SEATTLE — Max Fried bemoaned his first start of the season, when he struggled to throw strikes at times.
The New York Yankees left-hander filled up the zone Tuesday night, but the end results of each outing were the same: no runs on the scoreboard, and a win, the latest one 5-0 against the Seattle Mariners.
"There were times where I was just fighting to throw strikes,” Fried said. “I felt like I was actually able to locate today, which made things a lot easier.”
Fried breezed through seven innings and won his career-high eighth straight regular-season start dating to Aug. 27. He has not given up a run in 13 1/3 innings this year. He tossed 6 1/3 innings of two-hit ball in a win at San Francisco on opening night last Wednesday.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has been more than pleased with Fried, who is in the second season of a $218 million, eight-year contract.
“He was terrific tonight,” Boone said. “He was on point from the start. Just in total control of the game and had everything going for him, different ways to get you out. I thought he changed speeds really well, like, had good life to his fastball, just back and forth.”
Fried did an exemplary job of keeping hitters off balance in 2025, too. In his first season in the Big Apple, he went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA, made his fourth All-Star team and finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting.
“He’s dominant,” said Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who went 2 for 4 with two RBIs. “Continuing from last year, making it tough on the guys. Making them off balance, working in and out.”
While Fried’s contributions were greatly appreciated in New York last season, they are perhaps even more so in 2026 because the Yankees' rotation is down a couple of top arms.
Left-hander Carlos Rodón experienced right hamstring tightness on Tuesday while going through his throwing program, which could delay his return from elbow surgery. Former Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole, who missed the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, remains sidelined.
Even without Rodón and Cole, New York’s rotation has been arguably its greatest strength amid a 4-1 start. The Yankees have only given up three runs in five games and recorded three shutouts as a team, two of which have been started by Fried.
“Everyone’s contributed,” Boone said. “Obviously, Max now, going into the seventh or having completed the seventh in back-to-back ones. And everyone else from the starting rotation has gone out and held them down.”
Nobody has been more dominant than Fried, though, who has been sublime in pinstripes. He is setting the example for the rest of the staff, a group that has more than held its own during New York’s hot start.
“We’re throwing the ball well right now,” Fried said, “so, we’re just trying to keep it rolling.”
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