ATLANTA – In their first game out of the All-Star break, the Yankees decided to throw a bullpen game on Friday. The plan immediately and repeatedly backfired on the Bombers, resulting in a 7-3 loss to the fourth-place Braves.
With Max Fried’s blistered finger still not ready for game action, Cam Schlittler experiencing upper arm soreness, Carlos Rodón pitching in the Midsummer Classic, and the Yankees unwilling to alter the schedules of Will Warren and Marcus Stroman, the club asked Ian Hamilton, a reliever, to open on Friday. Aaron Boone and the Yankees considered calling someone up to assist the situation, but they ultimately felt “this was the best way to go,” the skipper said.
“We’ll have to piece it together,” Boone added before the Yankees found themselves in a quick hole.
Hamilton, mostly relegated to low-leverage situations after some early-season struggles, had the Yankees down, 2-0, before recording an out, as Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr. followed Jurickson Profar’s leadoff single with RBI doubles. An Ozzie Albies sac fly made it 3-0 before Hamilton could finish his only inning of work.
“It was hittable and wasn’t getting the ball past people,” Hamilton said of his stuff. “Should have made some better pitches, and I didn’t give the team the best start.”
Albies struck again in the third, clobbering a three-run homer off Rico Garcia, who was added to the Yankees’ injury-riddled bullpen after being claimed off waivers from the Mets over the break.
Albies’ jack came moments after Jorbit Vivas and Acuña left those in attendance bewildered, albeit for different reasons, to conclude the top of the third.
After catching a Cody Bellinger flyball, Acuña gunned Vivas down at third base to complete an inning-ending double play. Acuña made a casual-but-electric throw on a line from the corner of right field, but Vivas didn’t slide to avoid a tag at third and slowed down before reaching the base, thinking he would be safe. Third base coach Luis Rojas signaled for a slide, but Vivas – one of the last players on the Yankees’ roster – didn’t listen with Aaron Judge in the on-deck circle.
Vivas remained in the game following his bone-headed gaffe, though Giancarlo Stanton pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning. Boone said he didn’t consider pulling the rookie for his blunder.
“I bench when guys don’t run hard,” the manager said, though that hasn’t always been the case.
While Vivas admitted to pumping the brakes, he and Boone attributed the lapse to Nacho Alvarez Jr.’s acting, as the Braves third baseman pretended there was no throw coming from Acuña.
“Can’t happen. Just can’t happen,” Boone said. “That said, I did that all my career at third base, where you kind of play dumb, like dead. [Vivas] read the body. Obviously, he knew it was a deep flyball, so I think it caught him up, but Luis is telling him to kind of get down, and then at the end, just trying to hold the bag. And Vivas heard him, too. But the body language of Alvarez there just deeked him, but it’s not something that can happen.”
UNBELIEVABLE
RONALD ACUÑA JR. WITH THE CANNON
pic.twitter.com/ulbyTMzjib
— MLB (@MLB) July 19, 2025
Boone called Vivas a “hard-nosed player” who “plays his tail off.” Still, the 24-year-old messed up, warranting a conversation with Boone.
“You can never let that happen again,” Boone said he told Vivas.
The infielder heard the message loud and clear.
“I started running and I was making good pace,” Vivas said. “Then I slowed down, and that’s my mistake.
“I like to play the game hard, and correctly. Right there, it wasn’t the best outcome, especially for me, in that situation. For the team in a moment like that. You gotta learn and do better.”
Vivas, aware of Acuña’s strong arm, also mentioned that he picked Rojas up late and that he was blocked by Alvarez before adding, “It’s my fault.”
Friday wasn’t the first time baserunning hurt the Yankees in recent memory.
Last year, they were so bad on the paths that former radio play-by-play man John Sterling said the team ran the bases “like drunks.” This year, Boone has defended a more athletic group, but the Yankees entered Friday’s contest with a BsR – FanGraphs’ all-encompassing baserunning metric – of -4.3. That ranked 24th in the majors.
The Yankees had a BsR of -17.1 last season, easily the worst mark in baseball.
On Friday, Boone said the Yankees’ baserunning has been “mixed” this season.
“It’s a point of emphasis for us, and we’re going to continue to lean in it,” Boone said. “It’s an area we gotta keep getting better at, though.”
Boone went on to say this year’s Yankees are better at taking extra bases and are more capable base-stealers. He thinks they have a “handful of really good baserunners,” but noted it’s a “struggle” for some.
Boone also believes there have been times when his players have been “tight” on the bases in the midst of the team’s recent skid and following miscues, but he doesn’t want that.
“That’s the last thing I want us to be, is fearful running the bases,” Boone said. “Obviously, we have a team that offensively scores, so we tend to be more safe. And, as much as we talk about last year and the baserunning, the big problem for us was we played it too safe all the time. We didn’t go extra bases, and a lot of that is our personnel last year. We are a much more athletic group, capable of getting extra bases, but we go on a losing streak, and you make a mistake on the bases, that’s going to get highlighted.
“We gotta continue to play aggressive, but also play smart and not be afraid once you’re out there. You gotta be instinctive. And sometimes when you’ve lost some games, and maybe you’ve made a mistake that’s lent itself to the game, you get a little reluctant. And I felt like even there were a couple situations tonight where we were a little reluctant on the bases, and you don’t want that either.”
While the Yankees continued to baffle on the bases, their beleaguered bullpen saw Scott Effross allow an RBI, infield single to Drake Baldwin in the fourth inning.
The Yankees’ lineup, meanwhile, didn’t put up a fight against Spencer Strider, who refused to surrender a run, walked three and struck out eight over six innings. Stanton’s pinch-hit appearance resulted in a two-run double, while Cody Bellinger added an RBI single in the seventh, but Judge struck out with runners on the corners to end the inning.
With the second-half now underway, the second-place Yankees will send an actual starter, Warren, to the mound on Saturday. The rookie right-hander flashed potential but also endured growing pains over his first 20 starts of the season, posting a 4.63 ERA.
Joey Wentz, a reliever, will start for the Braves.