Max Fried gives Yankees exactly what they needed in rebound from rocky start

This was the better kind of blistering performance from Max Fried.

On a night when the Yankees needed to keep their bullpen usage light, on a night when they needed to start to reverse their recent slide, on a night when they needed their ace to live up to his billing, Fried checked all those boxes in notching his 12th win of the season.

A start that appeared to be going downhill after Anthony Volpe’s error led to two unearned Rays runs in the first inning, and Jonathan Aranda’s homer put a third on the board, ended with Fried going 6 ²/₃ innings while striking out nine, allowing just two earned runs and retiring 14 straight.

That gave the Yankees a chance to come back from a 3-0 deficit, which they gladly took in beating the Rays 7-5 in The Bronx on Tuesday.

After a messy return from the All-Star break in which Fried gave up a season-high six runs in a loss to the Blue Jays last week, he had everything going Tuesday, looking like the same pitcher who has anchored the rotation all season.

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“Just kind of a stud, grind it [out] effort by him,” manager Aaron Boone said.

Before the game, Boone said that the blister on Fried’s left index finger, which caused concern heading into the All-Star break, was essentially a nonfactor at this point.

Judging by the rest of the night, and the effectiveness of Fried’s curveball in particular, he was right.

Fried went to his curve 34 times and induced eight whiffs, using it as his out pitch throughout the evening. Aside from his first and last innings — the former induced largely by Volpe’s error, which negated a double play — he was never in trouble.

The latter came when Boone tried to squeeze one extra out from Fried after he walked catcher Nick Fortes. Though a cheer went up from the Stadium crowd after Boone seemingly went to pull Fried but left him in the game, Taylor Walls’ double allowed Fortes to score from first.

It was Fried’s 111th and last pitch of the night, and the first hit he’d given up since Aranda’s homer, as Boone brought in Jonathan Loáisiga, who quickly ended the inning.

“I’ve not had the best results in the last however many starts,” Fried said. “It was just important for me to go out there and make sure we put us in a really good chance to win today. Just wanted to bear down, hold us there to be able to help the offense do what they do.”