Braves come up short in 8-3 loss to Yankees

The Braves fell behind early and never recovered in Saturday’s loss at Yankee Stadium.

The Atlanta Braves saw their four-game winning streak come to an end Saturday night with a 8-3 loss to the New York Yankees.

The Braves didn’t waste anytime getting off to a fast start. Marcus Stroman retired Jarred Kelenic and Ozzie Albies to start the game but then served up a solo homer to Marcell Ozuna on a 3-2 pitch. The blast was Ozuna’s 21st homer of the season and gave Atlanta an early 1-0 lead.

The lead wouldn’t last long though as the Yankees answered right back against the Charlie Morton. Juan Soto worked a one-out walk and then came around to score on a homer over the short porch in right by Aaron Judge. Morton then walked Alex Verdugo, but got Giancarlo Stanton to ground to Albies who started a double play to end the inning.

Morton needed just six pitches to navigate the second, but again found himself in trouble in the third. Oswaldo Cabrera singled to lead off the inning and then moved to second on a walk by Anthony Volpe. Soto followed with a sharp single to right on an 0-2 fastball that loaded the bases. Morton then Judge to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored on the play to extend New York’s lead to 3-1. Verdugo grounded out on the next pitch to get Morton out of the inning with no further damage.

Some bad luck bit Morton in the fourth as Stanton lifted a fly ball to center that Kelenic misplayed into a double. Ben Rice flew out for the first out, but Gleyber Torres followed with a double to left that scored Stanton to increase the deficit to 4-1.

While Morton was working in and out of trouble, Atlanta’s offense was unable to get on track against Stroman after Ozuna’s homer. Austin Riley singled off the base of the wall in right and advanced to second on an error by Soto, but was left stranded in the second. Kelenic walked with one out in the third but was erased as Albies grounded into an inning ending double play.

Morton worked a scoreless fifth and then returned for the sixth. He struck out Trent Grisham for the first out, but then walked Rice. He then struck out Torres and would then give way to reliever Aaron Bummer who provided no relief.

Bummer walked Austin Wells and then ran the count to 3-2 against Cabrera who singled to right to bring home two more runs. The inning continued as Volpe sent one to the right field corner for a double to put runners at second and third. Bummer then got ahead of Soto 0-2 but was unable to put him away as he worked a walk to load the bases. He followed with a bases loaded walk to Judge to force home another run to make it 7-1. On his 34th pitch of the inning, Bummer finally got Verdugo to ground out to end the inning.

Morton wasn’t sharp and seemed to be behind in the count for most of the night but was able to escape a couple of jams without things really going sideways. He allowed five hits, five walks and five runs over 5 ²⁄₃ innings. He struck out four while throwing 97 pitches.

Stroman retired 10 straight hitters before walking Ozuna to start the seventh inning. On ball four, Stroman barked at home plate umpire Derek Thomas. Aaron Boone followed with objections of his own and was ultimately ejected. Stroman retired Olson on a ground out and then struck out Riley but Travis d’Arnaud followed with a two-run home run to right to cut the deficit back to four at 7-3.

Jesse Chavez entered the game in the seventh and allowed a solo home run to Grisham to push the lead back to 8-3 to round out the scoring.

The Braves managed just four hits in the game and were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. The pitching staff issued eight walks and combined for just six strikeouts.

Atlanta falls to 42-32 for the season and lose a game to the Phillies in the NL East standings. The series will wrap up on Sunday with Max Fried matching up against Yankees left-hander Nester Cortes Jr.