{"id":246938,"date":"2026-07-18T23:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246938\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:59:22","slug":"yankees-max-fried-upbeat-after-triple-a-rehab-start-in-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246938\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees\u2019 Max Fried upbeat after Triple-A rehab start in Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOOSIC, Pa. \u2014 Max Fried had two goals for his first rehab start on Friday night: Get in all his pitches and come away feeling good.<\/p>\n

The New York Yankees\u2019 left-hander, who has not pitched in a game since May 13th due to a bone bruise in his pitching elbow, worked the first three innings for the Triple-A Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in their 7-6 victory<\/a> against the Worcester Red Sox at PNC Field. He overcame a lengthy first inning and allowed two runs and five hits \u2014 including a home run \u2014 with no walks, three strikeouts, and one wild pitch. He threw 52 pitches, 32 for strikes, and topped out at 95.4 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cMixing my pitches, some of my shapes. I felt like I was executing some good areas, especially outside that first inning and obviously the home run,\u201d Fried said. \u201cI felt like I was putting it where I wanted to and able to do what I wanted today, which was go out, try some new things, get through all my pitches, build up, and be healthy at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan felt Fried\u2019s outing was solid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the best defense tonight behind him. He gave up a couple hits that could have been turned into outs. Tough plays for the fielders, I believe in those guys,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cBut overall it was fun watching him. He had a long inning in the first and then a really efficient one in the second, which was a good bounce-back inning for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a hard guy to hit when he\u2019s in the strike zone. He\u2019s got a really loaded arsenal that makes it hard for hitters. It\u2019s fun watching him out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Fried began his comeback from injury, George Lombard Jr. returned from an IL stint of his own. The Yankees\u2019 No. 1 prospect \u2014 sidelined since June 16th with sprained fingers on his left (glove) hand that he suffered when reaching into a sliding Columbus Clippers runner while attempting to field a throw on a stolen base attempt \u2014 went 2-for-3 with a home run, walk, one RBI, and two runs. He handled five chances (four assists, one putout) at shortstop, but did have one throwing error.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been kind of antsy to get back,\u201d Lombard said. \u201cIt\u2019s been about a month now, so I was ready to get back. My body feels good and I\u2019m excited to get back with the team and hopefully keep helping the guys win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fried threw 28 pitches in two simulated innings June 29th, then threw 36 pitches in a live bullpen session July 11th. So coming into Friday night\u2019s game, he was scheduled to throw about 50 pitches. He used up half that total in a six-batter top of the first inning.<\/p>\n

Fried allowed a line-drive single on his second pitch to leadoff batter Nick Sogard, then wild-pitched him to second. After striking out Nate Eaton on five pitches, Mickey Gasper singled on a 2-0 count. He fanned Mikey Romero on seven pitches for the second out, but Andrew Knizner lined a 2-1 pitch through second baseman Marco Luciano to score Sogard and give Worcester a 1-0 lead. The lefty got Brett Harris to ground a 2-1 pitch to Lombard to end the inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to get the feel of a game setting again. I\u2019ve had a lot of BPs,\u201d Fried said. \u201cTrying to throw the ball over the plate, not walk guys, force action and they were ready. Ready to come out of the break.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Fried rebounded in the second inning, throwing just nine pitches and getting a strikeout and ground out and a lineout.<\/p>\n

But with one out in the third, Eaton jumped on a 2-1 pitch and sent it over the left-field fence for a home run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a slider, a pitch that I don\u2019t really throw a ton,\u201d Fried said. \u201cBut I wanted to try a bunch of different things today and see how it works. I guess that one didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gasper followed with a high chopper for an infield single. But Fried got Romero to ground out to second. Knizner then hit a grounder to third baseman Tyler Hardman that ricocheted off him and right to Lombard, who barehanded the ball and threw to first in time for the out to end the inning.<\/p>\n

\u201dThat was one of those plays that rarely ever happen, but you\u2019re looking for them when they do,\u201d Lombard said. \u201cIt just kind of took a lucky bounce over to me and I was ready for it and I was able to make a good throw to first. It helped Max get out of that inning.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the lengthy first inning, Fried was glad to go three innings and hit his pitch limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-five pitches after the first inning, I wanted to try to be able to make it through three, hopefully four,\u201d Fried said. \u201cWhen you get put behind the 8-ball like that, you just try to go out there and get a quick inning. It was nice to do that. I was able to get my three full innings, 50 pitches, and feeling good, so that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is next for Fried remains to be seen. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters in New York that he expects Fried to make another rehab start Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just go wherever they want me to for the next one. It\u2019s more about whatever the team needs,\u201d Fried said. \u201cIf they want me to come and keep building up and have another outing, great. Whenever they feel like I\u2019m ready to go and help the team, I\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching the Yankees struggle while he, Aaron Judge<\/a>, Giancarlo Stanton, and Carlos Rod\u00f3n have been sidelined has been frustrating, but Fried believes the team will right itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a confident group. You\u2019re not going to play your best baseball the whole year, all 162,\u201d Fried said. \u201cIt\u2019s been not as consistent as we\u2019ve wanted it to, but we\u2019re pretty motivated to come out of the break and play some of our best baseball, especially when it matters most.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely have some guys down that aren\u2019t playing. But we also have a really deep team that\u2019s really good. The guys filling in are more than capable of going out there and win baseball games. I\u2019m just trying to give them as much support as I can and do what I need to make sure when I\u2019m back that I\u2019m contributing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to his injury, Lombard certainly was contributing for the RailRiders, riding a nine-game hitting streak. It didn\u2019t take him long to extend that to 10 games. He led off the the bottom of the first by crushing a 1-2 pitch from WooSox starter Raymond Burgos off the signage beyond the walkway above the bullpens in left field for his fifth Triple-A home run, tying the game at 1-1.<\/p>\n

In two rehab appearances earlier this week with the Florida Coast League Yankees, he homered in each game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to get some at-bats down in Tampa while I was rehabbing, so I was feeling good,\u201d Lombard said. \u201cI was looking for a good pitch to start off the game and put a good swing on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one out in the second, after Kenedy Corona hit a three-run home run to put the RailRiders in front, 4-1, Lombard walked and scored on a two-out double by No. 6 prospect Spencer Jones to make it 5-1. In the fourth, he singled with two outs and easily advanced to third on a single by J.C. Escarra. He struck out in his final at-bat leading off the top of the sixth and exited the game after seven innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made his presence felt right from the get-go,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cThe thing that stood out was on Spencer\u2019s double he put his head down and really busted it to score easy on that play. A lot of guys might watch the ball to see if it was a homer or not. It\u2019s the little things \u2014 the plays he\u2019s making on defense. Even though they gave him a throwing error on the one that got under (first baseman) Ernesto (Martinez Jr.\u2018s) glove, it was a great play. He\u2019s fun to watch, but it\u2019s the little things that really stand out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duncan said the plan is for Lombard to serve as DH on Saturday and play nine innings at shortstop Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOOSIC, Pa. \u2014 Max Fried had two goals for his first rehab start on Friday night: Get in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179,86673,68986,51788,65905],"class_list":["post-246938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-yankees-injuries","tag-yankees-minor-league-recaps","tag-yankees-news","tag-yankees-prospects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}