Max Fried, Aaron Boone meltdowns vs Dodgers give Yankees fans hellish WS flashbacks

Right before the series opener between the Yankees and Dodgers, LA was hit with some tough injury news. Star reliever Evan Phillips suffered a torn UCL and Mookie Betts was scratched from the lineup with a fractured toe. It was all lined up for the Yankees. Max Fried vs Tony Gonsolin. Win the favorable matchup.

But Fried completely unraveled in the sixth inning. Aaron Boone made questionable bullpen decisions in succession. The lineup hung five runs on Gonsolin but somehow allowed him to pitch six full innings when the Dodgers' bullpen was completely broken.

The result was an 8-5 loss after the Yankees blew a 5-2 lead in the sixth. Is it the end of the world? No. It's a regular season loss on May 30. But New York melted down in just about every way imaginable when they had the game in complete control. And they did it again against a high-profile opponent in primetime.

Fried pitched into the sixth, but he didn't record an out. Shohei Ohtani led off the inning and hit his second homer of the night on a poorly located fastball in a 3-1 count. Then Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman recorded hits before Boone saw enough and went to the bullpen.

He called on Jonathan Loaisiga, which actually wasn't a bad decision. But everything else was. Loaisiga allowed a single on what was a good piece of hitting by Andy Pages. Then he got the first out of the inning and prevented a run from scoring. But Dave Roberts started his mind games, and that's when things got out of hand.

He pinch hit Max Muncy to put a lefty against Loaisiga. Boone inexplicably intentionally walked the .210 hitter so he could go back to the bullpen (that was Loaisiga's third batter of the inning). Muncy, admittedly, has been hitting well as of late, but that is not the guy you give a free pass, even if you're trying to set up a double play (there were runners on second and third).

Tim Hill came in after that and ended up losing the worst hitter on the Dodgers. Michael Conforto's RBI walk gave the Dodger a 6-5 lead, and that was it. Well, it wasn't for the optimists, at least. It was a one-run game.

But because Boone used Hill and Loaisiga in the sixth, the last guy in the bullpen — Yerry De Los Santos — was summoned in the seventh inning of a one-run game. The right-hander was tasked with facing the meat of the Dodgers' order, and Freddie Freeman victimized him on a well-executed pitch low and away. That set the table for an Andy Pages two-run single. Now that was it.

Remember Game 1 of the World Series when Boone called upon Nestor Cortes in extras, only to have that decision essentially cost them the series? We wouldn't say he did anything that egregious in this game, but those moves in the sixth and seventh inning were as panicky and lost as they get.

And Game 5? Gerrit Cole falling apart with the help of the defense? Fried played that part, except he did it all by himself. He wasn't betrayed by the guys behind him, he just couldn't execute, and put forth his worst start of the year, resulting in his first loss.

The Yankees are 16-5 in their last 21 games, so there's really not much to complain about. But they just repeated their same inept behavior from the 2024 World Series the very first chance they got when going up against that same opponent in 2025. Don't forget, they also went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base against a starter with a 5.00 ERA and a bullpen that's battered with injuries and suffering from poor performance.

Next up? Will Warren vs Landon Knack and Ryan Yarbrough vs Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They had to win the opener to stand a chance. Instead, they dug themselves a massive hole vs a premier opponent to set themselves up for more embarrassment.