TAMPA — Max Fried had his no-hitter lost for him before he could lose it for himself.
The left-hander ultimately delivered a terrific performance across 7 ²/₃ innings that propelled the Yankees to a 4-0 win over the Rays on Sunday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field, but it became marred in controversy by a scoring change that was announced just minutes before the first live hit.
As Fried jogged out to the mound for the bottom of the eighth seemingly working on a no-hit bid through seven innings, the official scorer, Bill Matthews, announced that Chandler Simpson was being credited with the Rays’ first hit from two innings earlier.
In the bottom of the sixth, Simpson had hit a ground ball off of first base that Paul Goldschmidt could not field cleanly.
The speedy Simpson busted it down the line and may have beat Fried there had Goldschmidt handled it — though Fried beat him on a similar play in the third inning — and the play was initially scored an error on Goldschmidt.
After reviewing the play multiple times, though, Matthews announced in the middle of the eighth inning the change from an error to a hit.
The decision ultimately became moot minutes later, when Jake Mangum led off the bottom of the eighth with a line-drive single to center field.
Fried received a standing ovation after Mangum’s hit, with the sellout crowd of 10,046 acknowledging that as the end of his no-hit bid instead of it officially ending in the sixth.
Regardless, Fried put together yet another outstanding outing that allowed the Yankees (14-8) to take three of four from the Rays (9-13) and bounce back from a crushing loss Saturday.
Officially, Fried allowed just two hits, two walks and one hit batter while striking out two on 102 pitches.
The scoring change and Mangum’s hit in the eighth may have taken a difficult decision out of the Yankees’ hands, as Fried had not thrown more than 98 pitches this season, with his career high being 110.
Bench coach Brad Ausmus would have had to make that call because Aaron Boone had been ejected in the top of the eighth inning for arguing a called third strike on Aaron Judge — which came one pitch after he appeared to crush a home run, only for it to be called foul and the play standing upon replay review.
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Before Fried lost his no-hitter, Jazz Chisholm Jr. did his part to preserve it in the seventh inning, when he tracked down Christopher Morel’s bloop to center field and made a diving catch on it in no-man’s-land.
Fried, who fields his position well, had flashed some speed earlier in the game to rob Simpson of a hit.
The rookie outfielder, who stole 104 bases in the minors last season, hit a ground ball to Goldschmidt and raced down the line, but Fried beat him there to receive the flip for the out.
After Oswaldo Cabrera committed his second error of the game in the fourth inning — this one a throwing error following a fielding error in the first — Fried picked him up by picking off Morel at second base.
The Yankees got more strong defense from Trent Grisham, who led off the game with a home run, in the fifth inning.
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After Fried had walked Danny Jansen with one out, Mangum hit a fly ball to the gap in right-center field that Grisham made a tumbling catch on.
Then he fired into second to nab Jansen, who was trying to tag up to second, for the inning-ending double play.
