Yankees' Max Fried bolsters dark-horse Cy Young hopes against Orioles

Fried shut down the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday for seven innings, striking out 13 batters — which tied his career high — en route to a 7-0 Yankee win.

Fried, a three-time All-Star, earned the Yankees' game belt for winning his league-leading 18th game of the year.

Max Fried flames through Baltimore Orioles lineup

All of Fried's pitches were working for him, as the O's managed just three hits off the Yankees ace.

Fried, whom the Yankees signed to a massive eight-year, $218M contract over the offseason, looked every bit the ace the Yanks thought they were getting over the first few months of the season. 

It was a different story during the summer; between July 1 and August 16, Fried had a disastrous 6.80 ERA across eight starts, going 3-5 in that time. Fried has righted the ship in the six starts since, sporting a 1.60 ERA across those six starts as the regular season winds down.

Fried, who was once a Cy Young favorite, is now a dark horse to be named the top pitcher in the American League. Per DraftKings, Fried is tied for the fourth-best odds to win in the Junior Circuit (+10000), well behind heavy favorites Tarik Skubal (-10000) and Garrett Crochet (+1000).