Max Fried is a complicated pitcher. He does not often overwhelm with velocity.
He does not miss an elite number of bats.
Everything moves, a weapon for every quadrant of the strike zone, each seemingly a different speed that results in a more subtle form of domination.
But the results are simple: When he pitches, his team wins.
The Yankees improved to 7-for-7 in Fried starts Friday, when the lefty one-hit the Rays over seven brilliant innings in a 3-0, series-opening victory in front of 45,189 in The Bronx.
“Just the different ways he can beat you,” manager Aaron Boone marveled after the Yankees (19-13) used their stopper and ace to bounce back from a disappointing series in Baltimore with a crisp, well-pitched and well-defended effort. “Some of the innings he’s ripping off some good breaking balls, the other he’s adding and subtracting on his heater.”
Fresh off being named the American League Pitcher of the Month for April, Fried began his May with the same kind of artful excellence.
He did not allow a hit until there was one out in the fifth (when a well-struck single from José Caballero dashed hope of history), and he only let one Ray into scoring position: Junior Caminero, who reached on a fielder’s choice in the first, advanced on a passed ball and was stranded at second when Fried struck out Jonathan Aranda.
That was as close as the Rays came to a rally against a pitcher who threw seven different pitches that ranged from a 71.1 mph curveball to a 97.4 mph four-seamer.
Tampa Bay never looked comfortable as Fried, who walked two and hit one, lowered his ERA to 1.01.
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Fried threw pitches that registered as four-seamers that ranged from 89.1 mph to that 97.4 mph heat.
It is not just the diversity of pitch types but the diversity within the pitches themselves that throws off hitters’ timing.
“You never knew how he was going to pitch you,” said longtime National League foe and new teammate Paul Goldschmidt, whose three-run homer provided the game’s only runs. “… [Back then] he had six probably above-average pitches. A lot of times pitchers that have six pitches, there’s two of them that are probably dominating and they mix the other ones in.”
On what became a good night for Brian Cashman’s offseason, Goldschmidt’s fifth-inning swing was all that was needed.
The Yankees’ offense consistently mounted threats — taking nine at-bats with runners in scoring position and coming up empty eight times — and could not cash in until Goldschmidt lifted a short-porch shot off lefty Mason Montgomery with two outs and runners on second and third.
The righty swinger has three home runs this season — all off southpaws, against whom he is an astounding 18-for-30 (.600).
That swing became the game-winner because Devin Williams (an encouraging, clean eighth inning) and Luke Weaver (third save) handled the late innings without allowing a hit, and the first seven innings featured nearly spotless pitching and fielding.
Fried helped his own cause by catching Caballero napping at first in the second inning, his third pick-off of the season already. But he had help:
l A quick turn from third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera and second baseman Jorbit Vivas created a third-inning double play off the bat of Chandler Simpson, perhaps MLB’s fastest player.
l Cabrera made a sliding play to retire Yandy Díaz an inning later, earning a point and nod from Fried.
l In the fifth, Cabrera came through again by charging a chopper hit by Curtis Mead, fielding cleanly on a tough short hop and throwing Mead out.
“When I’m pitching, I’m going to get a lot of ground balls to that left side over there,” Fried said, “and I’ve felt like [Cabrera has] done a really nice job.”
l It was Vivas (nicely catching a pop-up down the right-field line) and Goldschmidt (bowled over by a 105.5 mph grounder, but getting up and beating Díaz to the bag) impressing in the sixth.
In an era of maximizing velocity and shrugging off walks, Fried’s fastball touched all ends of the velocity spectrum, and he still has not walked more than two hitters in an outing.
“He’s just so versatile out there,” Boone said after the third Yankees shutout of the season.