Streak snapped: Yankees ride Judge, Fried, and stellar defense to 6-4 win

New York—The Yankees snapped their six-game losing streak following a 6-4 win over the Mets to salvage the final game of the series. Max Fried got the start for the Yankees, and Chris Devenski took the ball for the Mets. 

Trent Grisham lined a one-out single to left field in the top of the first inning, but that would be all for the Yankees. 

Fried worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning and picked up his first strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

Austin Wells led off the top of the third inning with his 13th home run of the season to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

Giancarlo Stanton led off the top of the fourth inning with a blistering double, 118 mph off the bat into the left field corner. Cody Bellinger followed that up with a bloop single to right field to extend his hit streak to 12 games. Anthony Volpe made it a 2-0 ballgame via an RBI fielder's choice. DJ LeMahieu then legged out an infield single to put runners at the corners with one out. The next batter, Wells, legged out an RBI fielder's choice to extend the Yankees' lead to 3-0. 

Paul Goldschmidt led off the top of the fifth inning by lacing a double that one-hopped off the wall in left field. A couple of batters later, Aaron Judge crushed his 33rd home run of the season to make it 5-0. 

Fried gave up three straight singles to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Francisco Lindor made it a 5-2 game with a two-run single; Fried then struck out Juan Soto and got Pete Alonso to fly out to avoid further damage. 

Fried came back out for the bottom of the sixth and hit the first batter he faced, Jonathan Loáisiga, then took over for Fried on the mound. Loáisiga immediately gave up back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out. Jeff McNeil then legged out an infield single on some sloppy defense from the Yankees to make it a 5-3 game. The next batter, Hayden Senger, bounced into a 6-4-3 double play, but a run did come across to score, making it a 5-4 game. Judge does it all, as he made a beautiful diving play in right field to save a run and maintain the Yankees' lead.

Max Fried's final line: five innings pitched, six hits allowed, three earned runs, one walk, 12 swings and misses, and five strikeouts on 98 pitches. Fried threw his cutter 30% of the time, the curveball 19%, the fastball 13%, the sinker 12%, the sweeper 11%, the changeup 8%, and the slider 6% of the time. Fried was cruising through four innings, then ran into some trouble in the fifth, but did a great job limiting the damage. 

“I felt like it was good," Fried said about his start. "Got into a little jam and needed to make some pitches. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to give up some runs. But I wish I could have gone deeper in the game. They have a really good lineup. I faced a lot of these guys for a ton over my career. And you know that it's going to be a good test. So I wish could have gotten deeper, but Bullpen picked me up big time. And like I said, a really good team win all around." 

In the top of the seventh inning, Goldy Knocks led things off with a single right back up the middle, his second hit of the game. Grisham followed that up with a single off of first base, his third hit of the day, allowing Goldy to go first to third. Judge then picked up a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees some breathing room and make it a 6-4 game. 

Mark Leiter Jr. was called upon to replace Loáisiga in the bottom of the seventh inning and hit Lindor to start the inning. Belli then made one of the best plays you'll see all year long, making a beautiful shoestring catch, then made a perfect throw to first base to double up Lindor, on a ball that had a 30% catch probability and a eBA of .730. Tim Hill replaced Leiter and needed just one pitch to pick up the final out of the inning. 

"What a play," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about Bellis' catch. "I mean, you know, considering the context of, you know, this week and everything, you know that's probably our play of the year so far. And to have the wherewithal and the quality of the throw to double them off, just a great play by Bell." 

"That was incredible, I've never seen something like that on the field... that was a game-saving play right there,” Judge added.  

Hill remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth inning and gave up a leadoff single but was quickly erased on an unassisted double play on a line drive right at Goldy to help work a scoreless inning. 

Yankees closer Devin Williams was called upon to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning. Williams struck out the first batter he faced on some questionable strike calls, leading to home plate umpire John Bacon ejecting Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. Bacon is the same ump who ejected Jazz in Tampa earlier this year. Williams worked a 1-2-3 inning to end this one 6-4, salvage the final game of the series, and end the Yankees ' six-game losing streak. 

The Yankees have a much-needed off day tomorrow, then will welcome the Mariners to the Bronx to start a three-game series. Will Warren will get the starting nod for the Yankees and face off against Logan Gilbert for the Mariners. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees secured a much-needed win, with Fried being solid but not great. The defense was excellent today; Judge and Belli both made huge game-saving catches. The offense also continues to hit as Judge had a big game with three RBIs and another home run. Belli and Goldy each had a pair of hits. Grisham had three hits as well, and Wells launched a home run for the second day in a row. The bullpen was also solid; Hill and Williams each had great outings. Leiter and Loáisiga were both shaky but did the job. On to Tuesday for the final week before the All-Star break. Also, to nobody's surprise, Fried was named an All-Star following today's game, as well as Jazz Chisholm Jr. and obviously Aaron Judge. Fried will be making his return to Atlanta, where he spent most of his career prior to this season. Unfortunately, Rodon's rocky outing yesterday likely cost him a trip to Atlanta; nonetheless, he had a great first half. 

"It's special and it's a really cool experience to go and be able to share that with teammates and family,” Fried said.

"It's pretty great to work hard and get the recognition, it's amazing,” Jazz said on being named an All-Star. “I mean, it got harder once I got hurt, but I came back and got hot. Yeah, you know I felt like I worked hard for it and earned it.”