Last night at the Stadium in the Bronx the New York Yankees Clint Frazier made a statement that he is back in the majors and wants to stay there. For fans of Frazier, they have been waiting all season for “Red” to show up at the Stadium. Unfortunately, that chance came when Aaron Judge suffered some lower-body stiffness and had to sit out the game. Frazier was recalled from Scranton before the game last night when the Yankees were hoping to sweep the Atlanta Braves.
Clint Frazier in his first at-bat in the second inning smashed a home run deep into the left-field visitor’s bullpen. It was a long ball that went about 400 feet, much to the delight of the Yankees and particularly Frazier fans. But that was not all, Frazier wasn’t done. He went three for four with a single and a double on the night, crossing home plate twice in his 2020 debut.
Last night was a total team effort that won the game that didn’t feature the dynamic duo of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, who are both sidelined for the moment with injuries. In the first inning, the Braves Travis d’Arnaud slammed a long ball that would have left the park, but centerfielder Aaron Hicks corralled it at the wall just as it was about the leave the field, with a spectacular catch.
New York Yankee starter Masahiro got through the first inning scoreless. But in the second inning, it became apparent that he didn’t have the stuff he had in his last outing. He gave up two runs in the second inning. He ended up grinding out four innings, giving up two earned runs while walking two and striking out three, before being replaced by Jonathan Loaisiga, who pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three.
The Yankees scoring in the game started out in the bottom of the second inning when Gary Sanchez, in his first at-bat clobbered a homer to left, signaling that he is starting to get right. With Stanton and Judge out, the Yankees need Sanchez and his long balls. Following Sanchez was the debut homer from Clint Frazier that tied the game and saved Tanaka by evening the score. The Yankee bullpen denied the Braves any further scoring until the ninth inning.
At the bottom of the fourth inning, the “Machine” DJ LeMahieu got on base followed by an Aaron Hicks fly ball that reached the wall, and DJ scored all the way from first base, making it 3-2 Yankees. That was followed by an RBI single from Gleyber Torres giving the Yankees the lead by two. At the bottom of the fifth Frazier went three for three with a long double, scoring Torres easily from second. Luke Voit then doubled scoring LeMahieu from second, for the Yankees 6-2 lead.
The trio of Chad Green, Luis Avilan, and Adam Ottavino kept the Braves scoreless through the eighth when Jonathan Holder came in and gave up a run by allowing d’Arnaud a single driving in Swanson for the final score of Yankees 6 and the Braves 3. Jonathan Loaisiga got the win, Matzek the loss, and Zack Britton got his 7th save in as many chances.
Major takeaways in the game. The Yankees played excellent defense highlighted by Hick’s home run-saving catch. The lineup was alive with Fraziers three hits, LaMahieu’s 4 for 5 performance, hitting the first Yankee triple of the year. Aaron Hicks beside his amazing catch, got on base three times in the game. The New York Yankees now have a day off before facing the Boston Red Sox in a four-game weekend set. Yankee ace Gerrit Cole is expected to start the first game on Friday.