I’m glad we had a semi-competitive seventh inning, because otherwise this would have been even more of a slog to write. The Yankees were behind almost from the word go, continuing this trend of dreadful pitching, and while I would have liked to see more from the offense too, you have to wonder what a capable starting pitcher could have done for New York tonight. In the end, they dropped the series opener in Atlanta, 7-3.
It’s too deep into July to call this a June Swoon, so I’m going with Midsummer
Nightmare, and while Spencer Strider has certain Bottom-like qualities, he was absolutely on top of this one. The right-hander went six innings without allowing a run, striking out eight and allowing just a baserunner per inning. Like we’ve seen all year, his fastball wasn’t quite what we’re used to from his pre-Tommy John days, but his slider engineered 11 whiffs and tormented many of the Yankees’ right-handed hitters.
Trent Grisham led off the game with a single up the middle, but Strider got both Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. himself to end the opening frame, and set up a very poor inning for Ian Hamilton. Pressed into service as the Friday night opener with Cam Schlittler banged up and Max Fried still battling blisters, there was some outside hope Hamilton could give the Yankees two innings. He did not. Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr. both had RBI doubles, and Ozzie Albies eventually brought Acuña home with a sac fly. It was 3-0 Braves, and the opener strategy fell flat on its face.
The Yankees actually were threatening in the third, with Jorbit Vivas and Trent Grisham turning the lineup over with consecutive walks. That brought up the hot Cody Bellinger and had Aaron Judge on deck, and just a three-run lead for Atlanta. Good time to strike!
Belli got just under a ball, and Vivas made a decision:
Yes, Ronald Acuña Jr. is one of the great singular talents in baseball, and yes, he is perhaps the most fun player in the game, and yes, he made an excellent, top-plays-of-the-year throw that will be in highlight reels for a long time ... but Jorbit Vivas, get your uniform dirty.
The whole way in to third, coach Luis Rojas was telling him to get down, and even if he wasn’t, he should be well-aware of how good Acuña’s arm is. Why are you on your feet?
It turns out there’s a reason some guys are on the roster bubble and some aren’t.
As the truism goes, when you give away free outs, the other team tends to take advantage. Ozzie Albies did just that when it was Atlanta’s turn to bat against newcomer Rico Garcia, who was asked to soak up a couple innings and demonstrated why the Mets cut him loose:
Atlanta added a seventh run, but the Yankees did manage about half a comeback. In the top of the seventh, Strider was in the showers and Ben Rice got around on a ball that Acuña took a pretty bad route to. It probably should have been just a single, but the Yankee first baseman ended up at two.
Austin Wells hit a short single that, with a seven-run deficit, was not going to bring Rice home. Credit to manager Aaron Boone, who went to his bench and sent Giancarlo Stanton to the plate in place of Vivas:
Don’t look now, but the last two times Stanton’s been called upon to pinch-hit, he’s done damage. It’s possible he’s l e a r n i n g.
Swapped out for Oswald Peraza, Stanton’s run ended up coming in to score on Bellinger’s single a batter later. That would be as close as it ever got, with Dylan Lee striking out Aaron Judge to end the threat, and the club only managing one other hit on the night — that one a more traditional double off Rice’s bat.
Hat tip to JT Brubaker, who did manage to throw three innings, strike out four, and keep Boone from having to go to any of his higher-leverage guys aside from light bullpen warmups from Tim Hill. Brubaker’s reward will likely be a couple days off, but at least he cannot be optioned. Garcia, however? He seems like a candidate to be quickly designated for assignment to get a fresh arm.
It gets a little tiring saying “X pitcher will be asked to stop the skid tomorrow” but Will Warren will be asked to stop the skid tomorrow with Toronto now three games up in the AL East. Warren is coming off two solid starts before the All-Star break, so maybe we’ll get to see some representative pitching in the early goings of tomorrow’s matchup. First pitch from Truist Park comes at 7:15pm Eastern.
Box Score
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