NEW YORK — The New York Yankees powered to a 10-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday at the Stadium, yet starter Max Fried extended his winless drought despite allowing just one run. Fried gave up one hit and one run with seven strikeouts over 3 ⅓ innings, throwing 48 of 80 pitches for strikes in his third start back from the injured list.
"They saw a lot of pitches, they were having some good at-bats and not chasing," Fried said. "I felt like I was getting ahead, then throwing some non-competitive pitches. … It was just a weird outing where I was executing in certain counts, but I also had a lot of bad misses that caused a lot of deep counts. Going 80 pitches and not getting through four [innings] is not ideal. I didn't want to put the bullpen in that position, but they did a great job picking me up." The worst team in baseball forced deep counts all night.
Since returning for a second time this season from a bone bruise in his left elbow, Fried has allowed one run in each of his three outings covering 12 ⅔ innings. Thursday's lone damage came on a 431-foot home run by Colorado's Kyle Karros to the second deck in left field. Fried, who threw 63 pitches in his first start back and 72 in his previous outing, struck out four consecutive batters at one point but also walked the leadoff hitter in each of his final two innings, showing rust from throwing less than 38 innings since mid-July.
Fried (4-4, 2.73 ERA) has now gone 11 straight starts without a win since last earning one on April 27, after going 19-5 last season, though he has allowed fewer than two runs in five consecutive outings. "I'm feeling good, liking the progress so far, hitting my marks," Fried said. "We're looking forward to having me being completely built up for the end of the season and the playoffs," he added, noting the plan for the owner of the largest contract ever given to a left-handed pitcher is to be healthy when it matters most. "They've had a plan. As much as I would love to fast-forward the plan and just say, 'Let's throw it all out the window,' they've got a lot of really smart people here who work really hard to try to make sure I'm gonna be healthy for when it matters most."