Yankees hold off Atlanta to run winning streak to 11

ATLANTA — Maybe a day off will slow down the Yankees.

No opponent has been able to lately, though Aroldis Chapman did his best Tuesday night.

The Yankees made it 11 straight wins with a 5-4 victory over Atlanta in front of 37,426 at Truist Park, their first 11-game winning streak since Aug. 31-Sept. 10, 1985. But Wandy Peralta had to bail out Chapman, retiring Freddie Freeman on a long fly to leftfield with the bases loaded and a run already home.

"It’s been so much fun competing with these guys, watching these guys compete, watching these guys show up every single day, knowing there’s a lot on the line," Aaron Boone said. "Knowing there’s an attitude of, ‘Who’s it going to be today? What can I do today to win a game?’ That’s the kind of attitude that’s going on in there and that’s a fun thing to be a part of."

As has been the case during much of this stretch of their best baseball of the season, the Yankees (74-52) — who have won 33 of their last 44 games and are on a 23-5 streak — received contributions from much of their 26-man roster, but they had to survive Chapman's meltdown in the ninth.

Handed a 5-3 lead after a tiebreaking two-run homer by DJ LeMahieu and solo shots by Giancarlo Stanton and Rougned Odor, Chapman almost gave it away.

He shattered Travis d'Arnaud's bat on a groundout and, after allowing a single by Adam Duvall, caught Guillermo Heredia looking at a 3-and-2 slider for the second out. But he walked pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza on four pitches to put runners on first and second.

Chapman nearly struck out Ozzie Albies when he swung over a low 3-and-2 slider, but it was ruled that he had foul-tipped it. The speedy Albies then beat out a grounder to third baseman Odor to load the bases.

When Chapman walked Jorge Soler on a 3-and-2 slider in the dirt, Boone had seen enough. In came Peralta to face the dangerous Freeman, who had gone 3-for-5 with a double previously against Peralta. The lefthander fell behind 3-and-1 before Freeman drove leftfielder Joey Gallo nearly to the warning track on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.

It was Peralta's third save in three chances as a Yankee.

"As tough a situation as you can be brought into, and he executed," Boone said of Peralta, who had his dugout in awe by throwing Freeman five straight changeups during the at-bat. "He’s become a big part of this."

Peralta said through his interpreter: "The game is on the line, you’re facing a really good hitter, a really polished hitter, everyone knows how good he is. You just focus on executing pitch by pitch."

Andrew Heaney, who lauded Peralta for throwing the five consecutive changeups, recovered from a two-run first to throw three scoreless innings before he was pinch hit for in the fifth. Albert Abreu, Joely Rodriguez, winning pitcher Clay Holmes and Chad Green then provided a bridge to Chapman, who did little to alleviate concerns about him as the closer.

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The Yankees remained four games behind the AL East-leading Rays and 2 ½ games ahead of the Red Sox for the American League’s top wild-card spot. They moved 4 1/2 games ahead of the A’s and, after Wednesday's off day, will begin a key four-game series in Oakland on Thursday night.

After Heaney allowed a two-out, two-run double in the first by Dansby Swanson, Stanton led off the second by ripping a 2-and-2 curveball from Charlie Morton (12-5, 3.60) on a line to left-center for his 22nd homer. That made it 2-1 and extended his on-base streak to 21 games, a stretch in which he’s hitting 24-for-71 (.338) with six homers, 19 RBIs and 14 runs.

The Yankees tied it in the fourth when Judge led off with a double and scored on Gary Sanchez’s two-out ground-ball single to the right of second base as he beat the shift.

Andrew Velazquez led off the fifth with a single, stole second and scored on LeMahieu’s ninth homer, a two-run shot to left that made it 4-2.

Atlanta thought it had tied it in the fifth when Austin Riley roped one into the gap in left-center with two outs and runners at the corners. Albies scored easily but Freeman, trying to score from first, was cut down on a Judge-to-Velazquez-to-Sanchez relay. The call survived a replay review, leaving the Yankees ahead 4-3.

Odor led off the seventh with his 15th homer, a 413-foot drive to rightfield that made it 5-3.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.