Max Fried's underwhelming Yankees debut shrouded by historic offense

Yankees left-hander Max Fried never needed to stress about run support in his pinstripe debut. His new teammates crushed a franchise-record nine home runs -- four of which came during the very first inning -- in an emphatic 20-9 drubbing of the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday in the Bronx.

But the historic offensive production didn't even help Fried register a win. The southpaw failed to complete five innings of work, as a slew of fielding errors and unlucky soft contact resulted in six Brewers runs -- two of which were earned -- by the time he was pulled with two outs in the fourth at 94 pitches.

Fried's underwhelming season debut simply took a back seat to the Yankees' onslaught. Blame it on the poor defense behind him, or the lengthy breaks in the dugout while the lineup flaunted its power. But the team's biggest acquisition of the winter didn't resemble his established ace self.

The obvious good news is that the calendar has yet to flip to April. It wasn't the performance that Fried wanted or fans expected, but it's easy to shrug off mistakes on Opening Weekend.

"I would've loved to [qualify for the win], but there were a lot of things throughout the outing that I didn't do my part in to be able to earn that," Fried said after the game. "Adding a bunch of pitches, the PFP [error] in the second inning added a bunch of pitches. I walked a bunch of guys. It wasn't a clean game. So at that point, if I wanted to be able to earn that, I should've done a lot more earlier in the game."

Fried's afternoon started on an efficient note. He induced a weak comebacker on the first pitch of the game, recorded a scoreless top frame, and watched sluggers Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge put on a show with three straight homers on three straight pitches from former Yankees lefty Nestor Cortes.

But a 4-0 lead entering the second inning didn't provide enough comfort. After allowing two singles and a hit-by-pitch, the Brewers scored their second run on a throwing error by Anthony Volpe. Two batters later, Fried committed his own gaffe with a poor throw to first base on another soft comebacker.

Max Fried was asked how much he wanted to stay in the game to get through five innings and qualify for a win:

"I would've loved to do it, but there was a lot of things throughout the outing that I didn't do my part in to be able to earn that." pic.twitter.com/E3nM2Igril

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 29, 2025

A pair of errors from Pablo Reyes and one from Jazz Chisholm Jr. extended the fourth and fifth innings, and Fried ultimately exited with a somewhat unsatisfying 16-6 lead.

"He did great. There were a few plays that we could've made behind him," Goldschmidt said of Fried. "He did a good job staying focused and just continuing to attack them. It wasn't a perfect outing, by any means. We kind of hurt him on defense a couple times... It just showed a lot about his character, the type of pitcher he is to not give in."

It's no secret that the Yankees are heavily relying on Fried to take command of the starting rotation. The team lost Gerrit Cole to season-ending elbow surgery earlier this month, and when they signed Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract in December, he assumed ace-level responsibilities.

The pressure on Fried is immense -- he's the de facto ace. But the results from Saturday aren't indicative of what's to come. The 30-year-old lefty earned two All-Star nominations during his eight-year run with the Atlanta Braves, and his 3.08 ERA over the last six seasons ranked third among starters with 800-plus innings.

Fried is slated to make his second start on the road next Friday, when the Yankees begin a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Manager Aaron Boone isn't the least bit worried about the prized lefty, even if the anomalous offense and defense make the trip to Pennsylvania.

"Obviously we didn't catch the ball great, that's an understatement. Probably not his best command, hitting a couple of guys," the skipper said of Fried. "As great of a fielder as he is, he didn't make a play. I thought overall he threw the ball fine, we're just giving way too many outs. It's hard to get a read on the outing, but I thought stuff-wise, he threw the ball well."