Max Fried dominated on the mound to help lead the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Tigers

Detroit—Two former Harvard-Westlake high school teammates, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty, went head to head on the mound Wednesday afternoon in the Yankees' 4-3 win over the Tigers. 

Max Fried spoke about facing his former high school teammate in his postgame press conference.

“That was a really cool experience.” Fried said, “We're both really competitive, and we're both locked in and knew we had a job to do.”

Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty struck out the side in the top of the 1st inning as Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger were retired in order for the Yankees.

Yankees starter Max Fried worked around a two-out single in the bottom of the 1st inning and picked up a strikeout in the process. 

Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt stays red-hot with a leadoff single in the top of the 2nd inning. The next batter, second basemen Jazz Chisholm Jr., worked a walk, and a couple of batters later, backup catcher J.C. Escara worked a walk. But third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera flew out to center to strand the bases loaded.

Max Fried struck out the Tigers in order in the bottom of the 2nd inning to put his strikeout total for the game up to four.

Flaherty retired Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger in order in the top of the 3rd inning and picked up two strikeouts in the process to put his total on the day up to seven already.

Max Fried worked around a two-out broken-bat single in the bottom of the 3rd inning to work a scoreless frame.

Flaherty retired the Yankees in order in the top of the 4th inning on just five pitches.

Fried worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the 4th inning and picked up two more strikeouts in the process to put his total on the day up to six.

Oswaldo Cabrera picked up a two-out single in the top of the 5th inning, but that would be all for the Yankees.

Max Fried worked around a two-out triple in the bottom of the 5th inning and picked up two more strikeouts to put his total to eight on the game. 

Aaron Judge led off the top of the 6th with a walk; a couple of batters later, Paul Goldschmidt hit a double to left field to knock Flaurety out of the game and put two runners in scoring position with one out. Tyler Holton came in to replace Flaherty on the mound and worked out of trouble to keep this ballgame scoreless, as the Yankees are now 1 for their last 22 with runners in scoring position.

Max Fried retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the 6th inning on just six pitches and picked up his ninth strikeout of the game in the process. 

Oswaldo Cabrera picked up a two-out single in the top half of the 7th inning; the next batter, Ben Rice, launched a 2-run home run to right-center to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

“I just tried to simplify my approach there.” Rice said, “I was just trying to get something in my zone and put a good swing on it.”

Max Fried worked around a leadoff double in the bottom of the 7th inning and picked up two more strikeouts in the process to put his total up to 11 on the day.

Max Fried’s final line: seven innings pitched, five hits allowed, zero runs allowed, and 11 strikeouts on 97 pitches. Fried had his best stuff working today when the Yankees needed him the most during a three-game losing streak.

Fried did a great job mixing in all his pitches today. He threw his fastball 31% of the time, sinker 20%, curveball 19%, sweeper 16%, change-up 8%, cutter 5%, and slider 1% of the time. He also had 15 swings and misses on the day as Fried lived up to that eight-year 218 million dollar contract he signed this offseason.

“I had really good command with a lot of my pitches today.” Fried said, “ And, I was just working really well with J.C., we had a really good game plan, and we were able to get some weak contact, and I trust my defense behind me.”

Anthony Volpe worked a two-out walk in the top of the 8th inning, but that would be all for the Yankees.

Luke Weaver replaced Fried on the mound in the bottom of the 8th inning; he worked around a one-out single and picked up a strikeout to end the inning. 

J.C. Escara and Oswaldo Cabrera were both hit by pitches to lead off the top of the 9th; then Ben Rice reached on an E4 by Tigers second basemen Colt Kieth to load the bases for Aaron Judge, Judge hit a rocket 2-run single to make it a 4-0 Yankees lead. 

Devin Williams came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th inning and did not have it; he loaded the bases, then threw a wild pitch, allowing a run to come across to score and make it a 4-1 game. A few batters later, Zach Mickinstrey hit a 2-run single to make it a 4-3 game. Then Mark Liter Jr. came in to replace Williams and pick up the final out of the game, giving the Yankees a 4-3 win. 

The Yankees will head back to the Bronx to take on the Giants, who are off to a great start, on Friday night. The first pitch will be at 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Max Fried was awesome. He proved today that he can step up and be the ace the Yankees need this season while Gerrit Cole is out with Tommy John. Ben Rice looks unstoppable offensively so far (knock on wood). A lot of Yankees fans were very concerned about how they would replace Juan Soto’s offensive production, but Rice definitely has helped fill that void early on in the season. The Yankees thought they fixed their closer problem in the offseason when they let Clay Holmes walk in free agency and traded for all-star closer Devin Williams. Unfortunately, early in the season, William has struggled as he almost blew today's game and now has a 12.00 ERA on the season. It is still very early, so there is still time for Williams to turn it around, but it's definitely concerning.