In case the sweltering heat wasn’t enough, Max Fried and the Braves suffocated the Yankees’ bats on Sunday afternoon.
Mustering only one inning in which they put multiple men on base — with a costly out on the bases limiting the rally — the Yankees’ shorthanded lineup could not break through against Fried and dropped another rubber game with a 3-1 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 46,683 in The Bronx.
After losing only three of their first 22 series of the year, the Yankees (52-28) have now dropped three straight series and four of their last five. They have also lost six of their last eight games overall.
Trailing the Braves (43-32) 3-0 in the sixth inning, the Yankees finally broke through when Anthony Volpe roped an RBI double to the gap to score Trent Grisham from first.
Juan Soto came up next and hit a ground ball to shortstop, but Volpe took off for third on the play and Orlando Arcia threw to Austin Riley to nab him there for the first out of the inning. The Yankees challenged the play, but it was quickly confirmed upon replay review.
Aaron Judge followed with a single to put runners on first and second, but Alex Verdugo then hit a grounder up the middle to a well-positioned Arcia to start an inning-ending double play.
The rest of the afternoon, the Yankees went quietly down against Fried (six innings) and the Braves bullpen on a day that began with Giancarlo Stanton landing on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain. Grisham, in the lineup for Stanton, produced two of the Yankees’ seven hits, but the middle of their lineup did not provide much of a threat.
Nestor Cortes was mostly strong across seven innings of three-run ball, but his offense did not give him much margin for error.
Ex-Met Jarred Kelenic did most of the damage against Cortes. He drilled a solo shot in the third inning, the first hit Cortes gave up on the afternoon, and then made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
The Braves added another run in the inning when Ozzie Albies ripped a single to right-center field, scoring Arcia from second base to push the lead to 3-0.