Max Fried stifles Red Sox as Yankees complete Wild Card sweep, advance to ALDS
· Yahoo Sports
Max Fried waited nearly a year for this.
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Last postseason, Fried was lined up to start a decisive Game 5 in the ALDS, only for the Toronto Blue Jays to eliminate his Yankees in four games.
That meant the final start of Fried’s debut Yankee season was an Oct. 5 loss in which he surrendered seven runs over three innings in Toronto — a bitter shortcoming he said motivated him over the offseason.
In his first playoff start since then, that motivation seemed to work.
Fried delivered a gem in Wednesday night’s 9-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, completing a lopsided two-game sweep in the Bronx to send the Yankees back to the ALDS.
The Yankees will next face the Tampa Bay Rays, with Game 1 scheduled for Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Fried, 32, held the Red Sox to one run in six innings, striking out six over 98 pitches.
The left-hander allowed only three hits and a walk, with the lone blemish being a two-out, sixth-inning home run by Willson Contreras that wouldn’t have left the yard in any other ballpark, according to Statcast.
The Yankees led, 2-1, when Fried threw his final pitch of the night, then erupted for six runs in the bottom of the sixth to break the game open.
The Yankees outscored the Red Sox, 18-2, in the two-game series, despite back-to-back American League MVP Aaron Judge being sidelined with a calf strain. This is the second year in a row that the Yankees eliminated their century-old rival in the Wild Card round.
“Anytime you don’t end the season holding up the trophy, it sits with you,” Fried said this week, reflecting on last year’s ALDS defeat.
“It definitely sits with you. And you either let it affect you or you use it as motivation to be able to move forward. So for me, it was something that fueled me in the offseason. And then once we got into the season, it’s a new goal, new year. Wipe it clean.”
After going 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA over 32 starts last season — his first in an eight-year, $218 million contract — Fried was limited to 20 starts this season due to a left elbow bone bruise that required two stints on the injured list.
But Fried has remained effective whenever he’s pitched, going 5-5 with a 2.80 ERA in the regular season.
That’s why the Yankees turned to Fried for Game 2 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series, entrusting him behind Cam Schlittler, who hurled 6.1 scoreless innings in Tuesday night’s 9-0 win in Game 1.
“I feel normal,” Fried said. “I feel like the same me. I’m not really worrying about my health going into the start.”
Fried outdueled Red Sox starter Sonny Gray, a former Yankee who famously struggled during his tenure from 2017-18 and has since been outspoken about disliking his time in the Bronx.
At age 36, the right-handed Gray delivered a career-best season in his first year with Boston, going 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA.
The Yankees countered by starting eight true left-handed batters, the most in a single playoff lineup in MLB history.
Gray kept the Yankees off the board until one of those lefties, Luis García Jr., clubbed a hanging sweeper into the right-field stands for a solo home run in the fourth, breaking a scoreless tie.
It was the first career playoff homer for García, a New York native and childhood Yankees fan whom the team acquired from the Washington Nationals before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
After only 70 pitches, Gray exited — to loud boos — with two outs in the fifth and runners at the corners. Cody Bellinger then greeted lefty reliever Erik Miller with an RBI single, putting the Yankees up, 2-0.
The Yankees piled on in the sixth, when the first four batters reached base against left-hander Garrett Crochet, normally the Red Sox ace, who was making his first appearance since April 25 due to a shoulder injury.
An RBI single by George Lombard Jr. scored the Yankees’ third run, and an Austin Wells sacrifice fly pushed across their fourth.
After an RBI groundout by Ryan McMahon, Cody Bellinger delivered the dagger, drilling a three-run home against Garrett Whitlock to give the Yankees an 8-1 lead.
They now turn their sights to a Rays team (98-64) that won the AL East over the Yankees (93-68), who finished second in the division and as the league’s top wild-card team.
The Rays won the head-to-head season series, 7-6, and are one of the few teams that can rival the Yankees’ elite starting pitching.
By sweeping the Wild Card Series, the Yankees did not have to use Gerrit Cole, nor did they deploy Carlos Rodón in relief, giving them fresh pitching options going into the ALDS.
Still, that series could come down to the status of Judge, whose timeline to return remains uncertain.