Yankees held to one hit in Atlanta, lose fourth straight and drop to .500
Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. runs past New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe on a wild throw to first base on a pickoff attempt during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Harkim Wright Sr.
ATLANTA – The Yankees privately braced for the worst, and maybe even expected it.
And not without cause.
Sending a badly struggling Luis Severino to the mound Tuesday against one of the more potent, diverse lineups the sport has seen in years did not portend a successful night for either party.
It was not.
Though it certainly could have gone far worse, it still didn’t go well enough as Severino allowed two home runs and the Yankees were held to one hit in a 5-0 loss to Atlanta in front of a sellout crowd of 40,454 at Truist Park.
The loss dropped the Yankees (60-60), still securely in last place in the AL East after losing their fourth straight, back to .500 for the first time since May 1 when they were 15-15.
It’s the latest they’ve been .500 in the season since Sept. 6, 1995. But that Yankees team made the postseason. For this year’s club, that is becoming a more remote possibility by the day as Tuesday’s loss dropped the Yankees 6 ½ games behind the Blue Jays for the AL’s third wild-card spot.
“We’re not showing up, that’s what it comes down to,” Aaron Judge said. “We’re not showing up when we need to, especially down the stretch right now. We’ve got every opportunity to keep ourselves in the race, we’re not capitalizing when we need to.”
The Yankees fell to 2-6 on this three-city trip that began with series losses to the White Sox and Marlins.
On Tuesday, part of the narrative was the Yankees ending up with more errors (2) than hits (1).
“We’re scuffling our [butts] off and we need to do better,” Aaron Boone said. “And we need to take some personal pride. It’s not fun getting knocked down and getting beat up, especially when you wear this uniform.”
Of being .500 in mid-August, Boone said: “It sucks. We’re just simply not playing well enough. That starts with me and, on down, we’ve got to be better. That’s a broken record, right? Feel like we’re starting to gain some traction a little bit offensively and then, after getting a couple of early runs on [Max] Fried last night, we weren’t able to generate much, and then just get shut down tonight. We have to be better than that.”
No team in the majors has been better than Atlanta, which upped its run total to an MLB-best 700 in improving to 77-42 as it continues to run away with the NL East.
Severino (2-8, 7.98 ERA), meanwhile, did display some silver linings after entering the night 1-6 with an 11.71 ERA in his last seven outings. He started Tuesday's game in the first inning after following an opener in Chicago in his last start (it didn't go well that night either), and allowed five runs (three earned), five hits and two walks over four innings.
“Really good today,” said Severino, who a handful of times hit 99 mph in striking out five. “I feel like I was in command of all my pitches. A couple mistakes.”
Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer in the first and, after an error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa to start the fourth, Ronald Acuna Jr. blasted a two-run shot later in the inning to make it 5-0.
“He was just waiting for it,” Severino said of the first-pitch slider Ozuna hit out for his 24th homer, a 442-foot shot to center. “This team is rolling, they’re just really good.”
Acuna Jr. rocketed a 1-and-1, 98-mph fastball up in the zone 420 feet to center in the fourth for a five-run cushion that was more than enough.
Atlanta righthander Bryce Elder (9-4, 3.46), who entered with a 5.37 ERA since the beginning of June, rediscovered his groove, the case for so many opposing pitchers this season against the Yankees.
The 24-year-old allowed one hit over seven innings, walking three and striking out three in a 94-pitch outing. The Yankees grounded into four double plays, two by Gleyber Torres and one by Judge in the ninth to end it.
“Not good enough,” Boone said.
Another broken-record refrain in a season slipping away by the day.
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.
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