BALTIMORE — Max Fried did not have his sharpest command against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon, but it wasn’t so bad that the New York Yankees’ ace had to be pulled after just 61 pitches and three innings.
After leaving the field at the end of the third, Fried walked into the tunnel leading to the visitors’ clubhouse, flanked by pitching coach Matt Blake, who immediately called down to the bullpen to have Paul Blackburn warm up.
Fried allowed five hits, one walk and three runs across his three innings of work before Blackburn replaced him. The lefty struggled with his command throughout his outing against Baltimore, falling behind in the count against eight of the 13 hitters he faced. Command has been up and down for Fried since the start of spring training. He recently ditched his full windup because of the lack of success he was having with his command.
“I would say small sample, in that he’s always a guy that sprays it a little bit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Wednesday’s game of Fried’s command. “Go watch games last year, this year. I think it’s actually one of the things that also makes him really effective, because he obviously has a deep arsenal of pitches, so it’s hard to really sell out to one particular thing with him.
“But even when he’s at his most dominant, he’ll throw a ball off the backstop. That’s just kind of part of who he is, but typically it doesn’t lead to a lot of walks either. There have been a couple times where, obviously, last game where he walked two guys back-to-back on eight pitches. That can always be a little bit better. But it’s also one of those things that kind of makes him tough to hit.”
If Fried has to miss time, the Yankees could recall Elmer Rodríguez from Triple A as they wait for Gerrit Cole to make his season debut. Cole, who is scheduled for his next rehab assignment outing on Saturday, is expected to make his season debut in the coming weeks. Rodríguez made two starts for the Yankees after they demoted Luis Gil to the minor leagues but was sent back to Triple A to make room for Carlos Rodón.
Fried has experienced blister problems throughout his big-league career, but it’s unclear what caused the Yankees to pull him from his start this early.
This story will be updated.
