Max Fried finally had a night that looked like his old self, and the Yankees made sure it counted.
Behind seven sharp innings from Fried and home runs from Cody Bellinger and Spencer Jones, New York rolled past the Minnesota Twins 8-1 on Tuesday night, staying in the thick of the AL East chase while getting another boost from a rotation arm they’ll need to keep delivering.
Fried, who had not picked up a win since April 27, was steady from the start. He gave up one run, worked 88 pitches, and logged his longest outing in nearly five months.
The left-hander improved to 5-4 and kept the Yankees at 88-63, still 3 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay, which sits at 91-59. New York had already clinched at least a wild card spot Monday, but Fried’s form is the kind of thing that matters even more once October arrives.
His season has been interrupted by injuries, including 71 games on the injured list across two stints because of a bone bruise in his elbow. Even so, the post-All-Star break version has been hard to miss: a 1.83 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings over nine starts.
The Yankees gave him breathing room right away. Ben Rice opened the game with a single off Bailey Ober, and Bellinger followed with his 16th homer, a two-run shot that put New York on the board early. Bellinger finished with three hits and a walk, and he’s now batting .377, with 26 hits in his last 69 at-bats over a 17-game stretch.
New York kept stacking damage in the sixth. Jones, with two outs, launched his 10th home run, a three-run blast off Taylor Rogers. The inning turned even uglier for Minnesota after rookie shortstop Kaelen Culpepper committed a fielding error that left all four runs unearned.
The Yankees’ power was spread deep through the lineup, too. New York now has 11 players with at least 10 homers this season.
Aaron Judge did not play, resting as he continues to work back into form after returning from a broken rib. Even without him, the Yankees still produced 14 hits.
For Minnesota, the night got worse when Culpepper exited with left hamstring tightness. The Twins dropped to 70-81 and have now lost 16 of their last 23 games.
In Other News...
Walker Jenkins Is Running Out Of Time To Break Through
Walker Jenkins first stretch in the majors has been a reminder that even elite prospects can hit a wall once the league gets its first look at them. The Twins top prospect has opened his career in a slump, going 0-for-16 over his last five games and managing only four hits in 53 plate appearances, a line that has tested the patience that usually comes with a young players arrival. Even so, Jenkins and the coaching staff have kept pointing back to the same themes: the process is sound, the approach is there and the mental makeup has held up under the early pressure.
The next decision, though, may tell the story of how the Twins want to handle him from here. They sat Jenkins against a left-handed pitcher, a sign they are being careful with matchups while he searches for rhythm, but there is still a chance he could get back in there against another lefty in the following game. For a team that believes in his future, the question is no longer whether he belongs in the conversation - it is how long the organization can afford to wait before the breakthrough starts showing up on the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Just Took Another Brutal Hit In Their Stretch Run
Kaelen Culpeppers arrival on Aug. 7 gave the Twins a fresh jolt at shortstop, and the top prospect looked the part right away over his first 31 big-league games. For a club trying to keep its stretch run alive, getting steady production from a young infielder was one of the few encouraging developments as the offense continued to sputter after the break.
Now Minnesota has lost that momentum, too. Culpepper has landed on the injured list with a hamstring injury, and the likelihood is that his season is over, leaving the Twins to keep searching for answers in a lineup that has already made their second-half climb much tougher than it needed to be. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Loss To Yankees Exposed A Problem Fans Know Too Well
A familiar frustration resurfaced at Target Field as the Twins ran into the Yankees again and came up short in another uneven showing. Bailey Ober gave Minnesota a solid enough start, working 5.1 innings and allowing three earned runs, but the lineup never found much rhythm behind him. The Twins managed just seven hits and one run, leaving too much pressure on a pitching staff already trying to keep the game within reach.
Taylor Rogers then had the kind of relief outing that can turn a close night sideways in a hurry, as four unearned runs crossed in his inning of work. By the time the Yankees pulled away to an 8-1 win, the larger concern was less about one bad inning than about a problem Twins fans know too well: the offense going quiet just when the margin for error disappears. [Read more 🡒]