NEW YORK — Brian Snitker never believed the Atlanta Braves’ subpar stretch that lasted for much of May and lingered into early June reflected their true identity.
Now that they’ve bounced back from losing five straight games to win eight of 10 since, the ninth-year manager isn’t convinced the 2024 Braves have reached their final form.
“We’re playing more to our capabilities,” Snitker said. “Quite honestly, I still don’t think we’re hitting on all cylinders.”
It was good enough to take two of three games from the top team in Major League Baseball on a hot weekend at Yankee Stadium.
Atlanta left-hander Max Fried shut down New York’s lineup for five innings before tiring on a blistering afternoon, Jarred Kelenic drove in two runs while extending his hitting streak to 10 games, and the Braves beat the Yankees 3-1 on Sunday to wrap up the interleague showdown.
“It’s a big series,” Snitker said.
Atlanta (43-32) is the six-time reigning champion in the National League East Division but currently sits second in the standings, seven games behind the Philadelphia Phillies (51-26) — who on Sunday overtook the Yankees (52-28) for MLB’s current best record by winning percentage.
The Yankees lost for the seventh time in their past 10 games but remained 1 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Baltimore Orioles (49-28) in the American League East Division. New York is also just ahead of the Central Division’s Cleveland Guardians (49-26) for the AL’s best mark.
The Braves’ 22-11 record in interleague play is MLB’s best this season. The Yankees lost their third straight series after also dropping two of three against the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore, a pair of division rivals.
Fried, who improved to 7-3 two days after fellow Atlanta left-hander Chris Sale became the third MLB pitcher to reach 10 wins this year, has thrown a pair of complete games this season and had gone at least six innings in six other outings heading into Sunday. Sweltering conditions added to the difficulty of putting together that type of performance again.
He allowed three singles in the first five innings, then gave up three hits in the sixth that included Anthony Volpe’s RBI double. Fried finished with four strikeouts and no walks while improving to 4-1 in his past six starts.
He mixed 25 fastballs, 19 sinkers, 18 curveballs, 14 changeups, six sweepers, four cutters and one slider on a day when the temperature was 92 degrees at game time, the warmest at Yankee Stadium since July 16, 2021.
“It was a hot one,” Fried said. “I was definitely getting a little tired at the end.”
After giving up 10 earned runs over five innings in his first two starts of 2024, Fried has a 2.09 ERA in his past 13 outings and has lowered his season ERA to 3.00.
“It’s kind of like our hitting. Knew it was going to turn around,” Snitker said.
Kelenic’s view of another mostly efficient outing by Fried came from center field — which, to him, is far preferable than how New York’s hitters saw it.
“Playing behind him makes it pretty easy because you don’t have to do much,” Kelenic said. “Sometimes when I’m sitting out there, I’m thinking, ‘If I were to face him what I would do?’ He’d come at you from so many sides of the plate — his balls, they move so much.”
AP photo by Pamela Smith / Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy and closer Raisel Iglesias celebrate after the team wrapped up a 3-1 win against the host New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon. Iglesias got three straight outs for his 20th save in 22 chances this season.After Fried’s exit, Pierce Johnson, Joe Jiménez and Raisel Iglesias followed with one inning apiece and held the lead, with Ben Rice’s two-out single in the seventh giving New York its only baserunner during that stretch as the Atlanta relievers combined for five strikeouts. Iglesias picked up his 20th save in 22 chances this year, including his 12th conversion in a row.
Kelenic homered in the third inning on a first-pitch cutter from Nestor Cortes (4-6) and hit a sacrifice fly ahead of Ozzie Albies’ RBI single in a two-run fifth. Kelenic is hitting .324 with three home runs and six RBIs in eight games since moving to the leadoff spot and taking over in center with Michael Harris II sidelined by a hamstring injury.
The 24-year-old Kelenic, traded by the Seattle Mariners in December, started this season platooning in left field with veteran Adam Duvall, who moved to right field in late May after 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.’s season ended with a torn ACL in his left knee. Acuña was also in the leadoff spot for Atlanta, but Harris settled into that role before his injury.
“Guys see that as an opportunity, and some guys respond to the opportunities they get,” Snitker said of Kelenic’s performance at the top of the lineup.
Kelenic is hitting .270 with seven homers and 21 RBIs overall this year. He started 22 games in the No. 9 hole, 15 hitting eighth and nine batting seventh.
“I just try to individualize each and every at-bat and let the let the game kind of tell me what I’m trying to do,” Kelenic said.
The Braves are three days into a seven-game road swing that continues Monday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. The scheduled starting pitchers are right-handers Spencer Schwellenbach (1-2, 4.98 ERA) for Atlanta and Lance Lynn (2-3, 4.08) for St. Louis.
The Braves-Cardinals series is set for three games, and Atlanta will then visit the Chicago White Sox on Thursday to make up a contest that was rained out on April 3.
New York’s Cortes gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. He is 4-3 with a 1.84 ERA at home and 0-3 with a 5.57 ERA on the road.
“Nobody’s hanging their heads. Nobody’s panicking in here,” Cortes said. “Just a rough patch that (when playing) 162 games, you’re going to go through. Just got to figure a way to get out of it.”
Stanton on IL again
At least for now, oft-injured slugger Giancarlo Stanton won’t be able to help New York’s effort to get going.
The Yankees placed Stanton on the 10-day injured list a day after he strained his left hamstring while running the bases in Saturday’s 8-3 win, but the 34-year-old former MVP expects to miss about four weeks. Stanton missed 266 of 708 games in the past five seasons (38%), but he had hoped an intensive offseason program would keep him healthy in 2024.
He wouldn’t say whether he felt frustrated.
“Feelings don’t really matter in this time,” he said. “It’s just going to be a rough four weeks. I got to do what I can to get there.”
In other moves, New York recalled infielder Oswald Peraza from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, then optioned him back to make room for first baseman/outfielder J.D. Davis, acquired Sunday from the Oakland Athletics for minor league infielder Jordan Groshans.