Yankees roll over Braves

The Atlanta Braves fall to New York 15-4 at Turner Field.

ATLANTA — Didi Gregorius drove in a careerhigh six runs, Brian McCann hit a three-run homer in his return to Atlanta and the New York Yankees shook off a scoring slump to beat the Braves 15-4 on Friday night.

The Yankees scored a total of seven runs in losing three of their last four games to fall 1½ games behind first-place Toronto in the AL East. They scored nine runs in the first two innings against the Braves.

Gregorius had four hits, including a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run single in the second. McCann, the former longtime Braves catcher, added his threerun homer in the eighth.

Masahiro Tanaka (10-6) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings.

Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman drove in two runs with two hits, including a third-inning homer.

Braves outfielder Jonny Gomes, making his first career appearance as a pitcher, gave up two runs in the ninth, including a homer to Chris Young leading off the inning. Gomes raised his arm in celebration and raced to the dugout after striking out pitcher Bryan Mitchell to end the inning.

McCann, who played his first nine seasons with the Braves, received a warm ovation before his first at-bat in his return to Atlanta. He tipped his helmet to the fans. He had three walks and drove in four runs.

The Yankees led 9-2 after two innings despite having their first two batters retired in each inning.

Following Chase Headley’s two-run, ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in center field, Gregorius hit a three-run homer into the seats in right for a 5-0 lead in the first.

Gregorius set his previous career high when he drove in four runs at Texas on July 27.

Freeman had a runscoring single in Atlanta’s two-run first inning that would have been bigger if not for Jacoby Ellsbury’s inning-ending catch in deep center field. Running with his back to the infield, Ellsbury reached up to catch Christian Bethancourt’s two-out drive with two runners on base before sliding on the warning track.

Ellsbury’s status for the game had been in doubt due to a hip injury.

Williams Perez left the game with the bases loaded in the second inning. Left-hander Ross Detwiler walked Greg Bird and Headley to force in two runs.