BRONX, NY—The Yankees welcomed one of baseball’s best teams to the Bronx and walked away with a series win.
New York took two of three from the Atlanta Braves, who entered the series leading the NL East by 8.5 games over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees needed late-inning drama to take the opener, followed it with a more complete victory in Game 2 and came within a run of completing the sweep Sunday.
More importantly, the Yankees’ starting pitching continued to look like one of the biggest strengths of this team.
Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler combined to allow just three earned runs across 20⅓ innings in the series, continuing a dominant stretch for a Yankees rotation that has posted a 1.63 ERA over its last 12 starts.
Game 1: McMahon Walks It Off in 10-Inning Thriller
For eight innings Friday night, the Yankees had nothing offensively.
Fried gave New York 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while striking out six, but Atlanta eventually broke through against the bullpen. Austin Riley homered in the eighth before Matt Olson added another solo shot in the ninth to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.
Then the Yankees finally came alive.
George Lombard Jr. reached to begin the bottom of the ninth and scored on an Austin Wells double. Ben Rice followed with a game-tying RBI single, pushing the game into extras.
David Bednar stranded Atlanta’s automatic runner in the top of the 10th before the Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom half. Ryan McMahon lifted a sacrifice fly to right, bringing Luis García Jr. home for the 3-2 walk-off victory.
McMahon was named Player of the Game after reaching base three times, going 2-for-3 with a double, single and walk before delivering the game-winning sacrifice fly. His impact extended to the field, where he was involved in several important defensive plays at third base.
Game 2: The Kids Shined on Old Timers’ Day
Saturday belonged to the kids.
Spencer Jones put the Yankees ahead with an RBI single in the second, then came through again after Atlanta took a 2-1 lead against Cole in the fifth. Lombard worked a leadoff walk before Jones ripped a game-tying triple. A balk brought Jones home and gave New York the lead.
Lombard added some insurance himself in the seventh, launching his second Major League home run to right field for a 4-2 advantage.
According to Katie Sharp, Lombard became the first player in Yankees history with at least two home runs and three walks through his first four career Major League games.
Ben Rice added his 32nd home run in the eighth, and the Yankees held off Atlanta for a 5-4 victory.
Cole delivered seven strong innings, allowing two runs while striking out nine without issuing a walk. Along the way, the right-hander recorded his 1,000th strikeout as a Yankee, becoming the fastest pitcher in franchise history to reach the milestone.
For a rotation that controlled Atlanta throughout the weekend, Cole’s outing provided another reminder of just how dangerous this Yankees staff can be when its biggest arms are rolling.
Jones was named Player of the Game on Old Timers’ Day, having been at the center of nearly everything the Yankees did offensively. He drove in New York’s first run with an RBI single in the second, then delivered the game-tying triple in the fifth before scoring the go-ahead run on a balk. He also stole a base and helped set the tone in a 5-4 series-clinching win.
Game 3: Schlittler Dominates, But Yankees’ Bats Go Quiet
The sweep was there for the taking Sunday. The Yankees simply could not find enough offense to finish it.
Coming off a rough outing against the Cardinals, Schlittler responded with one of his best starts of the season. The right-hander allowed just three hits and one earned run across seven innings, striking out 11 without walking a batter.
The only damage came on Olson’s solo home run in the seventh.
It marked Schlittler’s third double-digit strikeout game of the season and his third with at least 10 strikeouts and zero walks. He joined Gerrit Cole, Mike Mussina, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, David Wells and David Cone as the only Yankees pitchers to accomplish that feat at least three times in a season.
Schlittler now owns a 2.21 ERA with 182 strikeouts through 25 starts and has allowed one earned run or fewer in an MLB-best 17 starts.
The Yankees had their best opportunity in the sixth when Wells singled and Trent Grisham doubled to put runners on second and third with one out, but both were stranded.
Grisham eventually tied the game with a solo homer in the eighth, but Michael Harris II brought home Atlanta’s automatic runner in the 10th and New York went quietly in the bottom half for a 2-1 loss.
It prevented the sweep, but did little to diminish the bigger takeaway.
Yankees starters have now allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of their last 12 outings and three runs or fewer in 24 of their last 27. The pitching continues to give this team a chance nearly every night.
Against the team sitting atop the NL East, it was enough to take another series.
What’s Next: The Yankees Create Some Breathing Room
For a moment, the Red Sox were right there.
Boston went an absurd 21-4 in July, entering the month 37-47 and finishing it 58-51. The surge continued into August, and by August 6, the Red Sox had climbed within half a game of New York.
On August 7, Boston beat Oakland to improve to 64-51, briefly pulling even with the Yankees in the standings before New York beat Atlanta later that night. Boston never took the lead, but after spending much of the season looking up at the Yankees, they had quite literally pulled alongside them.
This weekend changed the picture again.
While Boston dropped two of three to the Athletics, the Yankees took two of three from the NL East-leading Braves. New York now holds a 2.5-game advantage over the Red Sox, creating a little breathing room after Boston’s furious charge.
Now they have to protect it.
The Yankees remain home for three games against the Seattle Mariners before beginning an important AL East road trip. They open a three-game series in Toronto on Friday, then head to Baltimore for three more next Tuesday through Thursday.
Boston made the race uncomfortable.
The Yankees answered.
Now comes the stretch where they have to make that answer stick.
