Max Fried had a two-run lead before he threw his first pitch on Saturday in St. Louis. But despite that boost, the Yankees' left-hander couldn't find the answers to his recent struggles as he allowed a season-high seven runs.
"I haven't been sharp, I haven't had the good results," Fried said after allowing four runs or more for the fourth time in five starts since the All-Star break. "When you gotta go out there and have good outings, I haven't been able to do that.
"I'm working hard in between to make the best adjustments that I can, and they haven't really been showing… I know that going forward, I gotta be way better."
When asked for his level of concern, the first-year Yank said he is "not in any panic mode," but there is "definitely motivation to make sure I don't keep doing this."
Three batters into the game, Fried allowed his first run (partially thanks to Jasson Dominguez's misplaying a single into a triple) before he turned the lead into a deficit in the second when he followed a walk with back-to-back singles and a three-run homer.
"It's been going the same way for me for a little bit now, where I've given up a little bit of a crooked number in an inning," Fried said of the four-run second inning.
But he got the next two batters on strikes, the lefty found his groove for the first time, retiring 11 of the next 12 batters with five strikeouts, allowing only an infield single on a slow chopper to second.
"I think he was just commanding the strike zone at a really high level," manager Aaron Boone said of Fried's good run. "I think he was starting to have a presence on a little bit on the arm side – with the changeup over there, sinker on that side of the plate, and then that set up his cutter even better or his curveball. 'Cause he's got so many ways to beat ya.
"He's gotta make sure he uses that and uses both sides of the plate. He just got into a good rhythm from a command standpoint, too."
His night came to an end seven pitches into the bottom half of the sixth when Jordan Walker smoked a double off the wall in right center and Nolan Gorman hooked a two-run home run just around the right-field foul pole.
"It was good for a little bit," Fried said of finding his groove. "Just made two bad pitches again in the sixth."
That ended his night after 5.0 innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits and one walk with six strikeouts.
Fortunately for the southpaw, Ben Rice drove in seven of the Yanks' 12 runs as New York outlasted the Cardinals in the Saturday night slugfest, 12-8.
"I can't give the guys enough credit," the starter said. "They came out today and played a really great game and picked me up big-time, especially with the performance that I had. Can't say enough about them. Wish I had been a little bit better and less runs up there, but at the end of the day, we got a win. That's the most important thing."
But going back to his final start before the break, in which Fried developed a blister on his left index finger, he has now pitched to a 7.20 ERA over his last six starts, allowing 29 runs (24 earned) on 40 hits and 13 walks with 30 strikeouts in 30 innings (1.767 WHIP). And since the end of June, his ERA has jumped from 1.92 to 3.26.
When asked about the struggles, the manager pointed to "the next-level strike throwing."
"For several starts in there, it was not consistently getting ahead at all," Boone said. "A lot of 1-0, start from there. Then the Astros got him where he was just not putting guys away. I think it's just that next level of command, making sure he's using all his stuff, and using both sides of the plate.
"But this is the gauntlet that is the season. He'll get through it. He's working his tail off, the stuff's there, we just gotta find that next level of execution."
Fried said that throughout his career, he's been able to find ways to be able to get ground balls and weak contact even when down in the count.
"It's frustrating in this stretch that I haven't been able to do that, and it's putting us in holes," he said. "I definitely have to change something and change up quick."
