Yankees Sequence of the Week: Max Fried (3/31)

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 31: Max Fried #54 of the New York Yankees pitches during the first inning Mariners at T-Mobile Park on March 31, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Yankees’ pitching staff as a whole has been magnificent, allowing six runs across their first six games and tallying three shutouts in the first five. Max Fried has been at the forefront of this staff-wide domination, not allowing a run across his first two starts and 13.

1 innings. His second start of the year came against the Mariners and he looked even more in control than on Opening Day, limiting Seattle to three hits and a walk across seven shutout. His command was sharper at T-Mobile Park than it was at Oracle, allowing him to strike out six batters.

While it was certainly encouraging to see the uptick in swing and miss, the moment we’ll zero in on today focuses on his ability to make exactly the pitch needed to induce soft contact and get out of a jam. We join Fried with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Josh Naylor having erased a Julio Rodríguez leadoff single with a ground-ball double play. However, after cruising for most of his start, Fried now faces his toughest challenge, a Randy Arozarena HBP and Brendan Donovan single putting runners on first and second as Fried is fighting to hold off the fatigue long enough to complete seven strong.

Fried has already faced Victor Robles twice this game, getting him to fly out on a first-pitch cutter in the second before whiffing him on a changeup in the fifth. After deploying the cutter first pitch in those two encounters, Fried decides on a first-pitch four-seamer here. View Link Fried misses his spot low and away; reaching back for extra velocity caused him to pull this pitch inside for ball one.