Yankees stumble in bullpen game after pitching plans go awry

ATLANTA – This first game back from the All-Star break was supposed to be an event. It could have been a highlight of Max Fried’s excellent first season with the Yankees, a return to the Truist Park mound to take on the Braves, the club with which he authored the early chapters of a standout career.

A troublesome blister on Fried’s left index finger altered those plans. Fireballing rookie Cam Schlittler was the second choice, but he was scratched, too – dealing with discomfort near his right biceps that prompted an MRI during the All-Star break.

That led manager Aaron Boone to a less-than-ideal third choice: a bullpen game. New York’s gassed relievers had trudged into a well-deserved All-Star respite, and they went right back to the grind on Friday night, shouldering the load in a 7-3 loss to the Braves.

“We were in a little bit of a tough spot,” Boone said.

Ian Hamilton called his stuff “hittable” after being dented for three first-inning runs, and Rico Garcia surrendered a three-run homer to Ozzie Albies in his Yankees debut. The Bombers never caught up on a night that featured a glaring baserunning miscue.

In the third inning, Jorbit Vivas was thrown out at third base on a strong flat-footed throw from right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Third-base coach Luis Rojas was instructing Vivas to slide, but Vivas appeared to be deked by third baseman Nacho Alvarez Jr.

“It looked like he wasn’t receiving the ball at all, but that’s not on him,” Vivas said through an interpreter. “It’s on me there to make it to that base. Acuña has a really strong arm, and he can make a throw from anywhere.”

The play took the bat out of Aaron Judge’s hands to end the inning. Boone said he told Vivas: “You can never let that happen again.”

“I did that all my career at third base – you play dumb, like dead,” Boone said. “[Vivas] read the body. He knew it was a deep fly ball, so I think it caught him up.”

Inexcusable, sure. But it might not have changed the final outcome on a night when Spencer Strider limited the Yanks to three hits over six scoreless innings.

Giancarlo Stanton came off the bench to deliver a two-run double as part of a three-run seventh, with Bellinger also rapping a run-scoring hit. But the rally arrived too late.

“We ultimately couldn’t get that big one to get us back into it,” Boone said.

From the Yankees’ perspective, the upside is that Fried and Schlittler are both expected to be ready for their upcoming four-game series against the Blue Jays in Toronto, which begins Monday with Carlos Rodón on the mound.

That’s a huge opportunity to make up ground in the American League East race, coming less than three weeks after the Yanks were swept in a four-game series at Rogers Centre, costing them a spot they’d held atop the division since April 14.

The 31-year-old Fried said he is “hopeful” he’ll pitch in Toronto. Boone characterized it as “very realistic,” adding that Schlittler’s MRI came back clean. Schlittler touched 100 mph while striking out seven Mariners in 5 1/3 innings in his debut on July 9 in New York.

Fried said he has continued playing catch since Saturday, when he exited a start against the Cubs after three innings. The blister kept Fried from being active on the AL roster for the All-Star Game on Tuesday, though he was present in Atlanta and participated in the festivities.

“It’s progressing well,” Fried said. “We’re definitely optimistic.”

Will Warren and Marcus Stroman are set to pitch the next two games in Atlanta. Boone said the Yankees wanted to keep Warren pitching with an extra day of rest, while Stroman had already begun his pre-start preparation with Sunday in mind.

They’ll both need to pitch well if the Yankees hope to avoid what would be a fourth series loss in their past five. But a larger concern is with Fried. He has been indispensable since stepping into the ace role following Gerrit Cole’s season-ending Tommy John surgery, and it’s a tall order to envision a deep postseason run without him continuing that path.

Blisters are part of the package with Fried, who had the issue repeatedly during his Atlanta years; he attributes it in part to the humidity of pitching in the summer there. They required four trips to the injured list with the Braves – 23 days between starts in 2018, 12 days each in ‘19 and ‘21, and 18 in ‘23, including a gap between the regular season and playoffs.

“It’s something that I’ve dealt with my whole career,” Fried said. “If you speed it up, there’s a chance that it comes back quicker. But if you handle it right, normally, you can just go on without many issues.”