TAMPA — Max Fried had his no-hitter lost for him before he could lose it for himself.
The left-hander ultimately delivered a terrific performance across 7 ²/₃ innings that lifted the Yankees to a 4-0 win over the Rays on Sunday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field, but it was slightly marred by a controversial scoring change that was announced just minutes before the first live hit.
As Fried jogged out to the mound for the bottom of the eighth, seemingly working on a no-hit bid through seven innings, the official scorer, Bill Matthews, announced in the press box that Chandler Simpson was being credited with the Rays’ first hit from two innings earlier.
In the bottom of the sixth, Simpson had grounded a ball off first baseman Paul Goldschmidt’s glove. The speedy Simpson busted it down the line and may have beaten Fried to first if Goldschmidt handled it cleanly — though Fried beat him on a similar play in the third inning — but the play was initially scored an error on Goldschmidt.
After reviewing the play multiple times, though, Matthews announced in the middle of the eighth inning it was “very apparent” that Simpson would have beat Fried to the bag.
The decision ultimately became moot minutes later, when Jake Mangum led off the bottom of the eighth with a line-drive single to center field.
“I had no idea,” Fried said. “I looked up and saw two hits. It is what it is, I’m just happy we got the win.”
The Rays’ hit column did show “1” on the scoreboard briefly before Mangum’s hit, but the Yankees and most, if not all, of the sellout crowd of 10,046 were also apparently unaware at the time about the scoring change. Fried received a standing ovation after Mangum’s hit, acknowledging that as the end of his no-hit bid instead of it officially ending in the sixth.
“Look, we’re not going to beat [Simpson] to the bag, so I get it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But it makes it a little bit dicey when it’s within the game, obviously with a no-hitter going on. But the reality is it was a hit.”
Regardless of the surreal turn of events, Fried put together yet another outstanding outing that allowed the Yankees (14-8) to take three of four from the Rays (9-13) and bounce back from a crushing loss on Saturday. Fernando Cruz relieved Fried and threw the final 1 ¹/₃ innings for his second save.
Fried missed his shot at history, but he continued to pitch like the Yankees ace in Gerrit Cole’s absence, even in a start that Boone described as a “grind” for him.
“That’s a tough one,” Aaron Judge said of the scoring change. “But I don’t think Max cares about that kind of stuff. He’s worried about going out there and helping the team, helping us win.”
Officially, Fried allowed just two hits, two walks and hit one batter while striking out two on 102 pitches. The scoring change and Mangum’s hit in the eighth may have taken a difficult decision out of the Yankees’ hands, as they were not going to let Fried reach the 120-pitch range even if he were still working on a no-hitter.
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If it had come to it, Brad Ausmus would have been the one having to pull Fried from the no-hitter because Boone had been ejected in the top of the eighth for arguing a called third strike on Judge — though his anger stemmed from a pitch earlier, when Judge appeared to crush a home run that was called foul on the field and stood upon replay review.
The Yankees did get homers from Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger and Austin Wells to give Fried some run support while his defense also helped preserve the no-hit bid (despite two errors from Oswaldo Cabrera).
Jazz Chisholm Jr. made the kind of play that every no-hitter seems to have when he ranged from second base to left-center field to make a diving catch on Christopher Morel’s bloop in the seventh.
“Flash Gordon just out of nowhere, boom, came flying in,” Boone said. “What a play.”
In the fifth inning, Grisham fought the wind to make a strong diving catch in the right-center field gap, then popped up to throw out Danny Jansen, who was trying to tag up to second, for the double play.
Fried, who fields his position well, had flashed some speed earlier in the game to rob Simpson of a hit. The rookie outfielder, who stole 104 bases in the minors last season, hit a ground ball to Goldschmidt and raced down the line, but Fried beat him there to receive the flip for the out.
“I’m just trying to be myself,” said Fried, who has a 1.42 ERA in five starts as a Yankee. “When I take the ball, I want to be able to make sure we’re in a really good chance to win that day. When I prep, I just want to make sure I’m leaving everything out there, no matter how I feel or what the circumstances are. If we come out with the win, that’s all I really care about.”