Max Fried Outduels Nestor Cortes Jr. Atlanta 3 NY 1

June 24, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Anthony Volpe rips RBI double in 6th.

Max Fried and the Atlanta bullpen outdueled Nestor Cortes Jr and the Yankee pen, winning 3-1 on a HOT Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium, temperatures reaching 95 and on-field temperature hotter than that.

Nestor Cortes pitched well — 7 innings of 5-hit baseball — but allowed 3 runs — 2 runs in the 5th that doomed him.

Fried shut the Yankees out until they finally got to him in the 6th — with Anthony Volpe doubling in a run. The Yanks might have scored more but Volpe was thrown out at 3rd on a fielder’s choice grounder — a play the Yanks challenged because they felt the 3rd baseman blocked Volpe’s path. But NY lost the challenge and next batter Aaron Judge‘s single went for naught.

“Didn’t walk anyone, so was dictating counts and mixed well — 4-seam, 2-seam, cutter, he could slow you down with the big breaking ball, good changeup,” said manager Aaron Boone about Fried. “I thought he threw the ball well. We obviously pressured him with some good at bats in the 6th, had a chance to really break through just couldn’t do it today.”

NY falls to 52-28, but remains in 1st by 1.5 games as Baltimore lost again — getting swept in their 3-game weekend series by Houston. Atlanta improves to 43-32.

1. Cortes Good

Good news for the Yanks — Nestor Cortes is back on his game. This was his 3rd straight excellent start. He looked like the old Cortes, with life on his fastball and an assortment of pitches working.

Cortes struck out the first 3 batters of the game, and blew through the 2nd into the 3rd, striking out 2 more. Jarred Kelenic got him for a 2-out homer to right center with 2 outs in the 3rd, however, and it was 1-0 Atlanta.

Cortes worked easily around a leadoff single in the 4th but in the 5th, after getting the 1st out, Ramon Laureano singled and Orlando Arcia doubled putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

Jarred Kelenic hit a sac fly to center for a 2-0 Atlanta lead, and Ozzie Albies got a clutch 2-out single to make it 3-0 Atlanta.

Cortes pitched an easy 6th and 7th. His line: 7 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 7 K’s, 0 walks. He actually out-pitched Fried in many ways, but loses to go 4-6 3.40.

2. Fried Fries Yanks

Down 3-0 seemed like a bit of a hole to be in against Max Fried, who was frying the Yanks on this HOT Sunday afternoon.

Fried came in Red Hot — with an ERA in the 2.50 area the last 2 months. The tv threw up a stat that said he had the 5th lowest WAR amongst starting pitchers in MLB in the last few years (Gerrit Cole was 2nd on the list).

Fried motored through the Yank lineup, scattering 1-out singles in the 1st (Juan Soto) and 3rd (Trent Grisham), and a 2-out single in the 5th (Ben Rice) — and pitching 1-2-3 innings in the 2nd and 4th.

Fried Rice

The Fried-Rice matchup was one to watch. Fried got Rice first time up; next time up Rice fried Fried with the single.

Grisham — who got 2 hits on the day — was playing because Giancarlo Stanton is out due to pulling his hamstring the previous game. It was announced Stanton will be out 4 weeks.

3. Volpe RBI Double Finally Gets Fried

NY finally got to Fried in the 6h — a leadoff single by Trent Grisham, followed by an RBI double by Anthony Volpe.

Next batter Juan Soto hit a fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop Orlando Arcia, who threw to 3rd to get Volpe. The Yanks argued 3rd baseman Austin Riley blocked the bag — and indeed his leg got into Volpe’s way — but the umps said no to the challenge.

“It was actually a risky play on their part; down a couple runs it’s an out either way,” said Boone afterwards. “Little bit of a roadblock at 3rd; we’re not seeing that blocking of the bag not being called much at all.”

Next batter Aaron Judge’s single would have scored Volpe — instead it put runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. And then Fried got Alex Verdugo to hit into a double play and that was it for the Yank rally.

The Yanks did accomplish getting Fried out of the game — he left after 87 pitches. His line: 6 innings, 6 hits, 1 run 4 K’s, 0 walks. He wins to go 7-3 3.00.

4. Kahnle Electric

More good news for the Yanks: Tommy Kahnle pitched the 8th and was terrific– striking out the side.

5. Holmes Good

More good news for the Yanks: Clay Holmes pitched the 9th and was filthy.

6. Atlanta Pen Fries Yanks

In the last 3 innings against Atlanta’s pen, the Yanks could muster only a 2-out single in the 7th by Ben Rice against Pierce Johnson.

Joe Jimenez pitched the 8th, striking out Grisham, getting Volpe to line out, and then going 1-2 on Soto. Soto called time out just before the next pitch — but the ump didn’t grant it and Soto struck out looking.

Raisel Iglesias pitched the 9th, getting Judge to line out, and striking out the last 2 batters — Verdugo and Gleyber Torres — for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569630

 

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