“Max Fried and Gerrit Cole combined to allow two runs through 13.1 innings in the opening contests. Should similar events unfold today, a sweep is tantalizingly close.”
So said the idiot who authored today’s game thread. And the monkey’s paw curled.
Similar events unfolded as Cam Schlittler delivered a masterful performance and the bullpen held Atlanta scoreless for the final two innings of regulation. Alas, you have to score runs to win baseball games. Today, like most days, New York strugged to do
that. And it cost them in a 2-1 loss in 10.
“And I took that personally” were Michael Jordan’s infamous words from The Last Dance.
Judging by how Schlittler came out of the gate today, the fireballer was still umm… disgruntled, about his previous start. Touching 100-mph in the first inning with the fastball, Cam whiffed five of the first six Braves he faced. Entering today featuring his heat 90% of the time, through two frames Schlittler was also leaning on his curveball more than usual, with the hook accounting for 20% of his pitches.
Mike Yastrzemski led off the third with a double (no perfecto or no-no for Cam today). Showing he has more than just blow away gas in his arsenal, Schlittler proceeded to pitch to contact to strand the grandson of the Red Sox legend. A pop out to first followed by a pair of fly balls. No harm, no foul.
The middle innings were more of the same from Cam, relying on his number one to hold down the Braves lineup. The Yaz double was the last time the Braves got to Schlittler for several innings. After surrendering the two-bagger, Cam retired 12 consecutive Braves, keeping them out of the run column and giving the beleaguered Yankee offense a chance to break through.
In the home sixth, the Yanks finally had a golden opportunity to get on the board. After an Austin Wells single, Trent Grisham ripped a double down the right field line to put runners on the corners with one out and the heart of the lineup looming.
Ben Rice then hammered a ball… directly at Ronald Acuña Jr. and his cannon of an arm. With Acuña coming in on the ball, sending Wells would have been an all-time bonehead decision. That left the job up to Heliot Ramos, who proceeded to strike out swinging. Just like that, the Yanks’ best chance to score to that point was extinguished.
Perhaps inevitably, New York’s failure to score immediately haunted them. Schlittler looked to catch a break on 3-1 pitch to Acuña, ultimately striking him out. Matt Olson, however, did not strike out. A rocket off his bat just cleared the fence in right field, putting Atlanta up 1-0. Schlittler recovered to escape without further damage.
His final line on the day: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 11 K. Another brilliant outing as Schlittler and Dylan Cease trade haymakers in a heavyweight bout for the AL Cy Young Award. It was Cam’s 15th start this season allowing one or fewer runs, best in the big leagues.
With Brent Headrick and David Bednar each having pitched back-to-back games, Aaron Boone needed to turn elsewhere for innings. For the eighth, he chose Kervin Castro. Castro rewarded his skipper with a clean eighth, keeping the deficit at one as the offense was quickly running out of chances.
With the Yankees down to four outs, “The Big Sleep” came through with a big swing. Trent Grisham obliterated a solo home run, his 11th high-leverage longball since the start of last season, to tie the game and get Schlittler off the hook for the loss.
With the game knotted at one, Paul Blackburn came on for the ninth and retired Atlanta in order, punctuated by a strikeout looking of Olson. Unfortunately, Raisel Iglesias carved through the heart of the Yankee lineup like a hot knife through butter, sending the Yankees and Braves to bonus cantos for the second time this weekend.
It didn’t take long for the Manfred Man to score. Michael Harris, leading off against Blackburn in his second inning of work, singled up the middle and plated the second Braves run of the day. And that was all Atlanta needed. Jazz Chisholm Jr. started the bottom of the 10th at second. He finished the inning and the game standing there. Whatever. You’re not getting many games to extras scoring only one run, let alone winning them.
The loss drops the Yankees to 7-6 this season when they have the chance to lock down a sweep. The only solace is that the Red Sox actually lost a series to the A’s at Fenway, so the game-and-a-half edge for the top Wild Card spot remains untouched.
The Yanks’ next opponent, Seattle, is currently playing the AL East-leading Rays. Once that’s decided, both the M’s and Yanks are off on Monday before convening in the Bronx on Tuesday night. It’ll be Ryan Weathers vs. Bryan Woo with first pitch scheduled for 7:05pm ET.
