


New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was unsure of the severity of Max Fried’s blister on his left index finger, a day after the All-Star left-hander left his start after three innings.
“It’s just that (a blister),” Boone said before the Yankees faced the Cubs on Sunday. “So he’ll be kind of leaning into all the modalities and all of the tricks that you try and do to deal with blisters. Then we’ll see how it lines up for what we want to line them up coming out of the break, based on just how that’s recovered.”
Fried allowed four runs — three earned — six hits and a season-high three walks in his shortest start since signing a n eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees in December. Nine of 18 hitters reached base, Fried threw only 39 of 73 pitches for strikes and fell behind with first-pitch balls to nine batters.
The three-time All-Star felt the blister on his 72nd pitch while facing Jon Berti and ended his outing by getting the infielder on a force out.
“I would say it’s still pretty early,” Fried said after the Yankees ended the first half with a 4-1 loss to the Cubs.
“We’re fortunate enough to be able to have the break to have a couple more days and see how things heal, but I’m doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible hopefully, not miss time.”
Fried made four trips to the injured list because of blisters on that finger during his time with the Atlanta Braves. He is 11-3 with a 2.43 ERA and became the Yankees ace after Gerrit Cole needed Tommy John surgery.
Fried was selected to the AL All-Star team before getting replaced on the roster by the Yankees’ Carlos Rodón, who pitched eight innings in Friday’s 11-0 win.
TIGERS hit SKIDS AT ALL-STAR BREAK
The Detroit Tigers were showered with a smattering of boos as they walked off the field for the last time before the All-Star Game.
Seattle defeated Detroit 8-4 on Sunday, sealing a three-game sweep that gave the Major League-leading Tigers a season-high, four-game losing streak.
“We’ve stumbled a little going into the break,” Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty acknowledged. “But I think if you told everyone in here and in Detroit what record we’d have in the first half, where we would be in the division, where we would be overall and that we would have six All-Stars, I think a lot of people would be happy with that.”
The Tigers are 59-38, giving them the best record going into the All-Star Game for the seventh time in team history and first since 2006.
Detroit has an 11 1/2-game lead over second-place Minnesota in the Central, giving it the largest lead in the division or league at the break in franchise history.
The Tigers will be represented by a team-record six All-Stars: pitchers Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, outfielders Riley Greene and Javier Baez, second baseman Gleyber Torres and infielder Zach McKinstry.
Detroit even had its bat boy, Frankie Boyd, voted into the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
“I want our guys to be proud and also hungry,” manager A.J. Hinch said.
The Tigers will definitely want to get a bad taste out of their mouths after giving up 35 runs over three games to the Mariners, who scored 15 runs in the ninth innings of the three games.
“We didn’t finish the game, which isn’t our norm,” Hinch said. “We’ve been very good at playing the entire game.”
The Tigers will have 65 games left in the regular season to hold on for their first division title in 11 years and to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs, hoping to win a World Series for the first time since 1984.