The Yankees ace is no longer pitching like one.
The Yankees lineup has scored 20 runs in the past eight games, and on Sunday managed just three singles — none until the sixth inning of a 7-1 loss to the Astros.
The seemingly daily Yankees folly appeared in a ninth inning in which a disappointing game became an ugly one.
Since June 13 — a sample size approaching two months — a team that had sat comfortably in first place is 20-31.
The now third-place club only maintains playoff position because the Guardians also finished the weekend by losing a game.
On a beautiful afternoon for baseball in The Bronx, the bright blue sky looked a little closer than usual to the 43,658 on hand. It might very well be falling.
The Yankees dropped a third straight series behind a shaky Max Fried and a shakier offense as their nosedive continued against the Astros.
Max Fried reacts on the mound in the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx on August 10, 2025.JASON SZENES/ NY POST
“We’re just not playing good baseball, that’s what it comes down to,” said Aaron Judge, who is 7-for-43 (.163) with two home runs and 17 strikeouts in his past 13 games bridging his IL stint.
“Obviously we’re feeling it. We know we have to be better,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees (62-56) lost for a seventh time in their past nine games. “We know we have a much higher standard for ourselves and expectations.
“But at the same time, we’re in control of this. I wholeheartedly believe that we are going to get rolling and turn this thing around.”
What has become clear is the Yankees are in desperate need of something.
They lack a stopper because their first-half stopper has not been able to stop the bleeding.
Fried allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk in five eventful innings. The lefty, who held a 1.92 ERA through June, owns a 6.00 ERA in seven starts since.
“You go through spells sometimes, but to be honest I’ve just got to be better,” said Fried, who threw a first-pitch strike to 23 of 26 hitters, lived ahead in the count as he sought to pitch deeper into the game and yet could not finish batters off.
He allowed a first-inning homer to the boo-silencer Jose Altuve; gave up another run when Jasson Domínguez misplayed a double off the wall from Christian Walker, which enabled an extra base to be taken in the third; and could not bounce back from adversity in the fifth.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone is thrown out of the game after arguing with the home plate umpire in the third inning at Yankee Stadium.JASON SZENES/ NY POST
In the frame, the Astros loaded the bases with two outs for Cam Smith, who laid off a 2-2 four-seamer that appeared to be a strike to everyone except plate umpire Derek Thomas (who already had tossed Boone).
Smith then doubled into the right field corner, giving Houston a 4-0 lead that felt awfully steep for the Yankees these days because they also lack much punch.
Journeyman 32-year-old Jason Alexander, who entered with a 5.97 ERA, took a no-hitter into the sixth before Ben Rice drove a one-out single to left — and was immediately erased on a double play from Judge.
“Today was a day you felt like we should have been able to put some things together,” Boone said of an attack that only managed a semblance of a rally against the Houston bullpen.
Astros outfielder Jose Altuve (C) reacts as he rounds second base after connecting on a solo home run against New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried in the first inning at Yankee Stadium.JASON SZENES/ NY POST
In the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. (single), Giancarlo Stanton (pinch-hit single) and Anthony Volpe (walk) loaded the bases with one out.
Ryan McMahon hit a sacrifice fly against Bryan Abreu before Austin Wells flied out, thus ending the only inning in which the Yankees reached scoring position.
Giancarlo Stanton reacts after striking out in the ninth inning against the Astros on Aug. 10, 2025.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
And during a season that has lacked clean play too often, the embarrassing portion of the day came in the ninth, when left fielder Cody Bellinger fielded a bloop single and had a chance to throw Altuve out at the plate, but the ball slipped out of his hand and traveled just a few feet toward third base.
With little on the field that encourages, Judge, Fried and Boone all pointed to the talent in the clubhouse. The manager also gestured to teams of recent vintage that struggled until they soared.
“The game is littered with dead and buried teams,” Boone said. “We’re in playoff position right now. And we’ve been through a bad two months where we haven’t performed at a level we need to.
“You can pick out a number of teams [over the past few years] that were sitting in worse position than we are now that go on that run. We have the people to do that.”
