NEW YORK — Early on this season, the Yankees were practically unbeatable when Max Fried took the mound. That ace version of Fried has been missing in action over these last several weeks, a debilitating trend that continued on Sunday afternoon in the Yankees’ series finale against the Astros.

But Cole underwent Tommy John surgery during spring training, catapulting Fried to the very top of the Yankees’ rotation depth chart. Tasked with being the unquestioned ace on a new team, the former Brave played the part brilliantly over his first 17 starts,

The Yankees’ offense went really, really cold with only three hits in a 7-1 loss to the Astros in front of 43,658 at the Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Yankees (62-56) have lost seven of their last nine and 31 of their last 51.

Max Fried of the New York Yankees struggled to put Houston Astros hitters away before the home plate umpire put an exclamation point on his bad outing.