Yankees complete comeback, defeat Braves 3-2 in extra innings

· Yahoo Sports

The Yankees offense struggled for eight innings, but came alive to rally and defeat the Braves, 3-2, in extra innings on Friday night in the Bronx.

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Despite being down two runs in the ninth, the Yankees rallied. A one-out infield single from George Lombard Jr. and a two-base error by Braves closer Raisel Iglesias allowed the Yankees rookie to reach third base. Austin Wells drove him in with a two-out double. Amed Rosario walked, bringing up Ben Rice. The young slugger hit a bullet off the right field wall, tying the game. Luis Garcia Jr. would ground out to send the game to extra innings.

But Garcia would make up for it in the 10th. With two outs and the ghost runner on third base, Ronald Acuna Jr. lofted the ball into right field that looked destined to drop in, but Garcia raced out and made an over-the-shoulder catch to keep the game tied.

In the bottom of the 10th, Jose Caballero struck out on a foul bunt before Spencer Jones was intentionally walked to bring up Lombard. Against the right-hander Tyler Kinley, Lombard walked to load the bases for Ryan McMahon. McMahon fought back from an 0-2 count and hit a sac fly to drive in the winning run.

The Yankees snapped Atlanta's eight-game winning streak. With the Red Sox's win earlier in the evening, the Yankees remain just 0.5 games ahead of Boston for second in the division and the top Wild Card spot.

Here are the takeaways...

-Following a nearly two-hour rain delay, Max Fried took the mound facing off against his former team for the first time. The southpaw allowed two runners to reach (walk, single) before retiring Matt Olson, but Maricio Dubon hit a single up the middle, and Trent Grisham gunned down Ozzie Albies trying to reach third base before Drake Baldwin scored at home.

From there, Fried cruised through 6.1 innings (90 pitches/57 strikes), allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven. But it wasn't enough as he left the game with the score tied at 0-0.

-The Yankees were no-hit through three innings by new Brave pitcher Tyler Mahle -- who entered the game with a 5.13 ERA -- before Heliot Ramos broke it up with a leadoff double in the fourth. But the Yankees couldn't capitalize, withGarcia (foul out) and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (pop up) unable to even move Ramos to third. Jones hit a long fly ball to dead center field, but Dubon made a leaping catch at the wall to secure the third out.

McMahon hit a one-out double in the fifth, but he was also stranded after Wells lined out to center and Grisham struck out looking.

They had another chance in the eighth after back-to-back, two-out walks by Ramos and Garcia. Paul Goldschmidt was called off the bench but struck out swinging to end yet another Yankees threat. 

-Behind Fried, Fernando Cruz gave up the first run of the game when Austin Riley launched a solo shot to lead off the eighth inning. Cruz made three outs, but allowing the home run was the difference and continued the right-hander's recent struggles. 

In his last seven games, Cruz has an ERA of 5.40 (four runs in 6.2 innings).

Tim Hill allowed a leadoff solo shot to Olson in the ninth to push the Braves' lead to 2-0. 

-Rice finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts and is now 2-for-22 over his last seven games and 7-for-55 over his last 15 games with just one home run over that time. Hopefully the tying single gets him out of his funk.

Lombard, in his third game with the Yankees, went 1-for-4 with a strikeout, a walk and the run scored.

Game MVP: Ryan McMahon

McMahon not only drove in the winning run, but he was the only Yankee to have more than one hit, finishing 2-for-3 with a walk.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Braves continue their series on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m.

It's a duel between aces as Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.42 ERA) takes on Chris Sale (12-6, 2.08 ERA). 

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