NEW YORK (AP) — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone was unsure of the severity of Max Fried’s blister on his left index finger, a day after the All-Star left-hander left his start after three innings.
“It’s just that (a blister),” Boone said before the Yankees faced the Cubs on Sunday. “So he’ll be kind of leaning into all the modalities and all of the tricks that you try and do to deal with blisters. Then we’ll see how it lines up for what we want to line them up coming out of the break, based on just how that’s recovered.”
Fried allowed four runs — three earned — six hits and a season-high three walks in his shortest start since signing a n eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees in December. Nine of 18 hitters reached base, Fried threw only 39 of 73 pitches for strikes and fell behind with first-pitch balls to nine batters.
The three-time All-Star felt the blister on his 72nd pitch while facing Jon Berti and ended his outing by getting the infielder on a force out.
“I would say it’s still pretty early," Fried said after the Yankees ended the first half with a 4-1 loss to the Cubs.
"We’re fortunate enough to be able to have the break to have a couple more days and see how things heal, but I’m doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible hopefully, not miss time.”
He made four trips to the injured list because of blisters on that finger during his time with the Atlanta Braves. He went 23 days between starts in 2018, 12 days each in 2019 and 2021 and 18 in 2023, including a gap between the regular season and playoffs.
Fried is 11-3 with a 2.43 ERA and become the Yankees ace after Gerrit Cole needed Tommy John surgery. He was 9-2 with a 1.89 ERA in 15 starts through June 15, but has a 4.33 ERA in his past four outings.
Fried was selected to the AL All-Star team before getting replaced on the roster by Carlos Rodón, who pitched eight innings in Friday’s 11-0 win.
Fried will attend the festivities in Atlanta and the Yankees may start him in a three-game series at AL East-leading Toronto on July 21-23 after opening the second half by visiting the Braves.
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New York Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Russia’s nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system has entered active service, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday, as negotiators continue to search for a breakthrough in peace talks to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Troops held a brief ceremony to mark the occasion in neighboring Belarus where the missiles have been deployed, the ministry said. It did not say how many missiles had been deployed or give any other details.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in December that the Oreshnik would enter combat duty this month. He made the statement at a meeting with top Russian military officers, where he warned that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in peace talks.
The announcement comes at a critical time for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Zelenskyy at his Florida resort Sunday and insisted that Kyiv and Moscow were “closer than ever before” to a peace settlement.
However, negotiators are still searching for a breakthrough on key issues, including whose forces withdraw from where in Ukraine and the fate of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, one of the 10 biggest in the world. Trump noted that the monthslong U.S.-led negotiations could still collapse.
Putin has sought to portray himself as negotiating from a position of strength as Ukrainian forces strain to keep back the bigger Russian army.
At a meeting with senior military officers Monday, Putin emphasized the need to create military buffer zones along the Russian border. He also claimed that Russian troops were advancing in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine and pressing their offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Moscow first used the Oreshnik, which is Russian for “hazelnut tree,” against Ukraine in November 2024, when it fired the experimental weapon at a factory in Dnipro that built missiles when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.
Putin has praised the Oreshnik’s capabilities, saying that its multiple warheads, which plunge toward a target at speeds up to Mach 10, are immune to being intercepted.
He warned the West that Moscow could use it against Ukraine’s NATO allies who've allowed Kyiv to use their longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Russia’s missile forces chief has also declared that the Oreshnik, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, has a range allowing it to reach all of Europe.
Intermediate-range missiles can fly between 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). Such weapons were banned under a Soviet-era treaty that Washington and Moscow abandoned in 2019.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, Russian troops line up at a base in Belarus where the Oreshnik missile system was deployed in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, Russian solders camouflage one of the trucks of the Russia's Oreshnik missile system with a net during training in an undisclosed location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, A Russia's Oreshnik missile system is seen during a training in an undisclosed location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, A Russia's Oreshnik missile system is seen during a training in an undisclosed location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, A Russia's Oreshnik missile system is seen during a training in an undisclosed location in Belarus. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
