BOSTON — Yankees starter Max Fried was mad at himself two batters into his start Wednesday night at Fenway Park. All it took was Willson Contreras working a five-pitch walk with one out in the Red Sox first.
The lefty hates walking batters anytime, but giving the Red Sox a free baserunner after being handed a 3-0 lead before he threw a pitch was unacceptable in the ace’s quest-for-pitching-perfection world.
The next inning, Fried became more upset at himself when leadoff hitter Andrew Monasterio walked and it led to a major threat after Jarren Duran doubled to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out.
Neither free pass cost the Yankees any runs, but when Fried returned to the dugout after he struck out three in a row to escape the second-inning jam, he was approached by his pitching coach.
“Hey, it’s not working,” Matt Blake said. “When you’re gonna cut it out?’”
Blake wanted Fried to stop pitching with a windup with nobody on base because his command was much better from the stretch.
“You’re right,” Fried responded. “I just gotta cut it and figure it out.”
Fried ended up scattering five hits over eight scoreless innings with nine strikeout and the Yankees won 4-1 to make it five in a row.
Yankees moneyline is -140 on BetMGM for Thursday’s series finale versus Boston. Our complete BetMGM Sportsbook review provides a guide on how to register and navigate their app.
“Sometimes when you’re in a stubborn mood (you’d be reluctant), but other times you’re willing to accept what’s been going on,” Fried said. “It’s not like it’s just been one game. It’s been every game this year.
“So after a month, you can sit there and say, ‘Hey, it’s just it’s not working. Let’s work on it in-between starts, see if we can figure it out.’ But if not, we know that the stretch is good and we can just roll with that.
This was a nice rebound start for Fried, who allowed a season-high five runs over 5 1/3 innings in a loss to the Angels in his previous outing.
“I definitely felt more like myself,” said Fried, who is 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA in six starts.
Fried, by the way, hopes to get back to pitching out of a windup at some point.
“The windup is something that I’ve always been really comfortable with and I really like,” he said, “but for whatever reason this year I’ve walked a ton of guys in the windup and I haven’t walked anyone in the stretch.
“So when you look at the numbers like that, you sit there and you walk two guys early on, knowing that the walks have really hurt me, especially with no one on base, I just said, ‘You know what? You’ve gotta suck up your pride and just say whatever’s working.’”
The Yankees were one strike away from making it three shutout wins in a row before Duran’s lefty-on-lefty single to center off Brent Headrick with two outs in the Boston ninth. Trevor Story scored from second base on the hit, having led off with a single and advancing into scoring position on a defensive indifference.
The scoreless-inning streak is over, but Yankees starters haven’t allowed a run over 27 2/3 innings heading into Thursday night’s series finale.
The Yankees will try to keep it going and sweep the Red Sox with New England native Cam Schlittler making his first career start at Fenway Park.
“It’s been incredible,” designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said. “They’ve been dominant. They’re really locked in. It’s easier on the offensive side when they’re dominant like that.”