Down 5-0 to the Braves after four innings, the Yankees looked dilapidated.
Down 7-2 after five, the Yankees looked finished.
But the Bronx Bombers refused to pack it in. They rallied in the sixth to close the gap to 7-6, then traded blows with Atlanta to stay close. Anthony Volpe's second home run of the game tied the score. Then, in the ninth, Trent Grisham came up with the bases loaded and took one of the swings of the season: a grand slam off Raisel Iglesias which proved to be the difference in a 12-9
thriller which will make the shortlist as one of the best games of the 2025 season.
The first few innings proceeded innocently enough, with just one run coming on a solo home run in the third by Michael Harris II. The Yankees would strand two runners the following frame to allow spot starter Joey Wentz to complete four scoreless innings, the best case scenario for manager Brian Snitker. That scenario got rosier for the Braves after another nightmare inning on the road from Will Warren.
It's worth stressing that Warren got to two outs in the fourth. He struck out Ronald Acuña Jr. second time to get to two outs. All was well.
Then a double from Drake Baldwin (in which neither middle infielder covered second base when Aaron Judge tried to throw him out) and a walk to Sean Murphy set the table for Ozzie Albies, who homered down the right field line last night. He once again challenged that corner on a fastball bleeding in, and got just enough air under it for a deflating three-run homer.
The horrors were far from over. Warren allowed a two-out single to Nacho Alvarez Jr., then walked Harris after an 11-pitch battle. Finally the ninth-place hitter, light-hitting shortstop Nick Allen, worked Warren for seven more pitches before hitting a weak tapper between first and second.
The ball was not hit hard, so Paul Goldschmidt had to come out from first base to field it if they wanted to get an out. This meant the pitcher would need to cover. Warren, having thrown his 41st pitch of the inning, was late to cover. The speedy Allen easily beat the throw, and Alvarez scored from second on the slowly-developing play.
That was curtains for Warren, whose ugly performance in that inning punctuated by a horrible mental mistake marred what looked to be a good outing. Tim Hill entered and retired Jurickson Profar to staunch the bleeding.
The Yankees immediately got a pair of runs back from a sorely-needed source. Anthony Volpe teed off on Wander Suero with a man aboard for a two-run home run. The scuffling Yankee shortstop’s 11th homer of the season made it a three-run game, helping to erase some of the damage from the disastrous fourth.
Well, it would have, but the Yankees gave those runs right back. Again, it came with two outs. Scott Effross entered with a man on and allowed a single to Murphy on a batting-practice fastball. Then he uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop, putting both runners in scoring position for the suddenly red-hot Albies. Albies smacked a ball up the middle to center field and scored both, restoring the five-run lead.
But just when all seemed lost, the Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out against Enyel De Los Santos—an unsurprising development for Yankee fans. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grabbed an RBI knock to keep the line moving and bring the scoreline to last night’s final: 7-3.
Rafael Montero replaced De Los Santos and induced a routine grounder to first from Grisham, but Gold Glover Matt Olson bobbled the ball and had no play. That massive error scored Judge to make it 7-4. Volpe then tested the deepest part of Truist Park, missing a grand slam by about 15 feet. All runners advanced on the sac fly, bringing the Yankees within two and putting the tying run in scoring position. A grounder to second from Wells scored yet another run. Finally, with four runs home, Montero struck out Goldschmidt to end the Yankee rally.
It was clear that this game would become a race to the bottom from the bullpens. Jonathan Loáisiga quickly gave Atlanta an RBI chance by allowing a single to Profar, then uncorking yet another wild pitch to advance him to scoring position. Olson cashed in the chance with a single to score him. Want to guess how many outs there were?
Then, another response from the Yankees. Cody Bellinger opened the seventh with a home run to right on the first pitch from Pierce Johnson. Bellinger's 17th homer made it an 8-7 game, and followed a slick sliding catch he made the previous half-inning.
Aaron Boone tried to squeeze six outs from Loáisiga, but after the struggling righty loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, he made the move for Luke Weaver. Weaver grabbed two huge outs to leave the bases loaded and keep the Braves in striking distance.
And so, Volpe struck. Against lefty Dylan Lee, the Fox socked a hanging slider over the left field wall for a game-tying home run. His first career multi-home run game finally evened the ledger after the Braves had twice led by five.
After a huge scoreless eighth from Weaver, the Yankees took on Braves closer Raisel Iglesias in the ninth. Goldschmidt hit a leadoff double which went in an out of Harris’ glove. Judge was walked intentionally, Giancarlo Stanton unintentionally. That loaded the bases for Jazz, who was robbed of a go-ahead hit by the third baseman Alvarez. That took a lot of air out of the Bombers’ balloon.
But then came Grisham.
Trent worked the count to 1-1, then got a middle-middle slider from Iglesias and crushed it deep to right. Acuña could only watch that ball fly for a go-ahead grand slam, as the Yankees finally took the lead for the first time all evening.
Having broken the seal, the Yankees could give their closer a four-run lead. Naturally for a game this bombastic, Atlanta scratched one last run across, but it was too little too late, and Williams got the save on a 12-9 win which will be talked about for the rest of the year.
With the all-important win, the Yankees kept pace with Toronto in the divisional race, trailing by three games, while also adding an extra game of separation between themselves and the third-place Red Sox. Marcus Stroman gets the ball against late-blooming starter Grant Holmes in this weekend series finale. That game will start at 1:35 EST on YES, with another crucial series in Toronto on deck.
Box Score
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