Daily Report – 8/10/26
Yankees
On Friday and Saturday, the Yankees came back from behind to beat the Atlanta Braves and take the series from one of the National League’s best teams. The Yankees’ 29 comeback wins lead the American League, and yesterday, it looked like they were on their way to number 30.
Even though Trent Grisham tied the game with an eighth-inning home run, four hits were not enough to sweep Atlanta, and the Yankees fell 2-1 in 10 innings. After Grisham’s blast, the Braves retired each of the next seven Yankees, who are 6-for-68 with runners in scoring position in their last 10 games.
The Yankees also wasted one of Cam Schlittler’s best starts of the season, marking their third straight loss with their ace on the mound. Schlittler twirled seven one-run frames, allowing just three hits and no walks while striking out 11 batters and whiffing 23. The only run he permitted was a seventh-inning solo shot to Matt Olson, a deficit Grisham eventually erased.
Unexpectedly, Tyler Mahle and Grant Holmes shut down the Yankees on Friday and yesterday. But Chris Sale, whose 2.20 ERA is the second-best in baseball, was the only starting pitcher the Yankees scored against.
On Friday, the Yankees didn’t score until the bottom of the ninth inning, when George Lombard Jr. singled, Austin Wells doubled, and Ben Rice singled to erase a 2-0 deficit. Lombard and Luis García Jr.’s sensational defense helped David Bednar keep the score tied in the top of the 10th inning, and in the bottom half, Ryan McMahon hit a walk-off sacrifice fly.
On Saturday, after Spencer Jones nailed a two-out RBI single in the second inning, Mike Yastrzemski tied the game with a fifth-inning double against Gerrit Cole, who gave up four hits to start the frame. Jim Jarvis eventually scored Yastrzemski with a single, putting Atlanta ahead 2-1.
But Cole, fearless as ever, dug deep and struck out two batters to end the inning, including Matt Olson, for his 1,000th career strikeout with the Yankees. The milestone came in his 139th game in pinstripes, making him the fastest player in franchise history to achieve the feat.
And he did it on Old-Timers’ Day, in front of legendary former players.
“It was really cool to do it today,” Cole said. “It’s how you draw it up. I just feel really blessed. I look back to where I started, and I’m taken aback a little bit. I’m really thankful to get to do it in front of a lot of great [former] Yankees today. That just puts the bow on top.”
Cole’s achievement jump-started the Yankees’ offense in the bottom of the fifth, powered by the rookies, as Lombard successfully challenged two pitches, earning himself a walk. Jones then worked the count full after reaching on a hit-by-pitch call and returning to the box when it got overturned. He reset and drilled the eighth pitch he saw to right-center field for a game-tying triple.
Throughout his 16-year career, Sale has always been best against left-handed hitters. Jones’s triple was the first Sale had allowed all season, so it must have still been on his mind when he balked two batters later, scoring Jones. Supposedly, Sale had twitched his right leg before telling the umpire he was switching to the windup.
Sale was so upset that he complained about the balk call yesterday, and he got ejected before the game even started. It was Sale’s fourth career ejection, and his first since he pitched at Yankee Stadium seven years ago as a member of the Red Sox.
Sale’s fifth-inning balk put the Yankees back in the lead on Saturday. In the seventh inning, Lombard doubled the lead with a two-strike home run to right field, the second of his very young career. That run proved important in the eighth inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. homered off Brent Hedrick, making it a one-run game.
In the bottom of the eighth, Ben Rice crushed his 32nd home run of the season 431 feet into Monument Park. Rice’s run was also crucial because the Braves scored against David Bednar in the bottom of the ninth, but with the Yankees up by two runs, it didn’t matter.
Yesterday’s game was much less interesting. This time, neither Jones nor Lombard collected hits, and their quick outs in the 10th inning led to a 2-1 loss, the Yankees’ ninth in extra innings this season. The Yankees had chances, but they finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, with one out, Wells singled, and Grisham doubled, placing runners at second and third for Rice, who jumped on the first pitch he saw. Rice got the ball in the air, but he hit it too hard at Acuña in right field, whose strong throw home held both runners.
“I thought it was the right decision,” said manager Aaron Boone. “You’ve got Benny Rice coming up, another guy that had the right at-bat in that situation. Second and third, lines one, Acuña comes in and makes a good play. So, that’s an example of another guy having a good at-bat in a run-scoring situation, and baseball does happen. I was okay with the no-send.”
Despite his .175 batting average and .572 cumulative OPS this season, Wells is batting .306 (11-for-36) with two home runs, four RBI, and a .961 OPS in his last 15 games. Amid constant criticism of Brian Cashman’s decision not to acquire a catcher at the trade deadline, Wells continues to improve offensively.
He has also been the backstop for arguably the best pitching staff in the sport. The Yankees rank second in the Majors in rotation ERA (3.42) and first in bullpen ERA (3.12).
“At the moment, those guys have got to be almost perfect for us to be in the ballgame, and they have been, which has been incredible,” Wells said of the Yankees’ rotation. “[Cam] knows what he needs to do, and he did a great job.”
Schlittler was excellent, but Acuña’s throw in the sixth inning set the tone for the seventh. With one out, Olson clubbed a 100-mph fastball over the right-center field fence, putting the Braves on the board. It was an impressive shot for Olson, whose 34 home runs rank tied for second in the NL.
Then, with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Grisham sent a high fastball into the right-field bleachers, tying the game and draining Atlanta’s momentum.
“When it’s a 1-0 ball game, we’re one swing away from being back in it,” Wells said. “[Our pitchers] are doing an incredible job of keeping us close in these games, and [we’re] just trying to find stuff at the plate. Trying to move guys over and get jobs done. […] We’re just not getting the results, but our guys on the mound are keeping us in it.”
Unfortunately, Atlanta retired every single Yankees batter after Grisham, including Jazz Chisholm Jr., to end the ninth inning. Chisholm committed an ugly throwing error in the seventh, but Schlittler bailed him out. At the plate, though, Chisholm is the only person who can save himself.
This season, Chisholm has a .216 batting average and a .691 OPS, both career lows (excluding a 21-game 2020 season). In his last seven games, he is 2-for-23 (.087) with 10 strikeouts. Before the season started, Chisholm declared he would have a 50-50 season. He is on pace for 25 home runs and 44 stolen bases.
“It’s super frustrating when you know your abilities, and you go out there, and you go in the cage and work every day, and it’s just not coming together in the game,” Chisholm said. “So, I’ve just got to keep on going and push through it.”
Added Boone, “It was good to see him have a walk and a hit today, but [he was] missing some pitches. I feel like [he’s] putting some fastballs on the net, where it looks like he’s fairly on, or getting beat with some pitches. But we’ve got to continue to work with him to get there, to get to that player we know is in there, that can hopefully be at his very best at the most important time.”
The Yankees are off today, but they will conclude their homestand with three games against the Seattle Mariners, beginning tomorrow night.
