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Series Recap: Yankees chopped up in Atlanta

ATLANTA, Ga. — The New York Yankees hadn’t played in nearly a week and it showed. Although, one might make the case they picked up right where they left off against the Tampa Bay Rays. After being washed out Tuesday by the rain, they were wiped out Wednesday in a doubleheader sweep by the Atlanta Braves. It was brutal, soft, and boy did they go out with a whimper.

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GAME 1

The Yankees almost got no-hit by a rookie pitcher and their ace looked more like he did in his Pittsburgh days. It all chalked up to a 5-1 defeat.

MR. ANDERSON

The Yankees lineup (sans Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, etc. mind you) could not solve the matrix that was Ian Anderson. Anderson is one of the Braves’ top pitching prospects (hey don’t we have top pitching prospects at the alternate site?). The rookie righty grew up about 20 miles north of Albany, N.Y. and pitched his high school ball at Shenendehowa.

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Anderson was unleashing some nasty changeups like another member of the 518 area code, Tommy Kahnle. The Braves rookie would yield only one hit, a Luke Voit solo home run to right in the sixth inning. That marked Voit’s fifth consecutive contest with a home run.

CHARRED COLE

As mentioned, he could’ve sued for a lack of support but Cole hardly played the role of stopper. The New York ace yielded five runs, including three home runs, one to Ronald Acuna in the first inning, a two-run tater to Dansby Swanson, and a solo bomb to Marcel Ozuna in the third inning. He did fan nine batters and churned out five frames but unfortunately, it was far from enough.

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GAME 2

This 2-1 loss was frustrating for other reasons. Judge started in right field but had to leave the game due to a tight calf. Masahiro Tanaka emptied the tank with 66 pitches after five frames. The lone Yankee run came on a Tyler Wade sacrifice fly to left in the fifth inning to provide New York with a 1-0 edge.

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Miguel Andujar appears to be warming up with a pair of hits and a run scored but it was a rough nightcap otherwise.

TO PULL OR NOT TO PULL?

If Tanaka told Aaron Boone he was running on empty and Boone decided to pull him for a fresh Chad Green, I don’t have a problem with that decision. It is however questionable as to how Tanaka could be running out of gas with 66 pitches through five frames. I mean, what are we doing here with these starters? Can we call up the kids already?

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Tanaka was solid otherwise with five scoreless frames, fanning four with three hits allowed and zero walks.

Boone brought on Green, who recorded two outs in the sixth inning before yielding a single to Swanson and a two-run round-tripper to Freddie Freeman to right for the difference-maker.

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ON DECK

At 16-11, the Yankees return to New York to face the New York Mets for five games in three days but don’t hold me to that.

Pitching probables, are you kidding me?