Yankees, after battering Braves' bullpen, striving for series win
The Yankees trailed 5-0 and 7-2 on Saturday before coming back to win the game on Trent Grisham's grand slam in the ninth inning. The victory ended New York's three-game losing streak and kept the Yankees three games behind Toronto in the American League East.
New York is trying to win the season series against Atlanta for the first time since 2021.
"It's a big win, but no one is surprised," said New York's Anthony Volpe, who had two homers and a sacrifice fly in the victory. "We're confident in each other and we know we could do this every night."
A pair of right-handers will get the start in the series finale -- New York's Marcus Stroman (1-1, 6.66 ERA) against Atlanta's Grant Holmes (4-8, 3.77).
Stroman missed 2 1/2 months with knee inflammation and didn't return until June 29. In the three starts since his return from the injured list, Stroman is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA. In three early-season starts before the injury, he was 0-1 with an 11.57 ERA, allowing 12 runs in 9 1/3 innings.
"I'm just pitching confident," Stroman said. "Just really allowing myself to be myself. I'm not shying away from who I am as a pitcher."
In his most recent appearance on July 10 against the Seattle Mariners, Stroman pitched five innings and allowed two runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts. The Yankees won 6-5 in 10 innings.
"Just another gritty performance," New York manager Aaron Boone said afterward. "I thought he pitched well."
Stroman has been effective against the Braves. In nine career starts, he's 5-3 with a 2.82 ERA. He faced Atlanta once in 2024 and got a win after throwing 6 2/3 innings and allowing three runs in an 8-3 Yankees' victory.
Holmes has grown his role from being a spot starter to the No. 2 man in a rotation that has been hammered by injuries. This will be his 20th start of the season, and he has produced eight quality starts. Holmes has been hampered by the lack of run support. In only one of his eight losses have the Braves scored more than one run.
But Holmes struggled with a high pitch count and shaky control in his final outing before the All-Star break on July 11 at St. Louis. He worked three innings and threw 86 pitches, allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks, with a season-low one strikeout.
Holmes has made one career appearance against the Yankees, throwing one scoreless inning of relief last season.
It would be helpful if Holmes could work deep into the game and give the Atlanta bullpen a rest. The relievers struggled on Saturday, allowing nine hits, four of them homers. Rafael Montero was the only one of six relievers who did not allow a run.
"We just didn't do a real good job after the fourth," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "It's going to be hard to sustain that, you know, where you're using everybody. ... They're going to need to be big for us."
--Field Level Media
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