FEARS THAT FRIED IS DONE

Maybe Anthony Volpe really is really just bad luck. Because every time the Yankees seem ready to settle in, another disaster drops out of the sky like a piano in a cartoon.

Now it’s ace lefty Max Fried heading to the medical report, and the timing couldn’t be worse.

Coming into Wednesday, Fried had been everything the Yankees could’ve asked for and then some. Through his first nine starts, he posted a 2.91 ERA with a 4-2 record and 48 strikeouts over 58 2/3 innings. The guy’s been a workhorse too, throwing more innings than any pitcher in baseball so far this season. In other words, he’s been the one adult in the room while the Yankees have played their usual game of “How Creative Can We Get With Heartbreak?”

But against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, something looked off almost immediately. Fried labored through three innings, giving up five hits, walking one and allowing three runs while striking out just two. The command wasn’t sharp, the velocity looked shaky, and Yankee fans everywhere probably started stress-eating sunflower seeds by the second inning.

Then came the moment nobody wanted to see.

After finishing the third inning and throwing only 61 pitches, Fried walked straight down the tunnel. Minutes later, right-hander Paul Blackburn began warming in the bullpen, which basically sent Yankees Twitter into full DEFCON 1 mode.

Soon after, the Yankees announced Fried exited with left elbow posterior soreness. He’ll undergo imaging in New York and be evaluated by team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad.

And let’s be honest here: anytime you hear Chris Ahmad’s name attached to a Yankees pitcher, it feels less like a medical update and more like the opening scene of a horror movie.

Hopefully this turns out to be precautionary and nothing more. Because despite the chaos surrounding this team lately, Fried has been one of the few steady, reliable forces holding the rotation together. The Yankees can survive a bad night. Surviving a long-term Fried injury? That’s a much scarier conversation.