New York Yankees got a pleasant surprise on Thursday night, when Max Fried returned from an elbow injury to pitch the back end of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fried was brilliant in a 2-0 victory, tossing five scoreless innings of one-hit ball while racking up seven strikeouts. He also threw just 60 pitches.

But it wasn’t Fried being nearly flawless that caught the attention of Yankees fans. Everyone is accustomed to seeing that. It was his velocity.

Fried actually hit 99 mph on the radar gun multiple times during the win and also hit 98.3 mph with another pitch. Those were his fastest pitches of the season, and it was an incredibly surprising development for a left-hander who typically hovers around 94-96 mph with his four-seam fastball.

Was it the short pitch count that allowed Fried to throw such heat? Was it adrenaline and excitement after being sidelined for so long?

Whatever the case may be, it was certainly an odd — and phenomenal — sight to see Fried throwing his fastball with such gusto, and it had Pirates hitters — as well as Yankees fans — flummoxed.

So, what can we expect from Fried going forward?

Well, the chances of him hitting nearly 100 mph on the radar gun every outing from here on out seem rather slim. It’s just not who he is as a pitcher.

However, what we do know is that the three-time All-Star is clearly 100 percent healthy, and that’s a massive boon for New York moving forward.

Fried had been sidelined since mid-May with elbow discomfort. In 11 starts on the year as a whole, he has logged a 2.97 ERA and 0.960 WHIP. He has allowed just 44 hits over 66.2 innings of work, registering 57 punchouts.

The 32-year-old is now in his second season with the Yankees after signing an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Bronx Bombers in December 2024.

New York will face the Philadelphia Phillies to kick off a three-game series on Friday evening.