Yankees Max Fried dominates after getting through…
SAN FRANCISCO — Max Fried signed with the Yankees before last season with the concept of pitching at the top of the rotation, alongside Gerrit Cole.
But when Cole was misplaced for all of last season with Tommy John surgical procedure, Fried took charge as the ace of the rotation.
With Cole approaching a return at some level in late May or early June, he and Fried ought to give you the chance to present that anticipated one-two punch soon enough.
In the meantime, Fried picked up where he left off in Wednesday’s season-opening 7-0 win over the Giants at Oracle Park, pitching 6 ¹/₃ scoreless innings.
It got here after he started his outing with a four-pitch stroll to the free-swinging Luis Arraez and then gave up a one-out single to Rafael Devers.
Fried obtained out of the inning unscathed, and after the Yankees gave him a five-run lead in the top of the second, the lefty cruised the remainder of the way in which.
He retired 10 of 11 after Devers’ hit and pitched into the seventh despite being restricted to around 90 pitches.
Fried left after 86 pitches and was dominant after the first despite insisting he didn’t have his best stuff — a sentiment Aaron Boone agreed with.
“It was one of those outings you’ve got to try to figure out how to get it done when you aren’t the most locked in out of the gate,” Fried said. “You grind through it.”
Max Fried throws a pitch during the Yankees’ 7-0 Opening Day win over the Giants on March 25, 2026 in San Francisco. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Boone said of Fried: “He can beat you in different ways … his arsenal is so vast that he makes you have to account for a lot of things.”
It contains a four-seam fastball, cutter, sinker and curveball, with some sweepers, changeups and sliders blended in.
Boone famous that since Fried’s cutter wasn’t as efficient as it often is, his four-seamer was even more important.
It all added up to Fried simply outpitching San Francisco ace Logan Webb.
Max Fried delivers a pitch during the Yankees’ Opening Day win over the Giants in San Francisco. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“That’s what an ace seems like when he’s grinding,’’ Boone said.
Certainly, one thing must have modified after that tough top of the first, when Fried discovered himself in bother nearly immediately with Willy Adames and Jung Hoo Lee coming to the plate.
“He was a little more in the zone early and got ahead [in counts],” Austin Wells said.
And Fried credited the early five-run benefit for giving him some respiration room for most of the outing.
“It gives you a little more room for error and you can be aggressive and make adjustments,” Fried said.
It also helps to have filthy stuff, as Ryan McMahon famous.
The third baseman scoffed at the notion that Fried was something but glorious in his first start.
“He really knows how to pitch,” McMahon said. “He probably told you he didn’t have his best stuff, which is crazy with what he did. He knows how to compete, and we feed off that.”
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