ATLANTA — On a day when the Yankees had little available in the way of relief, Marcus Stroman provided it in his best start of the season.
After the first two Yankees starters this series put the team in early holes and did not last long, Stroman was sharper than he’s been all season to help send the Yankees into a divisional showdown full steam ahead.
Stroman tossed six innings of one-run ball to keep the Braves at bay and lift the Yankees to a 4-2 win that claimed the series on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park.
The Yankees (55-44) will try to take this momentum into a crucial series against the Blue Jays in Toronto that starts Monday.
They suffered a four-game sweep at Rogers Centre just two and a half weeks ago, which dropped them out of first place in the AL East.
The Yankees head back there trailing the Blue Jays by three games.
“It’s a good time to start getting hot,” said Aaron Judge, who crushed his 351st career home run, pulling him into a tie with Alex Rodriguez for sixth place on the franchise’s all-time list.
The Yankees should at least be set up well from a pitching standpoint against the Blue Jays, set to start Carlos Rodón, Cam Schlittler and Max Fried in the three games.
And Stroman gave their bullpen a much-needed breather on Sunday by turning in his longest start since last August.
In the first two games of this series against the Braves (43-55), the relief corps had to cover 13 ¹/₃ innings.
Eight of those came in Friday’s bullpen game, when Ian Hamilton put them in a 3-0 hole in the first inning, before Will Warren could not make it out of the fourth inning on Saturday.
But Stroman delivered in the clutch Sunday, scattering five hits and no walks (for the first time this season) while striking out four.
The only damage was Matt Olson’s 442-foot solo blast in the sixth inning that landed on the roof of the Chop House in right field.
“That’s always in the back of my mind — I always want to go six, seven innings, that’s always the goal,” Stroman said. “Definitely an emphasis on today, being that we were a little thin.”
Jonathan Loáisiga and Luke Weaver were unavailable and Aaron Boone was trying to stay away from Scott Effross and JT Brubaker as well.
So Stroman going six innings allowed Boone to use Hamilton for the seventh, Hill for the eighth and Devin Williams for the ninth.
Ronald Acuña Jr. took Williams deep to lead off the ninth, but otherwise it was a strong day for a bullpen that has been scuffling.
In four starts since returning from the injured list for knee inflammation, Stroman has pitched to a 3.00 ERA across 21 innings, providing the Yankees some much-needed stability as they try to make it to the end of the month, when they could get a trade reinforcement along with the looming return of Luis Gil.
“[Stroman is] pitching like there’s a lot on the line, and there is,” Boone said. “In a lot of ways, he’s had his back against the wall here a little bit and he’s come out and delivered.”
The Braves’ best chance for a rally off Stroman came in the third inning, when their first two batters reached.
Jurickson Profar then tried to lay down a bunt but popped it up in foul territory and third baseman Jorbit Vivas made a diving grab on it before Stroman got Olson to ground into a double play to end the threat.
“Vivas laid out Superman style for that one,” Boone said. “That [inning], in a lot of ways, is maybe the game right there.”
Between Judge’s home run and Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single in the top of the first, Stroman had a 2-0 lead before he took the mound.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. later added an RBI double while Giancarlo Stanton helped fuel the offense with three bullets for singles, sending the Yankees flying to Toronto on a high note.
“It is [a big series],” Stanton said. “But we’re ready. This set us up good, coming back [Saturday night] into a quick turnaround today. We’re ready.”
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