It wasn’t the way they drew it, but the Yankees managed to squeak at the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, 3-1, thanks to the kindness of an unorthodox rally with eight innings that eventually erupted in the series of defeats. of five games.
With the score equal to one, Aaron Hicks started the eighth with a walk, kicking him for the left player Mike Tauchman. The only back-to-back by DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge loaded the bases. As Clint Frazier for Brett Gardner, Nate Jones, the Atlanta reliever a ball jumped in the dirt, allowing Hicks to score. After Frazier came in second, the Braves intentionally walked Giancarlo Stanton to establish the double play; that move was triggered, however, after a Gleyber Torres flew to the shallow central field, Mike Ford forcibly went on another run.
Just scoring two runs after loading the bases with no one outside is less than ideal – especially when those runs marked a wild pitch and a walk full of bases – but right now, the runs are at a higher level. The Yankees will take it.
As was the case at the beginning, the real story of the night was the Yankees pitching staff. Looking for a great way out after last week’s disaster against the Toronto Blue Jays, Jameson Taillon answered the bell in a big way. In 5 innings and 80 pitches (about the same number of pitches he threw in 3.2 innings last time), Taillon gave up a single four-shot run, eliminating five.
Taillon primarily generated easy contact, limiting Atlanta hitters to .189 xBA. Most importantly, when he put the hitters on two strike accounts, he put them aside, which he fought against the Blue Jays.
Strongly impressed by Taillon’s start tonight, easily his best thing in the frame. Particularly encouraging was his effectiveness in the number of two strikes, which he struggled with in his last outing vs. #BlueJays.
This start (4/13) and tonight: pic.twitter.com/5WOHeuCITi– Pinstripe Alley (@pinstripealley) April 21, 2021
That doesn’t mean Taillon had a night without events. The back-to-back doubles of Guillermo Heredia and Ehire Adrianza, with an exit in the third half, gave the Braves the 1-0 lead, but Taillon came back to eliminate Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna to prevent any further damage. .
Taillon woke up again with problems in the fourth, with runners on the first and second with one. This time, a 5-4-3 double from Dansby Swanson’s bat allowed the Yankees to escape unscathed. In essence, these two halves were the difference between this exit and Taillon’s previous one; last week, he left these incoming snowballs, putting his team in an early hole.
The Yankees bullpen rose right where Taillon left it. Lucas Luetge, Chad Green, Justin Wilson, Jonathan Loaisiga and Aroldis Chapman combined for four closed innings, eliminating five and allowing only five base runners – two hits, three walks and one HBP. He once threatened Atlanta, loading the bases in the seventh kindness of a direct walk to Pablo Sandoval and singles to Austin Riley and Heredia, but Green hit Adrianza and Wilson caused a grounder Freeman to end the threat.
Once again, the Yankees offense could do nothing against Atlanta starter Charlie Morton, who delivered just three shots in six innings while hitting a batsman in the half. Although the Bombers challenged in the fourth, with the first and second runners with one off the walks to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, their only offense against Morton came through an action by Gio Urshela in the fifth.
Loaisiga (2-0) was credited with the victory, and Tyler Matzek (0-2) took the loss, while Chapman recorded the second save of the season. With the win, the Yankees broke their five-game losing streak and improved to 6-10.
Both teams will play again tomorrow night, weather permitting, Corey Kluber (0-1, 6.10 ERA) in front of Ian Anderson (0-0, 4.70 ERA).
Box score.