Earlier on Friday off the field, it was announced that the Yankees’ Max Fried won the AL Pitcher of the Month for April. On the field, he looked like he was ready to make another run at it in May. (Aaron Judge was also named AL Player of the Month, and don’t worry, he’ll make an appearance in this recap, too.)

Already established as the ace of the Yankees’ currently Gerrit Cole-less rotation, Fried was excellent once again. He went seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while striking out six. Fried did all that while not looking like he had his best stuff in the early going, and ended the day with a fairly ridiculous 1.01 ERA for the season.

The bullpen followed him perfectly, combining to retire all six batters they faced. It wasn’t the finest performance on the offensive side of things, but as it turned out, a Paul Goldschmidt homer would be all they needed. The Yankees’ return from a road trip started in an excellent fashion as they beat the Rays 3-0.

After taking a no-hitter into the eighth last time against the Rays — although not officially after the infamous scoring change — this time Fried didn’t allow a hit until the fifth. However, it took a while for the Yankees’ offense to give him any support, finally getting going in the bottom of the fifth.

With debutant Jorbit Vivas on base for the first time in the majors thanks to a walk, Judge hit a double, getting a bit lucky with it hitting right off the third-base bag and going past Junior Caminero. That led to the Rays going to the bullpen and brining in lefty reliever Mason Montgomery. That worked for getting Ben Rice to watch strike three for the second out of the inning, but the three-batter rule meant he had to stay in for Paul Goldschmidt. That didn’t work out well. The lefty-mashing Goldschmidt continued to do just that.

Goldschmidt took one just over the short porch in right field for a three-run homer that ended up being the only real offense for either team on the day.

Fried would depart after the seventh inning, as the Yankees went to Devin Williams for the eighth. He’s generally looked good since the demotion from closer, and that continued in this outing. He struck out one and got weak contact otherwise in a 1-2-3 inning. When the move was made, the Yankees said they envisioned Williams getting back on track and regaining the closer role. It’s too early to definitively make that move back, but he’s definitely looked better of late.

Following him was Luke Weaver who came on for the save. Like Williams before him, Weaver had no issues, throwing a perfect inning and ending the game with a strikeout of Caminero.

Also of note in this game is that, in addition to his aforementioned double, Judge recorded a triple as well, brining his average up to a hilarious .430 with a 1.298 OPS. While Vivas didn’t record his first MLB hit just yet, he drew two walks in his MLB debut.

The Yankees and Rays will continue their series tomorrow. Clarke Schmidt and Zack Littell are the expected starters for the Saturday matinee, with first pitch at 1:05pm ET.

Box Score