The Yankees will activate Max Fried from the 15-day injured list tomorrow. The team announced that he’ll take the ball for Game 2 of a doubleheader against Pittsburgh. He’ll go opposite Bubba Chandler after a Mitch Keller vs. Gerrit Cole showing in the afternoon.
Fried returns after spending more than two months on the shelf. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his throwing elbow in mid-May. There wasn’t any ligament damage. It nevertheless required a shutdown before Fried was able to embark on a rehab stint last week. He tossed three innings and 52 pitches for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
The Yankees initially announced that Fried would make one more Triple-A start. They pivoted away from that to bring him back for what’ll surely be an abbreviated MLB appearance. Teams can carry an extra pitcher during a doubleheader and the Yankees are off on Thursday, so the bullpen should be able to handle the extra few innings.
Fried had turned in a 3.21 ERA while working just over six innings per start across his first 10 appearances. He finished fourth in AL Cy Young balloting last year, his first in pinstripes. He’ll join Cole, Cam Schlittler, Ryan Weathers and Will Warren in a rotation that has been without Carlos Rodón this month.
