Max Fried Shows Why He's the Yankees Ace Against Rays

There are plenty of reasons why the Yankees lost their series against the Rays, but it's hard to blame Max Fried.

Apr 11, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

There are a few reasons why the New York Yankees lost this series to the Tampa Bay Rays. Some ugly defense in the 10th inning sealed their fate, and Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s bobble, bad toss to first, and bizarre answer during the postgame scrum didn't help matters.

The one person who should get little blame, though, is Max Fried. Fried indeed surrendered multiple leads. The first came after Austin Wells' home run, and then again, when Jose Caballero got revenge on his old team.

Still, how many pitchers in baseball today can give eight solid innings and put a team on their back every fifth day? It's a short list.

Fried threw eight innings and allowed three earned runs. He struck out six, generated nine swings-and-misses, and didn't allow a walk. The Rays had six hits off of him, but few were particularly squared up.

Max Fried, 95mph Dart. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/3bHD0vNMYg

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 11, 2026

Tampa had an average exit velocity of 89 MPH on the balls they put in play against Fried. His two most used pitches on the night, the sinker and the cutter, generated a bunch of feeble contact. The sinker had an average exit velocity of 87 MPH against it, while the Rays averaged an exit velocity of 80.1 MPH against the cutter.

What's most remarkable is that, had he been given more of a lead to work with, he may have been able to finish the game. Fried came out of the eighth inning having thrown just 94 pitches.

Apr 11, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried (54) looks to pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Fried on His Performance

It was everything the Yankees needed from their ace in the middle of a dismal early-season spell. Fried, for all of the deserved praise he should get, was not happy with his performance. After the game, he was stuck on some of those periodic blemishes from the night.

"There were two times where I needed to go out there and put a shutdown inning," Fried said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "I let up the momentum, not being able to put up a zero. It's frustrating, but that's definitely on me."

Aaron Boone praised his ace, who was a little too tough on himself.

"I thought Max was really good tonight," Boone said. "Really efficient. He did everything he needed to help us win."

Every time Fried comes off the mound, he shows that he is one of the better free agent signings the Yankees have made in recent history. The Atlanta Braves won a World Series on the backs of their former ace, but the Yankee version of Fried looks to have hit a different gear.

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