It has mostly been smooth sailing for Max Fried ever since he returned to the mound for the New York Yankees in mid-July after missing over two months of action with an elbow injury. On Tuesday, Fried was at his best in an 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Not only did he throw seven innings, his heaviest workload since his injury return back the 22nd of July, he also allowed just one earned run on six hits, striking out six while walking none.

Fried's efficiency was on point on Tuesday; he needed to throw just 88 pitches to get through seven innings, and this is exactly the kind of performance the Yankees need from him especially with the postseason looming. This was a stark contrast to his previous start, when he had to throw 80 pitches just to get through 3.1 innings against the Colorado Rockies.

After the game, Fried revealed what tweaks he made in between those starts that helped him achieve greater efficiency with his pitches on Tuesday.

“Just had better control of my offspeed pitches. Being able to throw them for strikes. Feel like I was able to throw 'em in any count. And was really, really confident in that. Worked really well with Ali (Sanchez), and also, when you have defense make some great plays behind you, it adds to your confidence,” Fried told Meredith Marakovits of YES Network.

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This was only Fried's second start of the season where he didn't allow a single walk, so he truly was on point for the Yankees on Tuesday. With this latest start, Fried lowered his ERA to 2.63 on the season.

Now, preserving his health for the postseason is of the utmost importance for the Yankees. He did make just two starts for New York in last year's postseason and had a 6.75 ERA in those games. But if he were to carry over the level of command that he had against the Twins on Tuesday, he should be a major force to be reckoned with come postseason time.