One Bumpy Inning Gives Yankees Pitcher First Loss

Welp, New York Yankees left-handed pitcher Max Fried was never going to be untouchable for the entire season.

Fried, who signed an eight-year, $218 million deal with the Yankees in free agency this past offseason, was arguably the league's best starter through his first 11 starts with a 1.29 ERA while holding the club record for the most consecutive outings without allowing more than two runs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a different beast, however, and the two teams, whether they admit it or not, had a little extra juice for their rematch of the 2024 World Series.

Fried was plenty familiar with the Dodgers after consistently doing battle with them atop the National League totem pole as a member of the Atlanta Braves, but what transpired on Friday night was likely still a shock to his system.

After allowing a pair of runs over the first two innings, highlighted by a Shohei Ohtani leadoff homer in the first, Fried settled in and held Los Angeles scoreless for the next three frames.

When the 31-year-old graced the mound in the bottom of the sixth, New York was holding onto a 5-2 lead. Things quickly unravelled for Fried, though, as Ohtani once again went deep to kick off the inning before Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith hit back-to-back singles.

Freddie Freeman, reigning MVP of the Fall Classic and Fried's longtime Braves teammate, would then knock his old friend out of the game with an RBI double that cut the Yankees' advantage to 5-4.

Right-handed reliever Jonathan Loáisiga closed the book on Fried by allowing Smith to come around and score on an Andy Pages single, tying things up at 5-5.

The Dodgers tacked on another run in the inning before adding two more in the eighth en route to an 8-5 victory in front of their home crowd.

Fried's ERA rose to 1.92 after his uneven night, which he believes was a result of poor execution and command.

"Mostly, it was just execution, leaving balls in the middle of the plate,” he said, via MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. “I wasn’t going to the locations I wanted to, and when you’re facing a good team with good hitters, they’re going to make you pay for it.”

Fried hadn't allowed five runs or more to score against him in the regular season since an August 4, 2024 outing against the Miami Marlins, and his three stikeouts were his lowest in a start since facing the Toronto Blue Jays on April 27 this season.

He'll certainly bounce back, but Fried will likely want to wash his hands clean of his performance on Friday night.

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