Max Fried Continued His Great 2025 In Rubber Game Against New York Mets

Max Fried has pitched great for the New York Yankees this season. They expected to win this game and this series. However, Max Fried was not around to make the decision. The Yankees won 3-2, and the game was decided after Max Fried and David Peterson left the game. That is the thing with a good starting pitcher, like Max Fried, when he faces a good starting pitcher like David Peterson. Do you think the Yankees will use this series win to propel them for the rest of the season?

Lineups

The New York Mets, in this rubber game of the series, had Francisco Lindor as the shortstop and batting leadoff. Juan Soto was the right fielder and batted second. Pete Alonso was the third baseman and batted third. Mark Vientos was the third baseman and was batting fourth. Brandon Nimmo was the left fielder, batting fifth. Starling Marte was the designated hitter and batted sixth. Brett Baty pinch hit for him in the seventh inning. Baty remained in the game as the designated hitter. Francisco Alvarez was the catcher and batted seventh. Jeff McNeil was the left fielder and batted eighth. Luisagel Acuna was the second baseman and batted ninth. 

For the Yankees, in this rubber game of the series, Paul Goldschmidt batted first and was the first baseman. Trent Grisham was the center fielder and batted second. Aaron Judge batted third and was the right fielder. Cody Bellinger was the left fielder and batted fourth. Anthony Volpe was the shortstop and batted fifth. Jasson Dominguez was the designated hitter and batted sixth. DJ LeMahieu was the second baseman and batted seventh. Austin Wells was the catcher, batting eighth. Oswald Peraza played third base and batted ninth. Ben Rice pinch hit for him in the seventh inning. Jorbit Vivas came in to play third base.

Scoring Summary: The Struggles of Max Fried 

In the first inning, Bellinger doubled and Goldschmidt and Judge scored. The Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead. In the second inning, McNeill singled and Vientos scored. It was 2-1 Yankees. In the fifth inning, Max Fried threw a wild pitch, and Jeff McNeill scored. The game was tied at 2.

In the eighth inning, Vivas hit an infield hit as Alonso short-armed the throw to home, and Jasson Dominguiez, who was on third and went on contact, scored. The Yankees took a late 3-2 lead.  The Goldschmidt singled, and Austin Wells scored. That run made it 4-2 Yankees. Bellinger then hit a grand slam. Vivas, Goldschmidt, and Grisham all scored. It was 8-2 Yankees.

Game Notes

The weather was significant for this game. It was 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind blew at 16 miles per hour. This was the rubber game of the series between the New York Yankees and New York Mets. Soto was lustily booed in his first at-bat. It was 50,000 against 1.

In the sixth inning, with two outs, Volpe grounded out with the bases loaded. He is not Derek Jeter, and fans should stop expecting him to be. He gives the Yankees great defense and is a .250 batter. He was up again in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. He struck out and left 8 men on base in this game.

Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw are the only two active pitchers with earned run averages less than Max Fried. Kershaw made his season debut on Saturday night for the. He pitched poorly, and if he sticks around, he could end up with a higher earned run average than Max Fried.

Jonathan Loáisiga came in to replace Max Fried in the seventh inning. This was the second game of the last three that Loáisiga pitched for the Yankees. Since he is coming back from injury, this was an important outing for him.

Conclusion

Fans wonder whether rubber games matter. They do. It is important to win two games out of three when a team can, and winning the rubber game of a series is important. With Max Fried pitching in this game, the Yankees thought they were going to win. They had the advantage, but this game was decided after Max Fried left the game. The Yankees are off on Monday before they begin a three-game series with the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. That series is interesting because the new hitting coach of the Texas Rangers is Brett Boone. He is the brother of the Yankees Manager Aaron Boone.