Max Friedstruggled through three innings of work before exiting Saturday’s loss to the Chicago Cubs with a blister on his left index finger, the Yankees announced.
The Yanks’ All-Star left-hander was seen looking at his left hand on multiple occasions during his outing and appeared to be struggling for command and a grip on the baseball. He threw just 39 strikes out of 73 pitches (53.4 percent). Fried indicated after the game that the blister might not have impacted him: "I was bad, I just wasn't good. Not being able to execute pitches and get outs when I needed them."
Manager Aaron Boone said the blister wasn't something Fried had before the game, and this one "popped up at the end there."
"It was a good one; he definitely had to come out," the managers said about the size of the blister.
Fried added that he felt the blister coming on with the penultimate pitch of his outing and called it "unfortunate" timing.
"I was grinding and it popped up at the end," he said. "It's just frustrating not to be able to cover as many innings and be able to stay out there."
Fried's average velocity was up on the 13 four-seam fastballs, nine sinkers, and eight sweepers he threw. But it was down on 18 cutters, 16 curveballs, and eight changeups. Possibly more telling, the average spin rate was down on every pitch he threw, save the sinker.
"I thought stuff-wise, he was kinda electric with his stuff, he kinda had a hard time harnessing it early," Boone said. "So the strike throwing wasn't there to what it normally is... It was just finding that location and finding that command was a struggle today."
A blister on that same finger has sent Fried to the IL on three different occasions during his career, most recently in September 2023. He also missed time due to a blister on his middle finger in 2018.
"We'll see," Boone said when asked about his level of concern. "He's dealt with it a little bit even this year and been treated pretty well, so we'll just see how the next days unfold."
"As far as timelines," Fried said, adding it is fortunate timing with the All-Star Break coming up. "I don't know exactly how this one's gonna shake out. A lot of times, you just have to see how it starts healing over the next couple of days."
On the blisters, Fried said each case is its own thing, and more times than not, just letting the skin heal will do the trick.
The afternoon got off to a rocky start when Nico Hoerner roped a triple to center (100.2 mph off the bat) off a Fried cutter. The lefty limited the damage to one run. He pitched out of a two-on and two-out situation in the second before the wheels came off in the third.
After Kyle Tucker notched a single to left, Seiya Suzuki just kept a ball fair down the left field line for a double. And then Fried had some tough luck as Carson Kelly's soft liner to third kicked off Oswald Peraza's glove for an RBI hit.
And after getting a weak pop out on the infield, a double play ball looked to end the inning, but Peraza's throw to second took Jazz Chisholm Jr. out of rhythm, and the second baseman's throw to first went way over Paul Goldschmidt's head into the protective netting. A single up the middle made it 4-0 before he managed to get out of the inning.
His final line: four runs (three earned) on six hits with three walks and two strikeouts, which saw his ERA jump to 2.43.
