Game Recap: Braves bats crush the Yankees; Max Fried back on track in big win

The Atlanta Braves offense had Yankees’ pitcher Clark up Schmidt’s creek without a paddle (Credit my co-site expert Steven Teal with this great line). The offense slugged 11 runs and Max Fried was his usual dominant self as the Braves cruised to a 11-3 victory over New York.

Max Fried had some first inning conmand issues as the Yankees started the game with back to back singles. After a shallow fly out and a walk to Stanton to load the bases, CF Harrison Bader came up to the plate. Sadly, soft contact hurt Fried here as Bader dribbled a ground ball out to shortstop so the Braves had to settle for one out and allow the first run of the game to score.

Yankees starter Clark Schmidt almost got through the first inning with the lead in tact, that is until Austin Riley lined an opposite field solo homer into the chop house to tie the game.

New York took the lead right back with some two-out magic to bite Max Fried. After a single and a stolen case from Cabrera, IKF picked up his second hit in as many innings to drive in Cabrera.

Ozuna worked a one-out walk and Rosario followed with a double to give the Braves a chance to tie the game right back. Atlanta looked in trouble of wasting this chance when Arcia struck out swinging for the second out. 

However, Nicky Lopez continued to produce (he got the start at second base for the injuried Ozzie Albies) as he got a two RBI single on an 0-2 pitch. Acuña Jr. worked a walk and the big inning continued as new two-hole hitter, Michael Harris II, laced an opposite field single to make it 4-2 Atlanta. Schmidt was able to avoid further damage by striking out Riley to end the second inning.

Fried started the third inning off strongly by getting a feared hitter in Aaron Judge to weakly fly out. Just four pitches later, Max recorded two more weak pop ups and we were on to the bottom of the third.

The Braves showcased how dominant this offense is when Ozuna and Rosario put together productive ABs. Marcell doubled and Rosario got a two-strike two RBI single. The bottom of the order continued to feast like they just ordered the All-Star special from their local Waffle House. Arcia and Lopez both followed with an RBI single each and the Braves had reeled off seven unanswered runs off Schmidt to make it 8-2.

The Yankees were able to at least stay within shouting distance when Ian Hamilton got Riley to bounce into a double play with the bases loaded to end the third frame. New York had a chance to scratch one across in the fourth thanks to a bloop double, but squashed that opportunity with a groundout to Riley.

As the night settled down a temperature wise, Max Fried settled in as well. He keep humming right a long all the way through the sixth inning keeping the lead at six runs.

Albert Abreu was on to pitch the bottom of the sixth for the Yankees. He ran into immediate trouble as Riley and Olson led off the inning with singles. The Braves cashed in one of those runs thanks to a wild pitch from Abreu. That made it 9-2 Atlanta.

Fried was back out for the seventh and surrendered a single to LeMahieu. That ended the night at 83 pitches. Snit then went to his bullpen in the form of Pierce Johnson. His first matchup was rookie Anthony Volpe, whom he got to groundout. The next batter, Johnson did one better by getting a double play ground ball off the bat of Kyle Higashioka.

Abreu was back out for the seventh and did the impossible by getting Nicky Lopez (who was 3-3) out. Pierce Johnson got into some trouble when the top of the Yankees lineup got a couple runners on, but Johnson got out of it with yet another double play ball to end the inning.

NL Player of the Week, Matt Olson led off the eighth inning with a walk to get on base for the third time tonight. Rosario polished off the scoring for Atlanta with a two-run homer, his 17th homer of the season.

Joe Jimenez was on to record the last three outs. He had a hiccup for the first time in awhile as a two out triple from Volpe scored one run. However, that was all the damage done and Higashioka struck out to end the game.