“Yankees don’t deserve Max Fried!” - Fans implode as Luke Weaver ruins $218M star’s ace outing in 3-1 loss vs. Red Sox

The New York Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card series on the back of Max Fried's dominance from the mound.

However, Fried was taken out of the game after registering his first out in the seventh after throwing his 102nd pitch of the night. The Yankees' lead evaporated in the eighth with reliever Luke Weaver on the mound.

With two runners on base, Weaver allowed a two-RBI single to Red Sox pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida as Boston took a 2-1 lead.

Yankees fans imploded after the bullpen undid their ace's solid start.

"The #Yankees don't deserve Max Fried. The man pitched an absolute GEM tonight. Bring in Luke Weaver, and NONE of it matters. Aaron Boone sucks. Brian Cashman sucks. Hal Steinbrenner sucks."

"The Yankees have to be the dumbest organization alive. To roll out Luke Weaver and his 9.64 September ERA is beyond insane here. Left Fried in. Pitch Cruz. Do literally anything else. Who comes up with this crap?"

"Luke Weaver really came in and immediately fucking ruined everything Fried did I’m so done."

"Luke Weaver can enjoy free agency. Go start somewhere like he wants."

"It’s what we all feared coming into the postseason. The bullpen blows it. Luke Weaver didn’t get a single guy out in the biggest inning of his season. Hard to stomach that."

Things got worse for the Yankees as Alex Bregman added another run with an RBI double to make it 3-1 in the ninth, a lead the Red Sox held on to clinch Game 1 of the series.

Luke Weaver takes accountability after disastrous outing against Red Sox

Luke Weaver, who allowed a walk, a double and a go-ahead single to the three hitters he faced in the game, took accountability for his outing after the loss.

"They put a good approach together, put the ball in play and found the holes," Weaver said. "I know there's a lot of disappointed people, including myself, but I just got to be better."

The Yankees' bullpen struggle is nothing new, as the franchise held a 4.37 bullpen ERA in the regular season, the 23rd best in the league.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash