Everything was set up so nicely for the Yankees.
Max Fried had just exited to a standing ovation after hurling 6.1 shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox in Tuesday night’s Game 1 of the Wild Card round, leaving it up to the high-leverage arms in the Yankees’ bullpen to preserve a one-run lead.
But that lead didn’t last much longer.
The Red Sox rallied for two runs as soon as Fried departed, dealing the Yankees a 3-1 loss in the Bronx and leaving them on the edge of elimination.
Fried had thrown 102 pitches when he exited with a 1-0 lead and one out in the seventh inning.
“They pressured him pretty good in the fourth, fifth, sixth. Had a couple base runners each inning,” manager Aaron Boone said of his decision to remove Fried.
“Felt like he kind of cruised through the first few, and obviously ends up pitching great. Had to work pretty hard. I was going to have the sixth be the end. After we finished [that inning] with the double play, I wanted him to go out and get [Jaren] Duran, and felt like we were lined up.”
Fried stranded two runners in scoring position with a strikeout of Duran in the fourth, then escaped a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth.
“I definitely exerted a lot of energy trying to get out of that, but I definitely had enough in the tank for whatever the team needed,” Fried said.
Luke Weaver replaced him, then walked his first batter, Ceddanne Rafaela, after an 11-pitch battle. No. 9 hitter Nick Sogard followed with a hustle double, making it to second base after sending a line drive to Aaron Judge in right-center.
Sogard slid in safely as Judge, who has been playing through a flexor strain in his right elbow, one-hopped a throw to second base, while Rafaela advanced to third.
Pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida then delivered the decisive blow, lining a two-run single up the middle against Weaver to put the Red Sox up, 2-1.
Alex Bregman tacked on another run in the ninth with a two-out RBI double against David Bednar.
The Yankees now must win Wednesday to avoid elimination in the best-of-three series.
Tuesday’s loss squandered a valiant effort by Fried, who had outdueled Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet in his first playoff start as a Yankee.
Fried held Boston to four hits and three walks while striking out six, using seven different pitches to keep a righty-heavy Red Sox lineup off-balance. He escaped multiple jams, stranding six baserunners as Boston went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position against him.
Crochet, meanwhile, dominated after surrendering a second-inning solo home run to Anthony Volpe.
That was the only run Crochet allowed in 7.2 innings, during which he struck out 11 over 117 pitches.
Tuesday’s marquee matchup followed an offseason in which Fried and Crochet became intertwined.
In December, the Yankees signed Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract as a pivot after Juan Soto’s departure for the Mets, winning a bidding war in which the Red Sox were finalists.
The Yankees envisioned Fried forming an elite one-two punch with Gerrit Cole atop their rotation, but Cole underwent Tommy John surgery during spring training, making Fried their No. 1 starter.
Fried rose to the occasion, going 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 32 starts. He was at his best down the stretch, going 6-0 with a 1.55 ERA over his final seven starts.
The Red Sox pulled off a pivot of their own after missing out on Fried, trading a prospect haul to the Chicago White Sox to acquire Crochet.
Crochet went 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA and was the only pitcher in the American League to throw more innings (202) than Fried’s 195.1.
He went 3-0 with a 3.29 ERA in four starts against the Yankees in the regular season. Including Tuesday’s game, the Red Sox are 5-0 against the Yankees in games started by Crochet.
Former Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman got the final four outs of the game for Boston, including working out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the ninth.
After Paul Goldschmidt, Judge and Cody Bellinger began the inning with three consecutive singles, Chapman struck out Giancarlo Stanton, got Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out, and struck out Trent Grisham to end the game.
With their season on the line, the Yankees are set to turn to Carlos Rodón (18-9, 3.09 ERA) for Wednesday night’s must-win Game 2 in the Bronx.
The Red Sox plan to counter with Brayan Bello (11-9, 3.35 ERA).
Rodón was 1-2 with a 5.74 ERA in three starts against the Red Sox this season. Bello went 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts against the Yankees, though they tagged the right-hander for four runs in five innings on Sept. 13.
“A lot of veterans in this clubhouse that have been through some stuff,” Judge said. “A lot of this team [went] to the postseason last year, been to the World Series, been in some tough moments. We’ll go out there and play our game, and we’ll be good.”
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