Braves out homer Yankees in heat
Jason Heyward and the Atlanta Braves never intended to challenge the New York Yankees to a game of home run derby in the Bronx. Still, they came out ahead. Heyward hit two of a record nine homers at the new Yankee Stadium and the Braves outslugged the Yankees for a 10-5 victory in sweltering heat Wednesday.
“We survived,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
Freddie Freeman, Martin Prado, Heyward and David Ross all connected off Phil Hughes (7-6) to build a 6-1 lead on a sticky, 94-degree afternoon. Michael Bourn stole what might have been another home run from Jayson Nix after missing an earlier opportunity for a try at a leaping grab.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 640th homer, and Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Eric Chavez hit long balls against Tommy Hanson (8-4).
“It’s just that kind of ballpark,” Heyward said. “But at the same time, we got two teams that are capable of hitting some home runs.”
The Yankees, who have a major league-leading 105 homers, managed four other hits in their second consecutive loss after a 10-game winning streak. They pulled to 6-5 on Curtis Granderson’s RBI single in the seventh, but Rodriguez ended the inning with a double-play grounder.
“It’s been up and down, like a lot of our other hitters,” manager Joe Girardi said of Rodriguez’s season.
In the eighth, Freeman hit an RBI single and Heyward a two-run shot off Boone Logan to help Atlanta pull away for its third win in 10 games and second in a row against New York. The Yankees swept the Braves in Atlanta last week.
Heyward had the go-ahead hit Tuesday and added a triple.
“We’re really, really good when Jason’s swinging the bat well,” Ross said.
Even though he didn’t start in a day game after playing Tuesday night, Chipper Jones was a factor early. In the final year of a Hall of Fame-worthy career, Jones was honored before his last regularseason game against the Yankees. On behalf of the Yankees, Jeter and former Braves teammate Andruw Jones gave Chipper third base from Tuesday’s game. In 19 years with Atlanta, Chipper Jones faced the Yankees in two World Series.
With the sun beating down on the crowd of 45,094, the public address announcer urged fans to visit cooling stations set up in the concourses.
Girardi emphasized how important it was to be aggressive early on a day that felt as if it were above 100 degrees with the oppressive humidity. The Braves were.
Bourn singled leading off and, with two outs, stole second without a throw. He scored on Dan Uggla’s single to left. Freeman wasted no time, connecting on the first pitch he saw for a two-run drive into the New York bullpen in right-center to make it 3-0.
Jeter got one back with his fourth leadoff homer of the season, hitting Hanson’s first pitch into the stands in right-center.
“When Jeter caught that one in the first, I was like ‘Here we go,’ ” Ross said.