Jewish MLB Pitcher Max Fried Leads Yankees to 7-0 Win Over San Francisco on Opening Day
Aug. 30, 2025: New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) throws a circle-changeup in the fifth inning during an MLB game against the Houston Astros on Sept. 2, 2025, at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas. The Yankees defeated the Astros 7-1. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
Jewish professional baseball player Max Fried led the New York Yankees on Wednesday night to a 7-0 win over the San Francisco Giants on MLB Opening Day at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
The Major League Baseball season opened with the Yankees securing their fifth consecutive victory in an opener. Fried — a 32-year-old native of Santa Monica, California — threw 6.1 shutout innings and allowed only two hits. He threw 56 of his 83 pitches for strikes, struck out four, and walked one.
The Giants have not had such a bad performance in terms of hits on Opening Day since April 12, 1965. Wednesday night also marked the debut of Giants manager Tony Vitello.
Fried was the fourth starter for the Yankees on Opening Day to go six or more innings and allow two hits or less. After an outstanding first season with the Yankees, he also became just the third left-handed pitcher in Yankees history to have an outing without allowing a run on Opening Day, following Marius Russo in 1941 and Ron Guidry in 1980, according to NY Yankees Stats. Lefties have also opened for the Yankees for three straight seasons now, beginning with Neston Cortes in 2024, Carlos Rodón in 2025, and now Fried for the 2026 MLB season.
“It’s really a testament to just how good he is and how he can beat you in different ways,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Wednesday night’s game, according to ESPN. “In some ways, it was a bit of a grind for him tonight, in and out of rhythm a little bit, but his arsenal is so vast, and he was a little effectively wild tonight.”
“When the guys go out there and put up five runs in the second, it allows you to take a deep breath and get into the game,” added Fried. “When you have a five-run lead you have a little more room for error.”
Fried pitched for the USA junior baseball team that won a gold medal in the 2009 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He was drafted seventh overall in 2012 by the San Diego Padres before being traded to the Atlanta Braves. Several of his extended family members on his father’s side were murdered in the Holocaust and he has family who lives in Israel.