Fried shines, but the bullpen collapses as the Yankees drop game 1

New York—The Yankees dropped game one of the Wild Card series to the Red Sox 3-1 and will now have their backs against the wall tomorrow. Max Fried got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Garrett Crochet. 

In the top of the first inning, Fried worked around a two-out single to put together a scoreless frame and recorded his first Postseason strikeout as a Yankee. 

Paul Goldschmidt led off the bottom of the first inning with a sharply hit single to left field. Aaron Judge followed that up with nearly an identical single to put two runners on with nobody out. But Cody Bellinger struck out and Giancarlo Stanton grounded into a double play to end the inning. 

Fried worked a 1-2-3 top of the second inning and picked up his second strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

Anthony Volpe got the Yankees on the board with two outs in the bottom of the second inning, launching a solo shot to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

"It felt good to put us ahead. These are tight games, tight margins, so anytime you can get a lead... feels good," Volpe said. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Fried walked a batter and gave up a bloop double with two outs, but Fried recorded his fifth strikeout of the night to help work into and out of trouble. 

Fried worked around a two-out walk and an infield single to keep the Yankees' 1-0 lead intact in the top of the fifth. 

Trent Grisham, Volpe, and Austin Wells struck out in order in the bottom of the fifth inning as Crochet has now retired 10 straight hitters since Volpe's home run in the second inning. 

Fried got screwed by a clear missed strike three call, leading to a walk, but a 4-4-3 double play ball helped him work a scoreless frame. 

Fried came back out of the top of the seventh inning and picked up the first out of the inning to finish off 6.1 innings of shutout baseball in his Yankee Postseason debut. Luke Weaver took over for Fried and walked a batter, then gave up a double to put two runners in scoring position with one out. The next batter, Masataka Yoshida, hit a two-run single to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Fernando Cruz took over for Weaver and picked up the final two outs of the frame thanks to a nice play from Judge. 

Max Fried's final line: 6.1 shutout innings, four hits allowed, three walks, 19 swings and misses, and six strikeouts on 102 pitches. Fried threw his curveball 24% of the time, the cutter 24%, the changeup 19%, the sweeper 12%, the sinker 11%, the fastball 10%, and the slider 2% of the time. Fried was excellent tonight. I wish they had kept him in to finish the seventh inning, considering this might be his final start of the season, and unfortunately, the bullpen didn't do their job behind him. 

"I'm going to stay in until I get the ball taken from me", Fried said. "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."

Stanton, Belli, and Amed Rosario went down in order for the Yankees in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Crochet has now retired 16 straight Yankees. 

Devin Williams took over for Cruz and worked around a leadoff walk to put together a scoreless inning. 

Volpe sent a single right back up the middle to break up Crochet's streak of 17 straight Yankees retired. Wells then struck out looking to end Crochet's night. Former Yankee Aroldis Chapman replaced him on the mound, and Volpe was able to move up to second base thanks to a balk from Chapman, but José Caballero flew out to strand Volpe at second base. 

David Bednar took over for Williams on the mound in the top of the ninth inning and quickly picked up the first two outs, then gave up a single followed by an RBI double to Alex Bregman, making it a 3-1 game. Tim Hill replaced Bednar on the bump and picked up the final out of the inning. 

Goldy led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a line drive single to left field. Judge followed that up with a single right back up the middle. Belli then dunked a single of his own into center field to load the bases with nobody out. However, Stanton struck out, Jazz Chisholm Jr., who wasn't in the starting lineup but took over for Risario on defense, flew out, and Grisham struck out to strand the bases loaded with nobody out. 

"Yeah, I guess, it's a little conversation, not much, but you know, just move forward after it," Jazz said on Aaron Boone's decision not to start him. ​​"He texted me last night, we gotta do whatever we gotta do to win, right? That's how I look at it".

The Yankees will have their backs against the wall tomorrow, facing elimination with Carlos Rodon on the mound, facing off against Bryan Bello. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. ET on ESPN yet again. 

"We just gotta go out and win tomorrow, and we can worry about Game 3 if we get there," Goldy said.

My thoughts on the game: It was a brutal loss. No team has ever won a three-game World Series series after losing the first game since it was implemented in 2022, so hopefully, the Yankees can change that. Crochet just absolutely shut down the Yankees tonight. Fried absolutely dominated; I wish they had kept him in longer because Weaver just did not have it at all. Bednar gave up another run in the ninth inning; the bullpen just did not have it—way too many walks from the pitching staff, six over nine innings. Volpe had a great game with two hits and provided the Yankees with one run. Judge had two hits, and Goldy also had two hits. But the Yankees couldn't find a way to get that big hit with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. 

"We've been playing with a lot on the line seemingly every single day. We'll be ready to go, and I expect us to come out and get one tomorrow," Boone said.