Yankees win the series behind Stroman’s gem and Judge’s 36th home run

Atlanta—Marcus Stroman gave the Yankees some much-needed length today to help the Yankees win 4-2 and take the series from the Braves. Stroman faced off against Grant Holmes for the Braves. 

"Yeah, that's always in the back of my mind," Stroman said about trying to give the Yankees some length. "I always want to go six, seven innings. That's always a goal. That's kind of how I came up; you take the ball and you go six or seven innings as a starter. So that's always my goal if I don't reach there. But yeah, definitely an emphasis on today, just being that we're a little thin. So good series win, and hopefully take that momentum into Toronto." 

Aaron Judge wasted no time getting the scoring started as he launched his 36th home run of the season to quickly give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. It was home run 351 of Judge's career, tying him 6th all-time with A-Rod on the Yankees home run list. A couple batters later, Giancorlo Stanton laced a single to right field, followed by a perfectly placed bunt single from Jazz Chisholm Jr. Paul Goldschmidt then came through with a two-out RBI single up the middle to make it a 2-0 game. 

"He's a good pitcher who relies on a good cutter, fastball, and a slider away to righties," Judge said on the Yankees' approach against Holmes in the first inning. "So it was really about trying to lay off the nasty stuff and get a good pitch to drive. So, you know, guys had some good at-bats against them, and he allowed us to get those, and we got those mistakes. Don't miss them." 

In the bottom half of the first inning, Stroman worked around a two-out single to put together a scoreless inning. 

Stroman worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the second inning and picked up his first two strikeouts of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Stroman navigated around a one-out single and recorded his third strikeout of the ballgame to put together a scoreless inning. 

Stroman retired the Braves in order in the bottom of the fifth inning to get through five really solid shutout innings. 

Stanton led off the top of the sixth inning with a rocket single to left field for his third hit of the game. Stanton is now hitting .293 with a .884 OPS since returning from the IL. A couple of batters later, Goldy Knocks worked a walk. Ben Rice followed that up with a walk of his own to load the bases. Jorbit Vivas was then hit by a pitch to force in a run and make it a 3-0 game. 

"He's incredible. I said he's a different guy now that he's back, he's a singles hitter, so he'll probably make me eat my words in Toronto here with a couple of homers," Judge said about Stanton. "But man, he's just impressive at bat after impressive at bat, it doesn't matter if it's his first at bat or you know a big pinch hit spot for us, so he's a big part of our offense, he's gonna keep it rolling."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Matt Olson got the Braves on the board via a solo home run to make it a 3-1 game. 

Judge worked a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh inning. A couple batters later, Jazz roped a two-out RBI double into the left-center gap to tack on a huge insurance run, making it a 4-1 game. 

Ian Hamilton took over for Stroman on the mound in the bottom half of the seventh inning and worked an easy 1-2-3 inning. 

Marcus Stroman's final line: six innings pitched, five hits allowed, one earned run, nine swings and misses, and four strikeouts on 95 pitches. Stroman threw his sinker 31% of the time, the cutter 23%, the slurve 21%, the splitter 12%, the slider 7%, the fastball 3%, and the curveball 3% of the time. Stroman gave the Yankees exactly what they needed today with six quality innings. He has been really solid since returning from the IL, giving up three runs or less in each start with a 3.00 ERA in his four starts back. 

"It's a tough lineup, you know, one through nine, it's pretty incredible," Stroman said. "I thought Ben Rice was awesome behind the dish, just with my pitches and mix going in and out, changing speeds, I feel like I was kind of able to execute whatever game plan you wanted." 

Tim Hill replaced Hamilton on the bump in the bottom of the eighth inning and worked around a one-out single to put together a scoreless frame. 

Devin Williams was called upon to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning and immediately served up a solo home run to Ronald Acuña Jr. to make it a 4-2 game. Williams was then able to settle in and pick up the final three outs to give the Yankees a 4-2 win as well as the series win. 

The Yankees will now head north of the border to Toronto to play the Blue Jays in the biggest series of the season so far. Carlos Rodon will get the starting nod for the Yankees tomorrow, facing off against Kevin Gausman for the Jays. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Stroman has proven a lot of doubters wrong, including myself, since returning from the IL. Today was his best start of the season, to give the Yankees bullpen some much-needed rest after being overused in the first two games of this series. Judge got things started with his first home run of the second half. Stanton had three hits today, as it looks like he is starting to heat up at the perfect time. Jazz also had two hits today, including a big RBi double late to add some insurance. Hamilton and Hill both pitched two clean innings to pave the way for Williams to close things out in the ninth inning. Also, Spencer Jones keeps on mashing at AAA as he had his second straight four-hit game today with two more home runs as he is hitting .422, with a 1.422 OPS and 10 home runs in his 16 games since getting called up to AAA. He was also leading MILB with a 196 wRC+ before today's game. Hence, he’s probably over a 200 wRC+ now. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I went to the same high school as Spencer, and I've been watching him ever since he was in Little League, so I’m definitely rooting for the Yankees not to trade him. On to tomorrow as for a series, the Yankees have to find a way to win going into Toronto, three games back from the Jays in the AL East.

"I always have a chip on my shoulder," Stroman said. "You know, that's how I was born. That's how I was raised. My dad raised me like that. That's always going to be there. But yeah, as far as caring what people are thinking or saying, I am far from that these days."