HOUSTON, TX — Max Fried had a six-week struggle in the middle of the season, going from a perennial cy-young contender, to a pitcher that was frankly hard to watch. While the underlying cause of the struggles was a Blister that popped up before the all-star break, the blister seems to be a distant memory to Fried.

Max Fried has gone minimum six innings in each of his last three starts — two against playoff teams — and has allowed a combined two earned runs in those outing. Fried has given the Yankees not only quality outings in all three, but also quantity in terms of innings pitched, especially the most recent outings against the Nationals and Astros where he went seven innings. It also helped that his offense was hard at work, giving him a cushion of six runs off lefty Framber Valdez, making Fried’s job on the mound easier.

“The Grand Slam really really helped helped it out, but it was just a really good team win.” Fried said, talking to the media about his outing. “I was happy to be able to eat some innings and keep some runs off the board and we wanted to come in tonight and start the series off right.”

Max Fried also made some really nice defensive plays on the mound, especially this sparkler in the seventh inning where it looked like the Astros were mounting a bit of a comeback, putting runners on first and second and no outs, before catcher Cesar Salazar stepped up to the plate and in his attempt at a bunt, he lined the pitch right back to Fried, who fired the ball to first base and doubled-up Mauricio Dubon, and after getting Pena to ground out, he avoided disaster, completing seven innings of work.

“It’s something I take seriously. Helps us win ball games.” Fried said. “And if I can do something to, you know, be the ninth defender out there, then, you know, it definitely definitely helps out myself and the team.”

The Yankees have two games left against the Astros before coming back to Yankee Stadium for a big series against the division rival Toronto Blue Jays. Max Fried is slated to start the final game of the three game set, opposed by Chris Bassitt.