Jazz and Grisham power the Yankees to a statement win in Houston

Houston—The Yankees started off their biggest 12-game stretch of the season with a 7-1 win over the Astros. Max Fried got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced Framber Valdez. 

Aaron Judge sent a two-out single right back up the middle in the top of the first inning. However, Giancarlo Stanton popped out to strand Judge. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Fried worked around a leadoff walk and recorded his first strikeout of the night to end the frame. 

Trent Grisham led off the top of the second inning with a line drive single to right field. A couple of batters later, Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a two-run bomb, his 27th of the year, to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead; it was also the 500th hit of Jazz’s career. 

"I feel like I just stick to the plan, you know my approach is the right way, and just having a good game plan and trusting my teammates on what they've seen before I got into the box," Jazz said. 

Fried worked an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning on just eight pitches. 

In the top of the fourth inning with two outs, Jazz singled to left field. The next batter, José Caballero, was hit by a pitch but couldn't check his swing, leading to Caballero being ejected from the game. Jazz then stole second base, his 26th stolen base of the year, but was stranded at second base as Ryan McMahon, who replaced Caballero, grounded out. 

“I felt like his ejection was a little too quick, and when asked if he feels like he's getting a reputation,” Caballero said, “At this point, all I'm thinking is, I can't even look at (umpires).”

Fried retired the Astros in order in the bottom of the fourth inning and picked up his second punch out of the ballgame. 

In the top of the fifth, Paul Goldschmidt worked a one-out walk, and Cody Bellinger followed that up with a bloop single to right field. Judge then singled to right field, his second hit of the night, to load the bases. A couple of batters later, Trent Grisham snuck one into the Crawford boxes for a grand slam, his 29th home run of the year, to give the Yankees a 6-0 lead. 

"Being stubborn, kind of our team approach we've been executing over the last week," Grisham said on the Yankees' approach against Valdez. "Just trying to get him where we want him and being stubborn about that." 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Fried gave up his first hit of the game, then recorded three strikeouts to put his total up to five on the night and work around the leadoff single. 

The Astros got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning via an RBI fielder's choice from Yainer Diaz, making it a 6-1 game. 

Fried walked a batter and gave up an infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Fried, the three-time Gold Glove winner, made a beautiful play as César Salazar popped up a bunt, and Fried made a nice sliding catch, then fired to first for the double play to help work into and out of trouble. 

"You know, it's something I take seriously," Fried said on his defense. "It helps win ball games. And if I can do something to be the ninth defender out there, then, you know, it definitely helps out, myself and the team." 

With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, Jazz crushed his second home run of the night, and 28th of the year, to make it a 7-1 game. 

"I just told him that the slider was slower than you think, that it didn't have much depth," Grisham said on what he told Jazz before his second home run of the night. 

Paul Blackburn took over for Fried in the bottom of the eighth inning and struck out the heart of the Astros' order in order. 

Max Fried's final line: seven innings pitched, four hits allowed, one earned run, three walks, 11 swings and misses, and five strikeouts on 101 pitches. Fried threw his fastball 19% of the time, the sinker 17%, the changeup 15%, the cutter 14%, an unknown pitch that Statcast couldn't track 12% of the time, the sweeper 11%, the curveball 11%, and the slider 2% of the time. Fried, who was feeling a little under the weather today, according to Yankees manager Aaron Boone, was dominant tonight. After eight straight bad starts in the middle of the summer, Fried has been lights out in his last three, now with a 2.98 ERA on the year. 

"Yeah, I think just mixing my pitches," Fried said. "Just pitching, not trying to get the punch out. Just really focusing on trying to get ground balls, changing speeds, and keeping hitters off balance. It's what I do best." 

Blackburn remained in the game for the bottom of the ninth inning and faced the minimum, thanks to a double play, and recorded his fourth strikeout to end this one 7-1. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Will Warren on the mound, facing off against Jason Alexander. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m. ET on Prime Video. 

My thoughts on the game: Fried was dealing tonight. He didn't have his best command tonight, but he was still able to dominate and get through seven innings of one-run ball. Jazz had a huge game with three hits, two home runs, and three RBIs. Then, with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Grisham broke this game wide open with his third grand slam of the year and his second in the last week. In nine plate appearances this year with the bases loaded, Grisham has four hits, three grand slams, and 16 RBIs; plus, Grisham has been the clutchest hitter on the Yankees all year long. I would love to see the Yankees find a way to re-sign him in the offseason. The Yankees' offense just showed up in a big way all around with 11 hits and seven runs scored to start the biggest 12-game stretch of the season. Blackburn was also great out of the bullpen, helping the rest of the bullpen get another day off. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to win the series with Warren on the bump, who has struggled on the road and in big games this year.