When the Yankees first signed Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal, the plan was for him to be the Robin to Gerrit Cole’s Batman.
But Cole underwent Tommy John surgery during spring training, catapulting Fried to the very top of the Yankees’ rotation depth chart. Tasked with being the unquestioned ace on a new team, the former Brave played the part brilliantly over his first 17 starts, logging a 1.92 ERA while averaging over six innings per outing.
Lately however, Fried has had to grind through his start days.
Such was the case on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, as the lefty entered a rubber match against the Astros with a 5.81 ERA over his last six games — a stretch that included a since-healed blister — before permitting four earned runs over five frames.
The Yankees lost, 7-1, dropping the third-place club to 62-56 on the season.
Fried, who also tallied eight hits, one walk, two hit-by-pitches and three strikeouts over 94 pitches, first ran into trouble in the opening inning, as Jose Altuve took him deep for a solo shot following a round of customary boos.
Christian Walker followed with an RBI double in the third, while Cam Smith added a 3-2, two-out, two-run, two-bagger with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Fried appeared to strike Smith out when he hit the outside corner with a 2-2 fastball. However, home plate umpire Derek Thomas, who previously ejected Aaron Boone for arguing a correct strike call in the third inning, ruled the pitch a ball and prolonged Smith’s at-bat.
While Fried didn’t get any help from the umpire, his performance marked another day in which a Yankees starter failed to record an out in the sixth inning. Luis Gil became the team’s first rotation member to do so this month on Saturday; he totaled 5.1 innings.
Fried wasn’t the only reason the Yankees lost on Sunday, as the Bombers’ bats were pitiful against Jason Alexander.
The right-hander — not the actor who once played an assistant to the Yankees’ traveling secretary — began the series finale with a 5.97 ERA. That didn’t stop him from taking a no-hit bid into the sixth, though.
Alexander ended up allowing just one knock while holding the Yankees scoreless over six innings. He also walked three and struck out three.
The Yankees did get on the board with a Ryan McMahon sac fly in the seventh, but that was all they got after loading the bases with one out.
With the opportunity wasted and the Astros adding three runs during a sloppy ninth, the Yankees went on to lose their third straight series. The team is now 20-31 since June 13, giving Boone’s squad one of the worst records in baseball over that stretch.
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