Max Fried dominates, Paul Goldschmidt homers in Yankees' 3-0 win over Rays

Max Fried dominated the Rays again, and Paul Goldschmidt provided the offense in the Yankees’ 3-0 win over Tampa Bay on Friday night at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the takeaways…

-Fried, the newly minted AL Pitcher of the Month, started May the way he ended April: dominant. He went 4.1 innings before he gave up his first hit — helped by some stellar defense behind him — but it was just the beginning of what the Yankees and their fans have come to expect from the left-hander.

Fried completed seven scoreless frames (92 pitches/61 strikes), allowing just one hit, two walks and one HBP while striking out six. His ERA is now 1.01.

The last time Fried pitched against the Rays, he reached the eighth inning without allowing a hit — until that was retroactively changed mid-game. In his two seasons outings against Tampa, he’s allowed only three hits over 14.2 scoreless innings.

– Goldschmidt dealt the big blow in this one. With the game scoreless in the fifth and runners on second and third and two outs, the former NL MVP launched a 1-0 pitch fastball at the top of the zone 350 feet the other way over the right field wall. It would’ve been a homer in only three parks — Citizens Bank Park and George M. Steinbrenner Field are the others.

After taking a month to hit his second homer, it’s Goldschmidt’s second homer in as many games. He finished 2-for-4.

–Aaron Judge smoked a triple to straightaway center that the Rays’ center fielder couldn’t grab and let trickle away from him. The ball was hit 108.5 mph off the bat. It was Judge’s seventh career triple and second this season. It’s the most he’s had in one season since hitting three in his 2017 rookie campaign.

The Yankees’ captain would add a double and also finish 2-for-4 at the plate. He’s now batting a league-best .430 as May gets started.

–Jorbit Vivas made his MLB debut, playing second base and batting ninth. He saw the first pitch of the game hit at him, a routine grounder. He made every play in the field that he needed to.

At the plate, Vivas struck out swinging in his first at-bat before taking a four-pitch walk in his second. His third at-bat saw him come up with a man on third and two outs. After falling behind 0-2, he worked a walk on six pitches. He finished 0-for-1 but walked twice and scored a run.

–Devin Williams pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout in relief, making it three straight scoreless outings for the new Yankee.

Luke Weaver continued his incredible start to the season, striking out two batters in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up his third save of the year. Weaver has yet to give up a run this season.

Game MVP: Max Fried

Fried was just dominant, and the Yankees are now 7-0 in his starts.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees and Rays continue their three-game set on Saturday afternoon in The Bronx. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.

Clarke Schmidt (0-1, 5.52 ERA) will take the mound looking for his first win of 2025. Tampa will send Zack Littell (1-5, 5.03 ERA) to the bump.

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