The Yankees are getting Max Fried back right when they need him, and they’re wasting no time putting the left-hander back into the mix.
Fried, who landed on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow bone bruise, is eligible to be activated Saturday and is expected to start one of the games in the Yankees-Red Sox day-night doubleheader. The move comes after he threw a bullpen Thursday and got the go-ahead.
“We hopeful of that going in,” Boone said Friday. “Some thought we maybe could have even kept a pitch in, but I felt like this was the smarter thing to do to give ourselves the best chance to be in a better place with him in what we hope is a couple more months of playing.”
The timing lines up with what the Yankees and Fried had been saying from the start: this would not be the same kind of extended absence that cost him two months earlier in the season. This time, the return came quickly.
Boone said Fried handled the layoff and buildup well, and that the left-hander never really had to be shut down completely.
“He’s responded well, actually similar to how he responded the first time when he left Baltimore (on May 13) and missed more time. He’s responded well to that time (off) and then the buildup.
He’s never really been shut down. This week’s gone well with the live and two sides around that.
“I’m excited to get him back out there.”
The Yankees still had not settled on which game Fried would start as of late Friday afternoon. Game 1 is set for 1:05 p.m., with Game 2 scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
His return gives New York its four aces in the rotation for the first time. Three of them are lined up to work against Boston in the four-game series, with Cy Young frontrunner Cam Schlitter starting Friday night and Carlos Rodon and Fried set for Saturday.
Gerrit Cole, the Yankees’ other ace, took the loss Thursday night when the Astros beat the Yankees 5-1 in the rubber game of a three-game series.
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