Fried deals as Yankees offense powers past Twins

The Yankees wasted no time getting on the board in this one. Ben Rice led off with a single, and Cody Bellinger followed with a two-run home run to put the Yankees up 2-0. 

Fried navigated around a leadoff single, putting together a shutdown bottom half of the first inning. 

With one out in the top of the second inning, Anthony Volpe and Ali Sanchez each singled, then Volpe stole third to put runners at the corners. However, José Caballero and Rice both flew out, stranding Volpe and Sanchez. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Emmanuel Rodriguez came through with a two-out RBI single to cut the Yankees' lead to 2-1. 

The Yankees got that run straight back in the top of the third inning, as George Lombard Jr. delivered a two-out RBI single through the right side of the infield to make it 3-1. Volpe worked a walk to load the bases, then Sanchez missed a grand slam, flying out to dead center field and stranding the bases loaded. 

Fried worked a nice, easy 1-2-3 bottom half of the third inning and recorded his third strikeout of the game. 

With one out in the top of the sixth inning, Rice reached via an E6, and Belli followed with a walk to reach base for the third time tonight. Then Heliot Ramos drove in a run with an RBI double to extend the Yankees' lead to 4-1. Then Spencer Jones demolished a hanging breaking ball for a three-run home run against a left-hander to put the Yankees ahead 7-1. 

“Taylor Rogers left-on-left, looking at his scouting report, kind of knew he was going to throw some breaking balls, so tried to just see something close to me and put a good swing on it,” Jones said. 

Fried faced the minimum in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a 1-4-3 double play, putting together a shutdown inning. 

Ryan Yarbrough replaced Fried on the mound in the bottom of the eighth and worked a scoreless inning. Twins manager Derek Shelton was ejected after Rodriguez crushed a ball foul that was originally ruled a home run but quickly overturned. 

Fried's final line: seven innings pitched, six hits allowed, one earned run, no walks, and six strikeouts on 88 pitches. He threw his sweeper 22% of the time, the cutter 19%, the curveball 17%, the sinker 16%, the changeup 15%, and the fastball 11%. Fried topped out at 94.6 mph, sitting at 93.7 mph on his heater, and had 10 whiffs. 

“Just had better control of my off-speed pitches, be able to throw them for strikes,” Fried said of the adjustments he made between starts. “Felt like I was able to throw them in any count and was really, really confident with that. Worked really well with Ali. And then, also, when you have defense make some really great plays behind you, it just adds to your confidence.” 

The Yankees tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning thanks to an RBI single from Caballero. 

Yarbrough came back out for the bottom of the ninth inning and retired the Twins in order to secure the series win for the Yankees. 

The Yankees will look to finish off the sweep tomorrow with Carlos Rodon on the mound facing off against Zebby Matthews. First pitch is slated for 1:40 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Another great win and series win for the Yankees. But unfortunately, the Rays just don’t lose, as they walked off the A’s. Fried was dealing tonight; his fastball velocity was still down a bit, but it didn't matter because his off-speed pitches were unhittable. Yarbrough tossed two shutout innings, as he is quietly having a great season with a 3.68 ERA. The Yankees offense was on fire tonight with 14 hits and eight runs; the Yankees are now 56-6 on the season when scoring five runs or more. Lombard had his first multi-hit game since August 23 and also drew a walk and drove in a run. Belli reached base four times tonight on three hits and a walk, plus two RBIs on a two-run bomb. Volpe also had a two-hit night; he looks so much more comfortable at the plate since being recalled, hopefully he can keep it up. Ramos also had a multi-hit game; he has a 161 wRC+ over his last 15 games. Jones also went deep, and it was against a lefty as he continues to prove he can hit lefties, hitting .435 with three home runs, 12 RBIs, and a 1.251 OPS. And the Yankees offense did all of this without Aaron Judge in the lineup. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to finish off the sweep. 

“I don't know, I mean I try to not think too deep about it,” Jones said of his success against left-handed pitching. “I feel like I got a good approach. I got a good idea of where I'm trying to be in the batter's box and a good sense of the zone. So it's just about making sure you're swinging at the right pitches.”