After a five-game losing streak, the New York Yankees finally managed to extract a victory against Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. By a score of 3-1, the Yankees required an incredible pitching performance to walk away with a “W,” as their offense once again posted underwhelming statistics and run production.
The Yankees now 6-10 on the season and are extremely weak offensively, drawing attention and negative feedback from the fan base regarding Aaron Boone’s decisions and Brian Cashman’s roster construction. Most believe that Boone should be on the hot seat for his strategic changes spurring nothing but even worse play than the night before. Even the victory was uninspiring, as the offense logged just five hits against Charlie Morton, who has a 3.91 ERA the season so far.
Good news and bad news for the Yankees:
In the victory, the players that walked away with some positivity to roll over are DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela. LeMahieu earned two hits, scored a run, and brought his average up to .300. Urshela earned two hits and an RBI, paired with two walks by Giancarlo Stanton to help get runners into scoring position. Urshela’s solo RBI came on a home run to dead centerfield in the fifth inning, as even the struggling Aaron Hicks managed to score in the eighth on a wild pitch.
However, it was the bullpen that pushed this game beyond the reach for Atlanta. While starter Jameson Taillon allowed only one run over five innings, striking out five batters, the bullpen picked up five strikeouts of their own and just two hits over four innings.
The Yankees relief has been their strongest unit this year, and thankfully they are only 5.0 games back in the American League East standings, so they have plenty of time to make up ground, and once their offense clicks on all cylinders, they should be flying high.
Just getting a victory under their belt is a satisfying feeling and will hopefully compound into more success in the near future.