Say what you will about this particular Yankees team, when things are going well for them, they look the part.
In Wednesday’s series finale against the Nationals, the Yankees’ offense slugged six home runs, and scored 11 runs in total, with only one starter not reaching base at least once. On the mound, Max Fried looked like the first half version of himself, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and never really looking pressed.
The Yankees’ issues this season have generally come against good
teams, but when not playing them, they can certainly assert themselves, and did so with a 11-2, sweep-clinching win over the Nationals on Wednesday. As you might imagine with that score, the Yankees got off to a pretty ideal start. After an easy 1-2-3 inning from Fried in the top of the first, Trent Grisham led off the bottom half of the inning with a home run that just evaded the glove of a leaping Dylan Crews in right. Naturally, the Yankees then loaded the bases with nobody out and failed to capitalize after some less than stellar at-bats, but they were at least on the board.
Two innings later, the Yankees did add to their lead, though. Following a Ben Rice single, Aaron Judge made one his best looking swings since returning from injury, hitting a 424-foot blast to dead center field for a two-run homer. Cody Bellinger followed that by going back-to-back with a solo shot. Then after Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and stole second, Jasson Domínguez got a ground-rule double to drop in despite an admirable catch attempt from center fielder Jacob Young, scoring another run.
After that, Austin Wells reached on a catcher’s interference that also injured Nats backstop Drew Millas. That forced DH Riley Adams into the field at catcher, meaning Washington pitcher Cade Cavalli was now in the batting order. However, Cavalli wouldn’t get a chance to take some hacks, as he was immediately chased from the game after a three-run homer from Ryan McMahon. A couple batters later, Ben Rice got in on the fun with his 22nd home run of the year. Nationals reliever Shinnosuke Ogasawara couldn’t do much to immediately change things, as a Judge single and a couple walks loaded the bases before Domínguez got the Yankees into double digits with an infield single.
Even after that inning ended, the Yankees’ offense didn’t. Austin Wells added the Yankees’ sixth home run of the day with a solo shot in the fourth inning.
As all that was happening, Fried was cruising on the mound. With the exception of a couple walks that amounted to nothing, he kept the Nats off the bases for all of the first five innings. Washington’s first hit didn’t come until Young led off the sixth with a single. James Wood and CJ Abrams then followed it with singles of their own, getting the Nationals on the board.
Fried came back out for the seventh and got through one more inning to wrap up his day. In his seven frames, Fried allowed just the one run on three hits and two walks, striking out six. While it was just a below par Nationals team, it was Fried’s second-straight good outing, following a bad run that seemed to coincide with blister issues.
Recent pickup Paul Blackburn came in for the eighth inning for his second ever Yankee appearance. He worked around a Wood double to throw a scoreless frame in the eighth, and then allowed a garbage time home run to Andrés Chaparro before finishing things off.
If the Yankees can continue taking advantage of playing against less than stellar teams, they’ll have another chance to do so this weekend. Having wrapped up the series against the Nats, the Yankees will now head out on the road to take on the White Sox. They’ll be in Chicago, starting tomorrow at 7:40 p.m. ET, with Will Warren expected to take the mound for the opener.
