Yankees won their 11th straight game on edge

In a way, it felt like the reverse of games the Yankees lost at the start of the season. The Yankees played good, solid baseball, scoring runs with home runs and a clutch or two, took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes on the basic trails, and without Aroldis Chapman this game wouldn’t have been so stressful. that was. Still, all wins count, and the Yankees came away with a 5-4 win over Atlanta.

We had a pretty good back-and-forth at the start. Andrew Heaney struck out the first two hitters he faced on just three pitches, before Freddie Freeman walked home – helped by a rather generous 3-2 call from home plate umpire Chris Conroy. Austin Riley was hit with a pitch, then Heaney laid an egg on 0-2 that Dansby Swanson doubled, giving Atlanta a 2-0 lead.

But like I said, good back and forth, because the first batter of the second inning was Giancarlo Stanton:

Eight hitters were then struck out on back-to-back strikes, which isn’t a record, but I’m also not sure I’ve seen this happen in a game I’ve watched before. The Yankees lost in order the next two innings before Aaron Judge opened the fourth with a double, and two hitters later Gary Sánchez brought it in with an RBI single.

Heaney, on the whole, did well. He couldn’t get over a bad call in the first, but other than that, the Yankees kept the game. Just like against Boston, being able to lift his fastball has served him well:

His leadership wasn’t as good this time around – you can see his fastball was moving a lot more east to west than against Boston. Still, it’s clear the Yankees are trying to get him to work over the letters more than he was in Anaheim, and while I still don’t like the idea that Heaney throws every five days, the Last two games have boosted my confidence just a bit.

Heaney pitched just four innings, being replaced by Brett Gardner early in the fifth, as we returned to the back-and-forth action we had seen earlier in the game. Gardner lined up hard in left field, but DJ LeMahieu didn’t:

Albert Abreu couldn’t hold him back in the lower half, allowing a single and a walk in his first three hitters, ceding the mound to Joely Rodríguez. J-Rod gave up a big hitting that scored a point, although an excellent Andrew Velazquez stint nailed Freddie Freeman to plate, saving the lead:

The part has been reviewed, and … it’s definitely close. But I will answer that call. With a one point lead, Rougned Odor was kind enough to give the Yankees some confidence, scoring a solo home run in the second deck from the right.

Outside of Abreu, the bullpen was generally excellent. With Abreu gone, the relief corps combined for 3.2 clean innings, three hits, no walks and a trio of strikeouts. Aroldis Chapman put an end to this great race in the ninth round, making everything too dramatic. Adam Duvall hit a single and Chapman seemed to be afraid of his fastpitch. He threw four sliders on six shots to score a strikeout, but then walked Ehire Adrianza on four fastballs that weren’t anywhere close.

A single from Ozzie Albies – where he saw only one fast ball, high and far away – should have been the final of the match, but Rougned Odor, playing out of position, took way too long to throw the first. Chapman then ran Jorge Soler, throwing five sliders on six shots, to make it a 5-4 game. Wandy Peralta was called in to close the game, and he did, but Chapman’s fastball issues are such a big part of the end-of-game issues for this team. It’s easy to say “back up and throw!” Trust your fastball! But he’s not even near the area:

He can’t trust his fastball as he has no idea where it is going.

The Chapman question will concern us for the rest of the season. Either way, the Yankees won this one, keeping pace with the Rays, and will leave tomorrow before heading West for a series with potential Wild Card Game opponents the Oakland As.

The score of the box