Once a house of horrors, the New York Yankees once again made themselves right at home at Daikin Park.
Led by another dominant outing from staff ace Max Fried, the Yankees won their eighth straight game in Houston, 7-1, over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
New York has not lost a game in Houston since Game 2 of the 2022 ALCS — the second game of an embarrassing sweep at the hands of that year’s eventual World Series champs. The Yankees had gone just 7-17 in the Space City between 2017-22, including their 1-8 record in the playoffs in that span.
New York has won eight of its past nine and improved to 13-4 in its past 17 games. The Yankees remain 2.5 games back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays and stayed even with the Boston Red Sox, each of whom won as well Tuesday.
How Did Max Fried Pitch For The Yankees?
Fried’s midsummer slump feels like a distant memory, since the ace once again coasted despite facing one of the AL’s top lineups and battling a bout of nausea.
Fried took a no-hitter into the fifth inning for a second straight outing and held Houston to just four hits and two walks while striking out five over seven innings. He improved to 11-1 this year after a Yankees loss.
“You don’t always feel great,” Fried said, “but you just go out there and try to eat up as many innings as I can.”
So even though the Yankees are trying to catch the Blue Jays and earn the wild-card-round bye, they would rather have an ace-caliber Fried ready for the postseason. Aside from pulling even with teammate Carlos Rodon for the American League lead in wins (15), Fried improved to 2-0 in his past three outings with a 0.90 ERA.
“It was just a really good team win,” Fried said after the game. “I was happy to be able to eat some innings and keep some runs off the board. We wanted to come in tonight and start the series off right.”
Fried, like the Yankees, had struggled before that by going 3-3 with a 6.80 ERA and 4.62 FIP, allowing nearly as many earned runs (31) as strikeouts (37) in a 41-inning span between July 1-Aug. 16 — including a five-inning, eight-hit, four-run outing against the Astros in a 7-1 loss Aug. 10.
Yet, a part of Fried’s dominance Tuesday was also his defense. With the Yankees leading 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Astros having runners on first and second with no out, he made a sliding catch on Cesar Salazar’s bunt attempt then doubled off center fielder Mauricio Dubon at first.
“It’s something I take seriously,” Fried said of his defense. “It helps win ball games, and if I can do something to be the ninth defender out there, it helps myself and the team.”
When asked about what has changed over his past three outings, Fried cited a return to basics.
“Just mixing my pitches,” Fried said. “Not trying to get the punchout. Really focusing on getting ground balls, changing speeds, keeping hitters off balance. It’s what I do best.”
What Did Aaron Boone Say About Max Fried?
Boone’s postgame press availability was short and sweet, and was spent mostly speaking about Jazz Chisholm’s impressive two-homer game and Trent Grisham’s grand slam.
Yet, Boone still lauded his team’s ace.
“A really strong performance on a day he was feeling under the weather,” Boone said. “[He had] a presence with everything [in his pitch arsenal].
“I thought he mixed [pitches] really well. He was very unpredictable. Stuff was good, and he managed the game really well.”
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