The New York Yankees had lost each of their last three games, suffering series losses against the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox. With the pitching staff looking for a pick-up from Marcus Stroman, he would have the tough task of facing an Atlanta Braves’ offense that has woken up from its slumber. Facing off against the crafty veteran Charlie Morton, these two offenses would collide on Saturday Night Baseball, where the Yankees have struggled in their two appearances this season.
While the Braves struck first, the Yankees punched back harder, and they took the second game of this series in a dominant 8-3 win over Atlanta.
Aaron Judge Sets the Tone, Marcus Stroman Shoves in Yankees’ Win
Marcell Ozuna kicked things off in a similar tone to last night, as the Yankees surrendered another first-inning run as he blasted a laser to right-center field. It felt like we’d be looking at another tough start as the Yankees fell behind 1-0 in a hurry, but Aaron Judge came to the rescue. The MVP-frontrunner belted his 28th home run of the season to make it a 2-1 game, and the Yankees would not look back from there.
Marcus Stroman locked in, not allowing another run until a two-run blast in the seventh, but he turned in another quality start with 6.2 innings of three-run baseball and six strikeouts. The offense made sure to give him support as well, with Aaron Judge grounding into a double play that resulted in a run scoring in the third and Gleyber Torres doubling in the fourth to make it 4-1. The offense did take a hit, as Giancarlo Stanton experienced hamstring tightness and exited the game early.
The sixth inning is when things got out of hand as Oswaldo Cabrera punched a two-run single into right field, and Aaron Judge walked with the bases loaded for his third RBI of the day. Trent Grisham homered in the seventh, giving the Yankees an 8-3 lead, and the score wouldn’t change from that point forward as the bullpen shutdown Atlanta for the final innings of the game.
With Baltimore losing to Houston again, the Yankees are now tied with them in the loss column, and they have a 1.5-game lead in the AL East. They’ll try to win the series tomorrow as Nestor Cortes and Max Fried take the mound in a rubber matchup at 1:37 PM EST.