The Atlanta Braves picked up their eighth win of the season on Wednesday night as they defeated the New York Yankees 4-1 to advance to 8-10 overall. With the win, the Atlanta Braves split the two-game series in New York at a game apiece, as well as giving the Braves a winning road-trip at 3-2 against the Cubs and Yankees.
After dropping the first game of a two-game series in New York 3-1 on Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves needed a bounce-back performance on Wednesday. This would not be an easy feat however due to many things, including the weather, a struggling lineup, and a very good pitching matchup.
The Atlanta Braves sent starter Ian Anderson to the mound to square off against New York Yankees starter Corey Kluber, who is a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner.
If you guessed this matchup delivered, you’re correct. Both Anderson and Kluber cruised through the first four innings on Wednesday night, but Kluber ran into some trouble in the fifth.
Atlanta Braves take the lead in the fifth.
The Braves finally took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning, not due to their bats, but the quality of their at-bats.
The Braves only had one hit during the inning, which was a lead-off single to right for Pablo Sandoval. That was then followed by back-to-back walks to Austin Riley and Guillermo Heredia to load the bases.
Atlanta then got on the board due to an RBI sacrifice fly from Ehire Adrianza that scored Sandoval, and then was followed by two more walks to Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna that scored one more run. The Atlanta Braves ended the top of the fifth inning with two runs on one hit and four walks.
The Braves later scored an insurance run on a Ozuna broken-bat infield hit where he beat the throw to first to make it 3-0, and then a solo HR from Riley in the 9th to make it 4-0. New York later added 1 run on a bloop-single in the bottom of the 9th.
While the Braves offense was good on Wednesday night, this game was 100% about the dominance of Anderson.
Anderson had his A+ stuff against the Yankees on Wednesday night as he went 6.2 innings only allowing 4 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4 batters. Anderson ran into some 7th inning trouble, but threw his no-doubt best game of the season so far throwing 67% of his pitches for a strike while showcasing his dominant changeup.
The Braves bullpen then backed up Anderson’s brilliant performance by allowing one hit over the final 2.1 innings.
The Atlanta Braves have an off-day on Thursday, but will return home to Truist Park on Friday to begin a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. First pitch is set for 7:20 pm ET with Huascar Ynoa scheduled to start for the Braves, while the Diamondbacks starter is TBD.