Just like the rest of the Yankees in this series, Max Fried wasn’t good enough.

Pitching in an elimination game for the second time in his career, the lefty at times looked dominant but allowed runs in three of his last four innings in Wednesday’s season-ending 4-3 loss to the Rays in The Bronx in Game 3 of the ALDS. 

The big blow was a two-run shot by Victor Mesa Jr. to give Tampa Bay the lead in the sixth inning.

“It’s just as simple as: I threw a bad pitch,’’ Fried said. “I left it up. The guy hit a home run, just two more runs. Kind of put it out of reach. It really sucks because we played a good game. We played a really sound game and did enough to win. And unfortunately I didn’t do enough to be able to kind of hold up my end of the bargain.”

The Yankees said prior to the game that there wasn’t really a debate about whether to go with Fried or fellow southpaw Carlos Rodón, with pitching coach Matt Blake saying Tuesday, “Max has been one of our guys and we want to ride him here.”

It was an understandable decision, even as Rodón was perhaps the rotation’s best pitcher down the stretch outside of AL Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler.

Rodón said he supported whatever decision the Yankees made, but seemed bewildered about not having pitched at all in the playoffs after throwing so well down the stretch.

And now the Yankees head into the offseason with Rodón not having been a factor in the postseason.

The real issue the Yankees had against their AL East rivals, who they couldn’t catch in the division and proved to be no match for in the playoffs, was their offense.

Fried, just like Gerrit Cole and Schlittler — who started the first two games of the series, respectively — was forced to be nearly perfect.

And he wasn’t.

It was not the ace-like outing the Yankees were looking for from the left-hander after he’d been fully built up following a 2 ½-week absence in August due to inflammation in his left elbow related to the bone bruise he had in the area earlier in the season.

Asked about the elbow, Fried said, “It doesn’t matter. Everyone’s not feeling good. You take the ball, you go out there, and no one remembers if you feel good, if you felt 100 percent, but it doesn’t matter.”

He added he didn’t think he’d need surgery on the elbow as he headed into the offseason.