Max Fried turned in another dominant outing, but the New York Yankees couldn’t protect a late lead in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night at Wrigley Field. The defeat dropped the Yankees to 62-49, while the Cubs improved to 63-48 after scoring four unanswered runs over the final three innings to even the series.
Fried continued his strong return from the injured list, allowing just one run on two hits over 5.1 innings while striking out seven. The Cubs manufactured their only run against the left-hander in the first inning without recording a hit after Pete Crow-Armstrong walked, advanced on two wild pitches and scored on a groundout. Fried retired 10 consecutive batters at one point before exiting after 78 pitches as the Yankees continued to manage his workload.
The Yankees answered in the fifth with a two-out rally. Spencer Jones reached on a fielding error before Ali Sanchez singled and Jose Caballero drove home the tying run with a base hit. Jones then gave New York its first lead in the seventh, launching a solo homer to right-center for his fifth home run of the season. The rookie finished 2-for-4 and accounted for two of the Yankees’ six hits.
The lead didn’t last long. Fernando Cruz surrendered a game-tying solo homer to Nico Hoerner before a two-out walk extended the inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with a go-ahead RBI triple that skipped past Jasson Domínguez in right field, and Seiya Suzuki added an RBI single to cap the three-run frame. Chicago tacked on an insurance run in the eighth before closing out the victory.
The Yankees wrap up their series against the Cubs on Sunday at Wrigley Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2:20 p.m., with Gerrit Cole (4-5, 3.57 ERA) set to face Chicago right-hander Colin Rea (8-7, 4.67 ERA).
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to kyle@fingerlakes1.com.