Fried’s Masterclass on the Mound Leads Yankees to Victory in Detroit

Detroit, MI — Max Fried earned his pinstripes today, putting up the best start by a Yankees starter this season.

⚾️ Final Score: 4-3 NYY

WP: Fried (2-0) 1.56

LP: Holton (1-1) 2.84

SV: Leiter Jr. (1)

📰 Max Fried pitched like an Ace for 7 innings, striking out 11 and not walking a batter. Ben Rice gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead with a Homer in the 7th inning. The Yankees add on after some sloppy defense and pitching from the Tigers in the Top of the 9th. Devin Williams continues to struggle, throwing 30 pitches, and giving up 3ER. Leiter Jr. came on to get the final out, a pop-up to Jazz.

📊 Record: 7-5

📈 Streak: W1

🗓️ : Friday vs. SF (RHP Marcus Stroman (0-0, 7.27) vs. LHP Robbie Ray (2-0, 3.18))

Max Fried had an absolutely outstanding performance. For the Yankees as a team, and saving the bullpen, Fried showed why he deserved the contract the Yankees gave him. I watched the whole game, and was frustrated with the offensive performance (more on that later), but noticed that Fried was going toe-to-toe with Flaherty.

It was impressive the way he rose to the occasion and stopped the bleeding, like an Ace does.

Fried has been BY FAR the best pitcher on the starting staff, and it’s not close. Having a performance like that, in my opinion, sparked the team to do their best to win.

The Yankee offense was silent for 6.2 innings until an Oswaldo Cabrera single, leading to Ben Rice UNLOADING on a pitch off one of the Tigers’ better relievers, Tyler Holton:

The offense added on in the 9th inning after 2 hit batsman and an E4 loaded the bases for The Captain:

Now we get to the Bullpen. Luke Weaver comes in in the eighth inning looking like prime Mariano Rivera (or Lukiano Weavera) allowing a F9, a Single, a F8 and a Strikeout to end the inning. He looked fantastic.

Then, Williams came in for the 9th inning. Williams walked Torkelson after going up 0-2, then 2 strikeouts, a single, a walk, a wild pitch and another single, and the runner advanced to second after an offline throw home. Boone then pulled Williams from the game, giving up 3 ER, walking 2, and throwing 33 pitches. Not ideal.

In his postgame, Williams said:

"I haven't felt like 100% myself up to this point,"

He attributed struggles to needing game reps & lack of execution. He added he's struggled in the early parts of the season before. So it seems like it’s more of a mental struggle than physical. I hope he gets better because he is a big piece of this bullpen.

Boone had this to say on Devin Williams and his performance today:

(YES Network): “Look, I'm confident this is going to be a distant memory as we continue to move forward because he's not that far off. Just a little bit better strike throwing. Once he starts doing that and starts dictating counts, then you're going to see it because the stuff's not far off. What's that? His fourth outing. He'll be fine. He'll get through this in just early part of the season.”

Mark Leiter Jr. came on to get the final out, and he got Justyn-Henry Malloy to fly out to Jazz Chisholm Jr..

The Yankees will have a day off tomorrow before the SF Giants come to town on Friday. First pitch will be at 7:05 on Yes, and it will be Marcus Stroman against Robbie Ray.

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