Yankees smack 3 homers as Max Fried dominates Rangers in series-opening win

James O'Connell, New York Daily News on Apr 27, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The New York Yankees have a new dynamic duo brewing early this season.

Aaron Judge and Ben Rice went back-to-back in the third inning setting the tone for Max Fried to dominate the Texas Rangers in their 4-2 win on Monday night. When Rice’s two-run shot went over the left-center field fence, it was his 10th of the season, tying Judge for the team lead. However, the Captain got his lead right back lasering a line-drive over the left-field wall.

The pair have combined to hit 21 HR this season. That’s more homers than five teams have hit — Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants. They are also first set of teammates in MLB history with at least 10 HR and 20 walks before the end of April, per Katie Sharp.

The early offense for the Bombers was plenty for their ace to work with,

Fried tossed six shutout innings, allowing just four hits while striking out five. The southpaw lowered his season ERA to 2.09 and hasn’t allowed a run in his past two outings.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. also appeared to have woken up as the infielder joined the homer party with a solo shot in the fourth inning.

As far as Aaron Boone’s bullpen, Camilo Doval allowed a solo shot to Joc Pederson in the seventh, Tim Hill worked in and out of trouble in the eighth and David Bednar also allowed a run in an inning of trouble, however, he was able to secure the final out.

Boone will turn to star Cam Schlittler for Tuesday night’s matchup. The young right-hander will look to continue his strong season and improve his 1.77 ERA. However, veteran right-hander Jacob deGrom will take the hill for the Rangers. It will be a battle of old-vs-young as deGrom is still effective with is 2.13 ERA.

____