Bryce Elder pitched seven innings to lead a one-hitter, and the Braves blanked the reeling New York Yankees, 5-0, on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
The last-place Yankees, at 60-60, are now .500 for the first time since May 1 when they were 15-15. They have never been under .500 this season.
But the numbers get worse for New York. The Yankees, in fact, are at .500 this late in the season for the first time since 1995.
“We’re not showing up,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to, we’re not showing up when we need to. Especially down the stretch right now, and we’ve gotten every opportunity to keep ourselves in the race. But we’re not capitalizing on what we need to.”
The Braves have outscored the Yankees 16-3 over the first two games of the series, and have pushed New York’s latest losing streak to four.
“We need to take some personal pride,” manager Aaron Boone said.
After an 11-3 romp in the series opener, the Braves wasted no time jumping on Luis Severino (2-8), whose dismal season has been marred by atrocious numbers in the first inning. On Tuesday, he allowed three runs in the opening frame.
“I was feeling really good today,” Severino said. “I thought I was in command of all my pitches. Just a couple of mistakes.”
The Yankees dropped to 12-22 since July 4.
“I think the preparation is there, I think everyone is preparing the right way,” Judge said. “It comes down to execution. Guys in between the lines just not executing: When you get a pitch, not being able to do something with it. When you get guys on base, we’re not moving them over, not driving them in. So, we have to keep preparing. We have to bring it.”
Boone concurred.
“It sucks,” he said. “We’re just not playing well enough, and that starts with me and everyone on down: We just have to be better. It’s a broken record right now.”
If the Braves complete the sweep on Wednesday, New York would drop under .500 at least 120 games into a season for the first time since the Yankees were 60-61 on Sept. 5, 1995, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.