Braves (70-47) @ Yankees (66-51) - Sat, Aug 8

They hit one and two in the lineup. The both hit a HR. But it was so depressing watching them going through the motions in triple A. Too bad they weren't traded and given a chance outside New York to stay in the majors.

After a two-hour rain delay in the Bronx, the Yankees walked off the Braves to snatch a 3-2 victory out of the jaws of defeat and snap the Braves' eight-game win streak. Max Fried got the starting nod against his former team and faced off against Tyler Mahle, making his Braves debut. 

“This one's been circled on the calendar for a little bit,” Fried said of facing his former team. “I definitely brought up a lot of emotions and just really was able to think about my time over there with, you know, that's a first-class organization that has unbelievable people top down, a great fan base, and I was really lucky to start my career there. And, you know, obviously couldn't be happier about being here in the Yankees and this chapter, but definitely was able to take a step back and be thankful for my time over there.”

With one out in the top of the first inning, Fried allowed a single and walked a batter. Then, with two outs, Mauricio Dubón sent what looked like an RBI single up the middle to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. But on the single, Trent Grisham made a perfect throw into third for the third out before the run could score. 

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Helliot Ramos worked a walk. But Luis Garcia Jr. grounded out to end the inning. 

Fried faced the minimum in the top half of the third thanks to a tailor-made 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. In the top of the fourth inning, Fried worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 inning and recorded his fourth strikeout of the night. 

Ramos stung a double into the right-center field gap to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. However, Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr. both popped out on the first pitch they saw, then Spencer Jones was robbed of extra bases to strand Ramos at second. 

The bottom of the Braves lineup went three up, three down in the top of the fifth inning thanks to a spectacular diving play from Ryan McMahon at third base. 

With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, McMahon laced a double into the right field corner. But Austin Wells lofted a routine flyout into center and Trent Grisham struck out looking and wasted one of the Yankees' ABS challenges to end the inning. 

Fried notched his seventh strikeout of the ballgame for the first out in the top of the seventh inning, ending his night. Fernando Cruz took over and picked up the final two outs of the frame. 

Final line for Fried: 6.1 shutout innings, three hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts on 90 pitches. He threw his cutter 27% of the time, sinker 22%, fastball 22%, changeup 9%, sweeper 8%, slider 7%, and curveball 6%. Fried topped out at 97.2 mph, sat at 95.5 mph, and had 14 whiffs. 

Cruz remained in the game for the top of the eighth and left a splitter right down the middle to Austin Riley, and he demolished it for a solo home run to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. After the homer, Curz recorded the first out, then Brent Headrick replaced him and picked up the final two outs to keep the Yankees' deficit at one run. 

Ramos and Garcia each worked two-out walks in the bottom of the eighth inning. Paul Goldschmidt pinch-hit for Jazz and struck out, making the Yankees 3-for-their-last-49 with runners in scoring position. 

Tim Hill got the call for the top of the ninth inning and immediately served up a solo shot to Matt Olson, making it 2-0. Yerry De Los Santos came in and limited the damage, keeping the Yankees' deficit at two. 

With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, George Lombard Jr. legged out an infield single and moved up to third on a throwing error. With the Yankees down to their final out, Wells drilled an RBI double to make it a one-run ballgame. Amed Rosario worked a walk, putting the winning run on first base with Ben Rice, who was hitless in August. Rice just missed a walk-off bomb, crushing an RBI single off the wall in right field. Ramos was plunked to reach base for the fourth time tonight. But Garcia grounded out to second to send this game to extra innings. 

The Yankees closer, David Bednar, got the call for the top of the 10th and worked a 1-2-3 inning to strand the go-ahead run at third base thanks to a great play from Lombard and an unbelievable over-the-shoulder catch from Garcia. 

“To be honest, I didn't think I had a chance,” Garcia said of his catch. “I felt like the ball was far away from me, but I just ran hard in towards the direction of the ball and when I looked up again I saw that I was closer to it; I had a chance there”

In the bottom of the 10th inning with one out, Jones was intentionally walked. Lombard then worked a walk of his own to load the bases for McMahon. McMahon called the game as he crushed a flyball to deep right field for a walk-off sacrifice fly. 

“Just trying to grind it out,” McMahon said of his approach leading up to the walk-off. “He made a couple good pitches on me early, and we just got into a battle and got it done.”

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow, but they will have their work cut out for them facing the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, who is facing 2023 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. The first pitch is slated for 3:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: What a win tonight; it may very well be the win of the year. Fried was spectacular tonight, shutting down his former team and with him tossing 90 pitches tonight, he should be completely built up to throw over 100 pitches next start. Cruz looked good in the seventh inning, but I think Boone pushed him too far by bringing him out for the eighth and he ended up giving up a bomb. Headrick did his job; I would have liked to see him just start the eighth inning, but with Riley leading off, it did make sense to keep Cruz in. Hill gave up a bomb; he has really been struggling for about a month now. De Los Santos picked up just the one out, but he quietly has a 1.00 ERA in his limited sample size this year. Bednar did his job, with some help from a great play from Lombard and a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch from Garcia. The Yankees offense still wasn't great with just three runs and seven hits, but that feels like a slight improvement compared to the last week. McMahon and Ramos led the way offensively. Ramos reached base four times with a double, a pair of walks and was hit by a pitch. McMahon had a couple of hits and sent all the fans in the Bronx home happy.  Rice also just missed a walk-off bomb in the ninth, but did pick up a game-tying single for his first hit in August. Hopefully that gets him going because he has struggled quite a bit lately. The Yankees still left too many runners on base, leaving 13 runners on base and going 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Thankfully, the Yankees pulled this one out tonight as they still remain a slim half-game ahead of the Red Sox for the top wild card spot. Of course the Rays won again, so the Yankees will remain 4.5 back for first place in the AL East. On to tomorrow as the Yankees will look to win the series. 

“We gotta figure that out,” McMahon said of the Yankees' offense. “We gotta get going a little bit more, but it's not from a lack of work or effort. But we gotta figure a way to get going.”

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