Braving The Storm. Yankees 3, Braves 2 in 10 Innings

About Last Night: Braving The Storm. Yankees 3- Braves 2 in 10 Innings

By Tim Kabel

August 8, 2026

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The Yankees rallied to beat the Braves last night. Actually, they rallied to beat the Braves this morning. After a two-hour rain delay, what could be better than an extra inning game. To steal a line from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, “Sleep, I don’t need no stinking sleep.”

The Yankees were within one out of losing the game and falling into third place in the American League East for the first time this season. They managed to claw their way back and for the time being, remain in second place.

Max Fried pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his first outing against his former team. Austin Riley homered in the 8th inning off Fernando Cruz and Matt Olsen hit a home run off Tim Hill in the 9th to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, George Lombard, Jr. hit a single and advanced to third on a throwing error. With two outs, Austin Wells doubled to right field, driving in Lombard. After Amed Rosario walked, Ben Rice hit a single off the outfield wall in right field, allowing Austin Wells to score.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Luis Garcia was placed on second base as the ghost runner. After Jose Caballero struck out, Spencer Jones was intentionally walked to bring up Lombard. Lombard drew a walk to load the bases. Ryan McMahon, who had a big night, had a sacrifice fly to right field, driving in Garcia.

It was an exciting win, but it again demonstrated the difficulty the Yankees have in scoring runs right now. They need to do everything right in order to score runs and more importantly, to win games. Austin Wells had only one hit last night, which is good for him. The point is that it came at the exact right moment. It was a clutch double. Ryan McMahon who is not a very good hitter, went 2-3 with the game-winning RBI.

There were some positive signs from the offense last night. Ben Rice had been 0-4 before his big hit. Maybe that snaps him out of his slump. Luis Garcia has done a nice job hitting and playing the field since he arrived. His reputation was that he was not a very good fielder, but he made a sparkling over-the-shoulder catch in the 10th inning to prevent the Braves from scoring a run. Austin Wells is having an abysmal season but of late, he has been contributing offensively. At this point in the season, there isn't anything he can do to salvage his year. However, if he continues to put up some timely hits, that would be extremely helpful for the Yankees. After all, they did not acquire any other catchers at the deadline. I know they just signed Mitch Garver but I'm not extremely excited about another catcher hitting .189. Similarly, Ryan McMahon Is only batting .217 for the season. However, he is 6 for 16 so far in August. I know it is an incredibly small sample size and it seems like grasping for straws but when straws are all you have, you need to grasp them.

Unfortunately, there are still some players on this team who are struggling mightily. Trent Grisham has seen his average drop to .209. He was 0-3 with two strikeouts last night before being pinch hit for by Amed Rosario. Grisham has been particularly dreadful since the All-Star break. Grisham is 3-21 in August, which is a .143 batting average. To put it in perspective, George Lombard junior has three hits in three games since being called up.  Remember, Grisham is being paid $22 million for this. I don't know if the Yankees can continue to play him regularly if they expect to make the playoffs and advance. Jazz Chisholm, junior was 0-3 last night and was pinch hit for. I don't recall that happening at any time this season before last night. He is batting .215. 

I know a lot of people, including the announcers, are eagerly anticipating the returns of Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton. None of those players will be back very soon. Remember, there are 46 games left in the season. There was a great buzz about the fact that Stanton took batting practice the other day. I have heard conflicting reports as to whether he was even able to swing the bat or if he simply stood in the box, giving the pitcher some perspective and a simulation of facing batters. There have been no reports of him taking batting practice since then. 

Aaron Judge has not even been cleared to do any swinging or any activities other than stretching and running on the field and perhaps some weight lifting. That is good because I would rather see him take it easy and progress rather than re-injuring himself by trying to do too much too soon. The point is that the Yankees cannot simply wait around for Judge and the others to return. They need contributions from the players who are here now. The only acquisitions they made at the trade deadline were Luis Garcia and Heliot Ramos. They are doing well so far and that is important. However, the Yankees need McMahon, Wells, Chisholm, and Grisham to become consistent contributors to the offense. That does not seem likely at this point.

So far, George Lombard has been a breath of fresh air. I know he has only played three games. However, he seems to make sparkling defensive plays regularly. He made an incredible play in the 10th inning that prevented the Braves from scoring a run. His single and his ability to advance to third on the error in the 9th inning put the Yankees in a position to tie the game. Yes, he is very young. Yes, he is a rookie. However, he does seem to have an idea of what he is doing and has the potential to do it very well. It would be hard to not like what you are seeing from Lombard, we just need to see similar things from some of the struggling veterans.

A Few Tidbits: 

·       The Red Sox are 27-3 in their last 30 games.  The last time the Yankees played them, the Red Sox were below .500. It looked as if the Red Sox were going nowhere this year. They swept the Yankees in that four-game series. Now, they are tied with the Yankees in the loss column and are only 1/2 game behind them in the standings. That's baseball, Suzyn.

·        Max Fried has allowed one run or fewer in seven of his fourteen starts this season.

·       The Yankees are now 2-8 in extra-inning games this season.

·       The Yankees snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Braves.

·       This was the eighth time in ten games that a Yankees starting pitcher permitted no more than one run in the game.

·       Last night, Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez played their first games in Scranton since they were demoted after Monday night's Yankees game. Volpe went 1-5 with 3 strikeouts. However, that one was a home run that traveled more than 400 feet and came with a runner on base. Unfortunately, he also made an error in the field. Notably, he was playing shortstop last night but is expected to play quite a bit at second base. Dominguez, who was in left field, went 2-4 with a home run.

·       A lot of people have speculated about what John Sterling's home run call would have been for George Lombard, Jr..  I would like to take a stab at it.  Remember, his calls usually had multiple layers to them and often included a line from a Broadway play and some other obscure reference that many younger listeners might not recognize. Here you go: “George goes to the Lombard yard. By George, he really did it, he did it, he did it. He’s our guy, Lombardo.”

·       On August 7th, 2000, The Yankees claimed Jose Canseco off waivers from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, primarily to keep him away from their rivals. The Yankees wound up being stuck with Canseco, who ironically won his Second World series ring as a member of the 2000 New York Yankees

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Today, the Yankees will play the second game of the three-game series against the Braves at 3:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Gerrit Cole, (5-5, 3.42 ERA) will pitch for the Yankees. Chris Sale, (12-6, 2.08 ERA) will pitch for the Braves. The delayed starting time is because the Yankees will have Old Timers’ Day today. Perhaps they can convince Mickey Rivers to stick around and play centerfield in the real game.