feels unfathomable that Max Fried entered Thursday without a win at Yankee Stadium this season. After a stunning 8-2 record and a 2.37 ERA in the Bronx in 2025, it seems that this fact is more of an unlucky quirk, given how he’s performed at home (3.45 ERA in five outings), especially as of late.
Since returning from the injured list, Fried had tossed two scoreless outings at Yankee Stadium, the most recent being a brilliant 6 1/3-inning showing against the Braves this past Friday, in which he retired the final 12 batters that he faced. On Thursday, he pitched well enough against the Mariners to finally reap the benefits of some home cooking, but the Yankees' bats fell silent in a 1-0 loss. Fried battled through five innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out four batters and walking two.
Though Fried’s pitch count got a bit elevated against a lineup that apparently made its gameplan “tough at-bats” this series, he notched his eighth start of the season in which he’s allowed one or fewer runs -- lowering his season ERA to 2.81.
Entering with a 1.13 ERA against Seattle in four career starts, the left-hander set the tone with back-to-back strikeouts against Randy Arozarena and Julio Rodríguez -- catching both looking with a cutter and sweeper on the inside corner of the plate. After a two-out walk to Dominic Canzone, Fried sawed off Cal Raleigh, getting the catcher to softly ground out to end the frame.
Fried’s only blip came in the second frame in a strange plate appearance against third baseman Weston Wilson. Fried caught Wilson off-balance with a 1-0 changeup, sending the right-handed hitter’s bat flying into the Mariners’ dugout. Two pitches later, Wilson crushed a cutter that caught a bit too much of the plate a couple rows back into the left-field seats for a solo home run. It was the first home run that Fried had allowed since April 16.
Fried faced traffic on the basepaths the rest of the way (while still only allowing one runner outside of the homer to reach second base), but received considerable help up the middle thanks to a pair of double plays in the fourth and fifth innings from George Lombard Jr. and Jazz Chisholm Jr.