Thursday was a big opportunity for the Yankees. The Tigers, Red Sox, and Blue Jays had all lost, setting up the Yanks for a day that, if they came through, could pull them within three of the AL East, put them three games ahead of the Red Sox, and give them sole possession of the second-best record in the American League.
Despite a ridiculous travel schedule once again forcing them to arrive at their new destination at nearly four in the morning, we didn’t see a sleepy performance like we saw to start
the series against Toronto or Detroit. In fact, it was the Yankees that jumped out to the early lead and held on all night long, riding a balanced offensive attack and a sensational start by Max Fried to a series-opening 7-0 victory at Camden Yards.
The Yankees are by far the best first-inning offense in the sport. They entered play with a team slash line of .280/.355/.570 in the first, boasting an OPS nearly 100 points higher than any other team. With their lefty-killing lineup in tow, they went to work early on Cade Povich.
Paul Goldschmidt, who entered today batting .360 against lefties, led off with a single. After Aaron Judge struck out, Cody Bellinger worked a walk to bring up Amed Rosario with two out and two on. It’s not often Amed gets opportunities in this lineup, but he continues to take advantage when does, lacing a two-run double to take the early lead. That’s a 10-for-24 start with four extra-base hits with the Yanks.
Fried went to work on the O’s in the first and sat them down 1-2-3. Povich responded with a clean second, and Baltimore got something going on Fried after an Alex Jackson walk and Tyler O’Neill single with one out, but the lefty ace bounced back to get the next two batters out. Things held serve in the third, as Povich worked around a one-out walk to Judge by inducing a 6-6-3 double play out of Bellinger. Fried one-upped his fellow southpaw, striking out the side against the O’s 9-1-2. That’s five strikeouts in three efficient innings.
Povich found something after that first inning, as the Yankees couldn’t get much off of him for the next few innings. The game plan was clearly to be patient, but some great command by the O’s starter saw him pick up his first four strikeouts looking, ultimately striking out the side in the fourth. Fried responded with an ultra-efficient eight-pitch inning that included a strikeout of Jeremiah Jackson.
Anthony Volpe, seemingly reinvigorated by his cortisone shot earlier in the week, worked his second full count of the day and ripped a hustle double into left-center field before swiping third for his 17th stolen base. Caballero worked a walk to bring up Austin Wells, who did his job on a jamshot blooper over the head of Jeremiah Jackson for an RBI single to flip the lineup over and make it 3-0.
Unfortunately, with Povich on the ropes, Goldschmidt hit into a tailor-made 5-4-3 double play, Judge was intentionally walked for the 32nd time, and Bellinger popped out to end the inning. Judge’s 2025 season is now the 25th season in MLB history with 32 IBBs. Nine of those are Barry Bonds. In 2004, specifically, he got intentionally walked 33 times by Memorial Day.
Fried surpassed his career high in innings pitched with a 1-2-3 fifth, including picking up two more Ks. Yennier Cano came on for the sixth for Baltimore, striking out Stanton before giving up a double to Jazz Chisholm Jr., who pinch-hit for Rosario as soon as the lefty Povich departed. Trent Grisham worked a gritty walk before Jazz got picked off to disrupt the rally. The best baserunning teams take risks and get thrown out more, but this hasn’t been a banner day for the resurgence of the Yankees’ run game.
Fried’s streak of 12 consecutive batters retired ended on a Ryan Mountcastle single with one out in the sixth. Gunnar Henderson hit a seeing-eye single up the middle with two out to bring the tying run up, but Fried was on another level. He struck out three in the inning to tie a season-high in strikeouts with 11, all while being extremely efficient with just 77 pitches through six.
Chayce McDermott started the seventh for Baltimore and immediately got into trouble by walking Caballero and Wells to start the inning. It looked like a lane to go to Ben Rice with Goldschmidt up against a RHP, but the veteran first baseman worked a good count and shot the ball down the first base line for an RBI single.
Looking to do damage right away, Judge came up and smoked a first-pitch cutter to left field, albeit for only a sac fly to make it 5-0. 106 mph and a 20-degree launch angle should probably go further, but alas. Bellinger worked a walk and Stanton got in on the fun shortly after, smoking a two-run double down the left field line to make it 7-0 Yankees and chased McDermott. Jose Castillo came out of the bullpen to retire the next two.
Fried continued his dominance in the seventh, piling up two more strikeouts and ending his outing at just 86 pitches. If it were a bigger game or a tighter situation, you could absolutely see Fried, who’s exceeded 100 pitches 14 times this year and 105+ on six occasions, pitch the eighth and even ninth, but the team will absolutely take an opportunity to manage his workload down the stretch. The Yankees’ ace struck out 13, tying a career high set last year against Boston, across seven dominant innings. Just three hits, one walk, zero extra base hits. He had 28 whiffs, by far a career high.
Paul Blackburn came out of the Yankees’ pen and followed Fried with a sharp outing of his own. Blackburn pitched a perfect eighth and worked around a walk in the ninth to close it out. As a team, the Yankees tallied 15 strikeouts and 32 whiffs. Fried now has 18 wins, the most in the majors.
The Yankees are now 3-1 in the season-ending 13-game stretch that they should dominate. They now hold the Junior Circuit’s second-best record and have gained games in back-to-back days on Toronto, who still sits three ahead (with the tiebreaker) with nine to go. A division title is still a tall ask, but it remains possible. The Yankees sit two games above Seattle/Houston for the top wild card, three above Boston, and 4.5 clear of the surging Guardians for a playoff spot. The magic number is six.
The Yankees look to continue their winning ways tomorrow, as Baltimore sends their unlikely ace, Trevor Rogers, against rookie Will Warren at 7:05 pm on YES.
