Yankees rally late, to stun Braves 12-9 behind Volpe and Grisham

Atlanta—Down 5-0 early and 7-2 midway through, the Yankees stormed back Saturday night with two homers from Anthony Volpe and a go-ahead grand slam by Trent Grisham in the ninth to cap a thrilling 12-9 win over the Braves. Will Warren got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Joey Wentz, the opener for the Braves.

"I mean, it was, we just kept our heads down," Grisham said. I mean, we knew we were behind the eight ball at the start, but we just kept plugging away and just didn't give up." 

Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Aaron Judge went down in order for the Yankees in the top half of the first inning. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Warren retired the Braves in order and picked up his first two strikeouts of the ballgame. 

Giancarlo Stanton led off the top of the second inning with a single to right field. But was quickly erased on a double play off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Warren faced the minimum in the bottom of the second inning thanks to a 4-6-3 double play. Warren also recorded his third strikeout of the ballgame. 

Michael Harris II got the scoring started in the bottom of the third inning via a solo home run to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Goldy Knocks led things off with a single right back up the middle. But that would be all for the Yankees in the fourth. 

Warren quickly recorded the first two outs of the bottom of the fourth. Then gave up a double, followed by a walk, then a three-run home run to Ozzie Albies to make it a 4-0 game. A couple batters later, it looked like Warren was out of the inning, but he failed to cover third base, allowing another run to come across on a RBI infield single from Nick Allen to make it a 5-0 game and knock Warren out of the game. Tim Hill replaced Warren on the mound and picked up the final out of the inning. 

"Two outs and it was like you know one more and we're out of the inning,” Warren said. “And when I felt like I was cruising, I think the walk to Murphy is really, you know, the one we got our matchup pulled some sliders out of zone, good takes on his part after chasing the first one. And then you know Albies runs into a heater that's, you know, not supposed to be in, supposed to be away. And lifts it out of here." 

Will Warren's final line: 3.2 innings pitched, five hits allowed, five earned runs, three walks, 11 swings and misses, and five strikeouts on 78 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 49% of the time, the sinker 21%, the sweeper 19%, the curveball 6%, and the changeup 5% of the time. Warren looked great for the first three innings, but then completely unraveled with two outs in the fourth inning. Yet again, when the Yankees needed Warren most, he folded like a lawn chair. 

Grisham led off the top of the fifth inning with a double off the wall in right field. The next batter, Volpe, launched his 11th home run of the year to make it a 5-2 game. 

Hill remained in the game for the bottom of the fifth inning and recorded the first two outs of the frame. Scott Effross took over Hill, a single followed by a two-run single to Albies to make it a 7-2 game. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Belli led things off with a bloop single to right field. Judge followed that up with a single of his own. Stanton then worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Jazz put the Yankees a little closer via an RBI single to make it a 7-3 game. Grisham then hit a groundball that Braves first baseman Matt Olson couldn't come up with to bring across another run, making it a 7-4 game. Volpe followed that up with a sacrifice fly to make it a 7-5 game. Austin Wells then made it a 7-6 game thanks to an RBI groundout. 

Jonathan Loáisiga replaced Effross on the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning and picked up the first two outs. Then walked a batter who moved up to second on a wild pitch, which cost the Yankees a run as Olson drove a RBI single to right field to make it an 8-6 game. 

Belli instantly responded with his 17th home run of the season on the first pitch of the top of the seventh inning to make it an 8-7 game. 

Loáisiga, for some reason, stayed in the game for the bottom of the seventh inning and gave up a single, walked a batter, and hit a batter to load the bases with one out. Luke Weaver took over for Loáisiga and picked up a strikeout and a flyout to strand the bases loaded. 

"Well, vacation is over, indeed," Weaver said. It felt a lot like that Chicago moment that we had fun with in our interview last time. But just a lot of adrenaline going, a big moment. You're coming off of a little bit of a layoff, so to speak, with the All-Star break. And so you're just trying to reconfigure your mind, your mechanics, and just the speed of the game. And so. I was able to do that, and I made some adjustments that I promised I wouldn't sit around and feel sorry for myself. So I was able to go out there and compete and make some big pitches when I needed to." 

With one out in the top of the eighth inning, Volpe crushed his second home run of the night and his 12th of the season to tie this game up at 8-8—Volpe’s first career multi-home run game. 

"Yeah, it's just a lot of fun, like you said. Fun to be a part of and fun to come out on top," Volpe said. "Yeah, I mean, just to feel like you contribute and help the team in a game like tonight feels really good." 

Weaver came back out for the bottom of the eighth inning and worked a scoreless inning. 

In the top of the ninth, Goldy Knocks led things off with a double off the top of the wall in center field. A couple of batters later, Judge was intentionally walked. Stanton worked a walk of his own to load the bases. With two outs, Grisham launched a grand slam to come all the way back and give the Yankees a 12-8 lead. 

"I mean, I think I just did a really good job of what the team did all night," Grisham said. "Like just staying in the fight. Nothing out of the ordinary, just kind of staying calm within myself and just staying in the fight, and it ended up working out tonight."

Devin Williams was called upon to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning and gave up a RBI groundout to Harris to make it a 12-9 game. Williams then picked up the final out to end this ballgame. 

The Yankees will look to win the series tomorrow with Marcus Stroman on the mound, facing off against Grant Holmes. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: What a win, maybe the win of the year so far, in a non-mathematical must-win game, the Yankees fought back from down 5-0 and 7-2. Warren looked solid in the first three innings, then just did not have it in the fourth inning. This game might go down as the Anthony Volpe game, as he launched two huge home runs, had four RBIs, and just missed a third bomb that ended up being a sac fly to the warning track. It could also go down as the Trent Grisham game, as he had arguably the swing of the season so far with his go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to complete the comeback. Belli also had a great game with two hits and a big home run. Luke Weaver stepped up big, working out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to shift the momentum in the Yankees' direction. I also didn't point this out during the recap, but Jazz was going at it with Braves coach Eddie Perez, who was pointing at his own head while shouting at Jazz. Also, Spencer Jones launched his eighth home run since getting called up to AAA after a four-hit day today; he is now hitting .397 with a 1.300 OPS in AAA. Jones is forcing a really tough decision for the Yankees front office in the next few weeks before the trade deadline on July 31st. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees will look to win this series before heading to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays in a huge series.