SerpApi.Org
The New York Yankees dropped an exciting surprise ahead of their Wednesday doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With Tuesday's game postponed due to inclement weather, the Bronx Bombers will play a twinbill the next day. On Tuesday evening, however, they announced their starting pitchers for both games. Getting the ball for the first leg will be Gerrit Cole.
The nightcap starter? Max Fried.
Indeed, the Yankees will be activating Fried off the injured list to start the second game of the doubleheader. The original plan was to have the lefty make one more appearance with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Wednesday before activating him to pitch against the Chicago White Sox next week. Now, the Yankees will skip that rehab outing and summon the 32-year-old to the Bronx.
Fried was expected to throw around 60 pitches in his originally scheduled rehab outing, and he will likely be on a similar pitch count tomorrow.
Activating Fried ahead of schedule does make sense for the Yankees. With Tuesday being rained out, they would have either started Will Warren or went with a bullpen game leading up to Fried's originally scheduled activation next week. Warren has been struggling immensely with a 5.56 ERA in his last seven starts, while New York's bullpen has been heavily taxed by a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend and a short outing by Ryan Weathers against the Pirates on Monday.
Fried last started against the Baltimore Orioles on May 13, and was placed on the 15-day injured list three days later with a left elbow bone bruise. The southpaw looked great over his first 10 starts this season, recording a 3.21 ERA, 2.71 FIP, 1.01 WHIP and 50 strikeouts against 19 walks over 61.2 innings pitched.
The Yankees' rotation is in much better shape with Fried back, while Carlos Rodon is also making progression in his rehab. This also means that Weathers and/or Warren could be moved to the bullpen once the unit is fully healthy.
Cole, who will be starting the first game of tomorrow's doubleheader, missed all of 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery and returned on May 22, roughly a week after Fried was placed on the IL. The Yankees signed Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract during the 2024-25 offseason to compliment Cole atop the rotation, and they will finally get to see that originally envisioned one-two punch on Wednesday.
Fried will face Pittsburgh's Bubba Chandler in the nightcap, scheduled for 7:05 PM EST. Cole will square off against Mitch Keller, with first pitch slated for 1:05 PM EST.
