1 hit.
The Yankees got 1 hit.
And hit into 4 double plays — made possible by some walks.
Luis Severino got ripped but he didn’t get torn apart — allowing a 2-out, 3-run homer in the 1st and a 2-out, 2-run homer in the 4th for 5 runs in 4 innings. But he looked better; had good stuff; struck out 6. That was the good news.
Atlanta 5 NY Yankees 0 on a Tuesday night in Atlanta.
The Yankees fall to .500 at 60-60.
“Not good enough,” said manager Aaron Boone on the Yankee offense. “He (Bryce Elder) just kept putting us on the ground and generating soft contact. And it just wasn’t — flat not good enough. It sucks — we’re simply not playing well enough. It starts with me and on down, we gotta be better. It’s a broken record right? The reality is there’s a lot of season left — there’s a quarter of the season left, and we have to be better than this.”
NY is now 14 behind Baltimore, 11 behind Tampa, 6.5 behind Toronto and a Wild Card, and 3.5 behind Boston. Atlanta improves to 77-42, the best record in baseball.
1. Severino Ripped, But Pitched Better
Coming into the game the Yankees twitter account alerted Montefiore Hospital that Severino would be pitching against the Atlanta Braves.
Severino has been BOMBED in his last few starts and the vaunted Atlanta lineup has been KILLING teams — including the 11-3 win over the Yanks and Clarke Schmidt the night before, and 21 runs against the Mets on Sunday.
And it didn’t start well for Severino — Ronald Acuna Jr. leading off the game with a single, and Severino trying to pick him off but throwing the ball into right field. Runner on 3rd nobody out.
But Severino got a pop out and a strike out (of Austin Riley) and looked like he might get out of the jam. Then he walked Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna rocked him for a 3-run homer to centerfield. Atlanta 3 NY 0.
So there went that.
But Severino bounced back with a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd (strikeout, foul out, ground out) and struck out 3 in the 3rd (Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Eddie Rosario — allowing a single to Ozuna).
Luis Severino's 3Ks in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/glMbIMz618
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 16, 2023
In the 4th, Murphy reached on an error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa to lead off the inning. Severino got 2 ground outs (to 2nd and to 3rd) but with 2 outs, Acuna Jr hit a homer to center for a 5-0 Atlanta lead. Unearned runs.
Overall — not horrible. A sign of improvement. Hope.
“I think the one thing we saw from Sevy tonite was some swing and miss,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “And that’s something we haven’t seen lately. He had stuff tonite. You could tell he was having his way a lot of the night. Looked like a hanging slider that (Ozuna) hit out of the ballpark. I thought it was as good as stuff as I’ve seen. I thought the life was there. Acuna catches him to end the outing — not a good line but a much better Sevy than we’ve seen.”
“I felt I was in command of all of my pitches,” said Severino afterwards. “Couple of mistakes — the one to Acuna I’m not even mad about — he’s a great hitter.”
Severino struck out 6 in the 4 innings. He allowed 3 earned runs in 4 innings to lower his ERA. He is now 2-8 7.98.
2. Elder 1 Hits Yanks for 7 Innings
DJ LeMahieu got the hit. In the 2nd inning off Bryce Elder. It put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out at the time, the Yankees down 3-0.
- But next batter Harrison Bader hit into a double play to end the threat.
In the 4th, Aaron Judge led off with a walk — NY still down 3-0.
- But next batter Gleyber Torres hit into a double play.
In the 7th, Aaron Judge led off with a walk again — NY down 5-0.
- But next batter Gleyber Torres hit into a double play again.
Katie Sharp noted that “Gleyber Torres has grounded into 6 double plays in the last 6 games. That’s the most GIDPs by a Yankee in any 6-game span in team history.”
On the post game, manager Aaron Boone noted that “Gleyber usually keeps the ball off the ground. Just a little bit of a few-day funk for him where he’s putting it on the ground a little bit. Usually he does a good job of avoiding that, as much as anyone.”
Elder pitched 7 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball to go 9-4 3.46. Yes he has allowed on average 3.46 runs a start. He gets a lot of groundball outs with his 90-MPH sinker and 84-MPH slider.
Bryce Elder's 2Ks in the 5th. pic.twitter.com/9U55FE2wvS
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 16, 2023
3. Yankee Relievers Spotless
Some more good news for the Yankees — Wandy Peralta, Jonathan Loaisiga, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes each pitched a shutout inning, allowing 1 hit total. Against the vaunted Atlanta offense.
Loaisiga was helped in the 6th by a terrific play by Anthony Volpe at shortstop, barehanding a deflection off Isiah Kiner-Falefa at 3rd, and nabbing the runner.
Anthony Volpe with the heads-up play on IKF's deflection
(via @TalkinYanks) pic.twitter.com/dWtzISWy7Z
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) August 16, 2023
Holmes got groundout, ground out, ground out for a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th. If only it had gone that well for him on Sunday when he also got ground outs — but two went awry for blown 7-3 lead.
4. One More Double Play to End It
In the 9th against Kirby Yates, Isiah Kiner-Falefa walked with 1 out — NY down 5-0.
- But next batter Aaron Judge hit into a double play for the old ballgame.
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