Max Fried lived up to his billing as a frontline starter in the first season of an eight-year contract signed before the New York Yankees knew just how important he would be because of an injury to Gerrit Cole.

Fried is off to a stellar start to his second campaign in pinstripes and will be on the mound when the Yankees host the Miami Marlins in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon.

The Yankees are attempting to earn their fifth straight win and get off to an 8-1 start for the first time since 2020. New York followed up its 8-2 win on Friday by hanging on for a 9-7 win Saturday.

Giancarlo Stanton had his first regular-season stolen base since 2020 and hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth. Cody Bellinger drove in three runs and hit a two-run homer while the Yankees had 10 walks to give them 21 in the past two games.

“It’s a scoring competition, not a hit competition,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So however it comes, it’s about putting runs on the board.”

Fried (2-0, 0.00) went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 32 starts last season when he set career highs for wins, starts, innings (195 1/3) and strikeouts (189).

During New York’s season-opening six-game road trip, he gave up five hits and struck out 10 in 13 1/3 scoreless innings of wins at San Francisco and Seattle.

In the season opener against the Giants on March 25, the left-hander allowed two hits and registered four strikeouts. Against the Mariners, Fried allowed three hits in seven innings of a 5-0 win.

Fried has 10 scoreless starts since joining the Yankees and the only instance of consecutive shutout starts last season was April 27 and May 2 when he tossed 13 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.

“It’s incredible,” Yankees catcher J.C. Escarra said. “I can’t go wrong with what I call when he has all these pitches going. It makes it easy for me, and easy for him.”

Fried did not face the Marlins last season when the Yankees were swept in Miami. He is 6-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 16 career starts against the Marlins.

The Marlins collected 15 hits Saturday but also struggled by not finding the strike zone and allowing two runs on passed balls from catcher Agustin Ramirez.

Miami’s Chris Paddack (0-1, 18.00) makes his second start after a rocky debut with the club. In Monday’s 9-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Paddack allowed eight runs in four innings.

Paddack’s struggled after going 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA in five spring training starts for the Marlins, who signed him to a one-year deal Feb. 12 after the right-hander split last season with the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers.

“Not how I envisioned my Marlins debut by any means, but I’ve been here before,” Paddack said. “It’s not an ideal situation to be in to start the year. Especially coming off a really good spring, having some confidence going into the season.”

Said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough: “Results aside, we’ll get a lot better days out of Chris. He’s a pro. He’ll flip the page.”

Paddack is 0-3 with an 8.47 ERA in four career appearances (three starts) against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

Close games have become a regular occurrence for the Pittsburgh Pirates early in the season.

As long as they win their fair share, they will not mind at all. After a pair of one-run victories, the Pirates go for a sweep of their home-opening three-game series when they face the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.

“These guys have bought into the team aspect,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “These guys are ready on the bench. Just the way they’re buying into the team concept and finding a way to win.”

Three of Pittsburgh’s five wins so far have been by one-run margins.

The Pirates 3-2 victory Saturday came after they scored the tying run in the eighth inning and getting the winning run on Nick Yorke’s game-ending double in the ninth.

“He hasn’t been consistent (at the plate),” Kelly said. “For him to be able to do that, it was an awesome at-bat.”

Highly-regarded Pirates rookie Konnor Griffin is 1-for-6 with an RBI and a walk over his first two games.

The Orioles take solace in the fact that they have been on the cusp of winning several times when things ultimately turned.

“I think we’re competing really well,” Baltimore reliever Ryan Helsley said. “Sometimes baseball doesn’t go your way. Both sides are trying to win. I thought we played a good game (Saturday), just obviously didn’t work out in our way. We got another chance (Sunday), and we got a lot of baseball left and we just have to go get ’em and turn the page.

“It’s obviously frustrating not winning games, and to lose a game like that when you lead the whole way just adds to it. Hopefully we can learn from it and move on.”

The Orioles have lost four of their last five games.

“I think we have a lot of really good players in here and they’re just trying to put it all together and hopefully (Sunday) everything aligns,” Baltimore outfielder Dylan Beavers said.

Right-hander Braxton Ashcraft (0-1, 3.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for Pittsburgh in the series finale. He worked six innings in his first outing of the season Monday at Cincinnati, but there was no offensive support in the 2-0 loss as he allowed both runs on four hits and four walks.

Ashcraft is in his second big-league season. Last September, he gave up one run in three innings of middle relief in a no-decision at Baltimore.

The Orioles will send right-hander Chris Bassitt (0-1, 8.31 ERA) to the mound. He didn’t complete the fifth inning in last Monday’s start vs. the Texas Rangers.

Bassitt is 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA in six career starts vs. the Pirates. Those outings included 46 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings.

It’s possible that Baltimore left-hander Cade Povich could be available for mound duty after he arrived at the ballpark Saturday as part of the taxi squad.

The Orioles have faced only right-handed starters, so that has meant plenty of opportunities for lefty-hitting Samuel Basallo. But his options are not limited.

“We feel comfortable with Basallo handling left-handed pitching, especially him being 21, and his ceiling that he could be,” Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago Cubs were not going to waste an opportunity to take batting practice Saturday, even after their scheduled game at the Cleveland Guardians was postponed due to impending thunderstorms.

They wrapped up the session before heavy rains arrived and even got in some on-field work. The teams now will play a traditional doubleheader on Sunday.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt knows how the weather can change quickly in the city.

“It’s Cleveland, so we know how the weather goes,” Vogt said. “Today, I was out in the yard playing Wiffleball in shorts and a T-shirt before coming to the ballpark because it was 80 degrees and beautiful.

“When we saw the forecast, we all agreed that we wanted to play both (Sunday), instead of messing around with Chicago having to make another trip here later in the season.”

Cleveland will start right-hander Slade Cecconi (0-1, 12.46 ERA) in the opener and left-hander Parker Messick (1-0, 0.00 ERA) in the second game. The Guardians have won two straight, including a 4-1 victory Friday in their home opener over the Cubs.

Chicago is sending right-hander Edward Cabrera (1-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound in Game 1 and left-hander Shota Imanaga (0-1, 7.20 ERA) in Game 2.

“Imanaga tunnels the ball really well,” Vogt said. “We’ve seen him a couple of times over the last few years and we know when he’s executing, he’s tough.

“We’ve got to lay off the split and can’t go chasing him underneath. We have to try and get him up in the zone and hopefully go to work.”

The Cubs placed 2025 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Cade Horton on the injured list Saturday. He only threw 17 pitches and one scoreless inning Friday before leaving with right forearm discomfort. Left-hander Riley Martin was recalled from Triple-A Iowa.

Horton’s next start was slated for Wednesday, but manager Craig Counsell could opt for a bullpen game.

“Cade is very important to us,” said Colin Rea, who pitched 3 1/3 innings immediately after Horton was lifted. “Hopefully, he caught it early, and hopefully it’s nothing too bad and he doesn’t miss too much time.”

Martin, who is set to make his major league debut, has spent six years in the minor leagues, compiling a 24-13 record and 3.76 ERA in 174 appearances (three starts).

Counsell was scheduled to speak with reporters in the dugout Saturday but opted not to do so once the game was called off. Cubs players were already stretching and went through with their activities.

Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who committed to attend Vanderbilt before turning pro, did joke with the media about his basketball skills. The 24-year-old said he could have been a a sixth-year senior for the Commodores in the NCAA Tournament.

Cecconi has not faced Chicago, while Cabrera lost his only start against Cleveland, giving up five runs in 5 1/3 innings last Aug. 14 while with the Miami Marlins.

Imanaga is 1-0 with a 5.23 ERA in two career starts against Cleveland, allowing five homers in 10 1/3 total innings. Messick will pitch against the Cubs for the first time.

–Field Level Media