Fried shines in return as Yankees top Pirates 2-0 to win series

The Yankees took down the Pirates 2-0 to win the series. Max Fried took the mound for the Yankees, making his first start since May 13 and facing off against Bubba Chandler. 

“This is my favorite thing to do,” Fried said. “Being out for the last couple months, that was really tough. Coming out, giving us a chance to win, and getting back out there and feeling the energy, it felt normal and I'm happy about that.”

Fried faced the minimum in the top of the first thanks to a perfect throw from Cody Bellinger in left field to prevent a leadoff double. 

Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the first with a walk, but Ben Rice grounded into a 3-6-3 double play, and Paul Goldshmdit flew out to end the inning. 

In the top of the second, Fried navigated around a leadoff walk and picked up his second strikeout of the ballgame to work a scoreless inning. Fried retired the side in order in the third and fourth innings and picked up three more punchouts in that stretch. 

Fried worked a 1-2-3 top of the fifth inning with a pair of strikeouts to put his total up to seven in the ballgame. 

Angel Chivilli replaced Fried on the mound in the top half of the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 inning and picked up a strikeout. 

After Fried pitched in just one rehab start, finding out he was returning yesterday and being on a limited pitch count, he dominated. Final line for Fried: Five shutout innings pitched, one hit allowed, walked one, and struck out seven on 57 pitches. He threw his cutter 30% of the time, the fastball 28%, the sinker 18%, the sweeper 7%, the curveball 7%, the changeup 5%, and the slider 4%. Fried topped out at 98.5 mph, averaging 96.2 mph on his heater, and had 10 swings and misses. 

“Definitely a lot of adrenaline,” Fried said. “Found out yesterday, obviously, that it was even a possibility, so didn't have much time to prepare. I think that's almost better. You've just got to show up and just compete.”

Chivilli came back out for the top of the seventh inning and allowed a leadoff infield single to Jared Triolo, ending Chivilli’s night. Paul Blackburn took over, and Triolo made it up to third with one out on a throwing error from Ali Sánchez, but Blackburn picked up a couple of strikeouts to keep the ballgame scoreless. 

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Belli worked a walk. Then, with two outs, Jasson Dominguez lined an RBI double into the left field corner to give the Yankees the lead. The next batter, Anthony Volpe, made it 2-0 with an RBI single. 

https://youtu.be/6MZsa0orSsM

Blackburn remained in the game for the top of the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning to lower his season ERA to 2.00. 

Sánchez dunked a bloop single into center field to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. However, Rice bounced into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. 

Will Warren got the call for the top of the ninth inning and allowed a leadoff single. Warren then picked up the next two outs and was ahead in the count 0-2, a strike away from ending the game, but walked the batter. Tim Hill replaced Warren with runners on first and second with two outs and picked up the final out on a groundball to second base and a play at first base that was as close as it could be but ended up standing after review to end the game. 

“I mean, that was a close one, but thankfully we got the out and closed it out; that's what's important,” Dominguez said. 

The Yankees will have an off day tomorrow, then head to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in a three-game series. Warren will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against all-star Jesús Luzardo. First pitch is slated for 6:45 p.m. ET on Apple TV. 

My thoughts on the game: Great win from the Yankees. The offense didn't do much, but did just enough to win the series against a solid Pirates team. And the pitching was just unreal all series long, and with the trade deadline just around the corner, the bullpen should only get better. Fried was lights out in his first start in two and a half months with five innings of one-hit baseball when he was on a pitch limit. Chivilli did his job yet again; he is starting to look like another success story from pitching coach Matt Blake, as his ERA is down to 0.79. Blackburn is also in the same boat, as he picked up six huge outs, and the guy who was DFAed by the Mets now has nearly a sub-2 ERA. Warren looked decent in his first relief outing of the season. I dont know why they put him in, but it worked out, thankfully. And Hill did his job. The offense didn't do much with just five hits and two runs. Dominguez came through with a huge RBI double and Volpe had an RBI base knock. On to Friday as the Yankees will have a big test against the Phillies, who are a great team all around.