Braves Slam Yanks & Schmidt with 2-Strike Hits. Atlanta 11 NY 3

August 15, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0

Clarke Schmidt said he had good stuff, yet the Braves Slammed him for 8 runs on 9 hits in 2.1 innings as Atlanta smashed the Yankees 11-3 on a Monday night in Atlanta.

Atlanta scored 1 in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd, and 4 in the 3rd to knock a tiring Schmidt out — overwhelming an early 2-1 Yankee lead.

NY ended up getting 11 hits; Atlanta 15; but the game was never close after the 3rd inning.

“I think I had 12 swing and misses, early in the count,” said Schmidt afterwards. “You feel like you have them on the ropes. Their 2-strike approach is really impressive.”

“Stuff felt great; execution felt good for the most part,” added Schmidt. “There were just a couple of 2-strike pitches I wish I had back, but sometimes you get hit a little bit out there, and you have to tip your cap sometimes in baseball. I faced the Rangers twice this year, Baltimore, Boston twice — and they were far and above beyond those teams. I don’t know if its just they are hot right now, or a combination of all of it, but they have really good approaches and bat-to-ball skills, they don’t give in, and they feed off each other.”

NY falls to 60-59, 14 back of Baltimore, 11 behind Tampa, 5.5 behind Toronto and a wild card, and 2.5 behind Boston. Atlanta goes to 76-42, the best record in baseball.

1. Yanks Jumped on Top Early

NY jumped on top against Max Fried in the top of the 1st — Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a single, Aaron Judge singled, and after a flyout, Giancarlo Stanton singled to load the bases with nobody out.

Harrison Bader grounded out to score a run.

Fried got DJ LeMahieu to ground out to end the inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

In the 2nd, after the Braves had tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the 1st on an Austin Riley homer — Oswaldo Cabrera reached on a 2-out infield hit, and stole 2nd with a nifty slide.

Oswaldo then scored on a clutch 2-out single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

2. Schmidt Slammed by 2-Strike Hits

Schmidt looked pretty good in the bottom of the 1st — helped by some excellent Anthony Volpe defense at shortstop.

But then allowed a solo homer to Austin Riley later in the 1st to make it 1-1 at the time.

In the bottom of the 2nd, NY up 2-1, Atlanta got to Schmidt again.

  • A walk then a double by Eddie Rosario put 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.
  • Schmidt struck out Orlando Arcia and went 0-2 on Nicky Lopez. But Lopez laced a 2-out single to left for 2 runs and a 3-2 Atlanta lead.

It was the beginning of the end.

More 2-Strike Hits in the 3rd

  • In the 3rd, Matt Olson led off with a single, but Schmidt got a groundout and went 0-2 on Marcell Ozuna. But Ozuna doubled on a 1-2 pitch to left and it was 5-2.

  • Schmidt went 0-2 on Eddie Rosario, but Rosario singled on a 1-2 pitch to right for 2 runs and it was 6-2.
  • Schmidt went 0-2 on Orlando Arcia, but he singled on an 0-2 pitch to center for a run and it was 7-2 Atlanta.
  • On the radio, Suzyn Waldman exclaimed that she couldn’t understand why nobody was warming up yet in the Yankee pen. Then finally, she said, someone is warming up and as soon as she said it, Nicky Lopez hit an 0-1 pitch for a single to right and an 8-2 Atlanta lead.

“I thought I made a lot of good pitches,” added Schmidt. “There were a couple of pitches I wish I had back but for the most part I felt I was executing to an extent and they put together good AB’s”

By the 3rd, Schmidt acknowledged he was fatigued: “I think that 2nd inning the long ABs, a walk, the 2-strike hit here and there, it kind of weighs on you a little bit, especially with 110 degrees out there.”

3. Hamilton Relieves Yanks

Ian Hamilton came in to pitch 2.2 innings of shutout ball, keeping the score at 8-2.

So that erased any idea that Atlanta knew what was coming — unless they called off whatever they were doing with the big lead or Schmidt himself was tipping 2-strike pitches.

4. Abreu Pitches 3 Innings

Albert Abreu ‘saved the pen’ by pitching 3 innings, allowing a run in the 6th (single, single, strikeout, walk, wild pitch, fielder’s choice, strikeout) and a 2-run homer to Eddie Rossario in the 8th to make it 11-2.

5. Volpe Triple in 9th Plates Run

Despite the Yankees 11 hits, they never mustered a threat — a few double plays taking care of any fledgling attempts.

With 2 outs in the 9th, Billy McKinney walked and Anthony Volpe tripled him home to make it 11-3, but Kyle Higashioka struck out for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

Despite the bashing, it was a good night for individual Yankee hitters:

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472799

 

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