The Atlanta Braves showcased plenty of progress at the plate before heading to meet the New York Yankees. They hardly let up Friday night.
After another productive display of offense in an 8-1 win, the Braves will attempt to extend their winning streak to five games Saturday night when the teams face off again at Yankee Stadium.
Atlanta is batting .279 (38-for-136) during its four-game winning streak. The Braves are 7-1 in their past eight games and have scored 47 times in that span after Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley homered on Friday.
Atlanta’s turnaround is occurring after it dropped five straight from June 7-12 while getting outscored 25-11.
“It’s good,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said after his team totaled 14 hits on Friday. “It’s kind of more of what I think, who we are. It’s good to see the guys hung in there and hopefully this is a trend that’s going to turn around for us.”
After winning 12 of 14, the Yankees have allowed 56 runs, dropped six of eight and are on their second three-game losing streak of the season over the past 14 games. The Yankees finished with three hits Friday, struck out 12 times and have allowed 32 runs during their past three games.
“Nobody says it’s going to be easy to go through the whole year,” New York right fielder Juan Soto said. “Nobody says it’s going to be flowers, roll all the way to the World Series. We got to take it like a man and forget about it and just keep moving forward.”
Gleyber Torres was held out of the lineup after exiting Thursday’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles with a minor groin injury. The Yankees gave Alex Verdugo a day off and deployed a lineup that had Jahmai Jones hitting fifth behind Giancarlo Stanton.
Jones had a triple and scored New York’s only run while Stanton and Anthony Volpe had the other hits.
Marcus Stroman (6-3, 3.08 ERA), who has a 5.28 ERA over his past three outings, goes for the Yankees and will attempt to avoid losing consecutive starts for the first time since last June 25-July 1 as a member of the Chicago Cubs.
Stroman saw a personal four-game winning streak stopped when he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings of Sunday’s 9-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Stroman is 4-3 with a 2.61 ERA in eight career starts against Atlanta. Stroman won his four starts against Atlanta but has dropped the past three decisions.
Charlie Morton (4-3, 3.91), who is 1-3 with a 4.99 ERA over his past six outings, goes for Atlanta. Morton stopped a personal three-game losing streak on June 15 when he allowed one run on three hits in six innings in a 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Morton is 5-3 with a 3.54 ERA in 13 career starts against the Yankees. –Field Level Media
