The Yankees lost their five-game losing streak on Tuesday, but a night later, their brutal first-season offensive funk remained alive.
Without the wild-laden pitching that the Braves gifted them on Tuesday to mask their struggles, the Yankees offense continued to erupt in a 4-1 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday night at a cold Yankee stadium.
It was another lifeless loss for the Yankees (6-11), who scored just five hits (all singles). They tied six walks, but ran aground nine runners from the base and didn’t score until Clint Frazier’s new RBI came out with two outs in the ninth. That came one night after five hits that were enough to spark a win over the Braves (8-10), but on Wednesday there was no life raft from Atlanta Bullring.
Corey Kluber gave the Yankees a solid start. He controlled for four innings without scoring until he lost control in the fifth and surrendered a couple of runs. But not even a perfect outing would have been enough to save the Yankees tonight.
Brave starter Ian Anderson, a native of upstate New York, seemed at home throwing himself in the cold conditions. The Yankees barely made him sweat most of the night as he traversed six innings in just 78 pitches.
They finally mustered their biggest threat of the game in the seventh inning, when a soloist from Mike Ford and two outings to Gary Sanchez and Frazier loaded the bases. But AJ Minter relieved Anderson and put out the fire by getting DJ LeMahieu to the ground.
Manager Aaron Boone juggled the lineup before winning Tuesday’s 3-1, and adjusted it again Wednesday, trying to find some sort of spark. He faced Giancarlo Stanton in three holes for the first time this season and had Gio Urshela, one of his most productive hitters of recent times, clean up. Outsiders Aaron Hicks and Frazier also rejoined the lineup after not starting on Tuesday
It barely made a difference. Urshela, after going 1-on-3, left the game in the eighth inning with tension in his back. Stanton scored 0 for 4 with an attacking shot while Hicks and Frazier combined to go 1 for 5 with three walks.
Kluber was acute through four innings, causing weak contact as he gave up a single step and march and stranded the two runners. He got help in the third inning, when Frazier ran a long way to make a dive catch on the left field with a ball from Ehire Adrianza.
But Kluber started to wear out in the fifth inning. Pablo Sandoval made the toughest contact he had all night to start the fifth with a straight line on the right field. Again later, Kluber got Austin Riley to score 0 and 2, just to get it. He then walked batter No. 9 Guillermo Heredia to load the bases.
Adrianza gave the Braves the 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly in midfield, as Sandoval reached third place in the first run of the match.
Kluber then went through Freddie Freeman on four pitches, the third of his innings, to reload the bases and mark the end of his night at 91 pitches.
Nick Nelson relieved Kluber and scored Marcell Ozuna on four pitches to force on a run and make the Braves 2-0. Nelson finally found his command, leaving Arnaud’s Travis out to leave the bases loaded.