Now that President Trump has tackled the crime problem in Washington, maybe he can do something about the baseball team.
The Yankees aced the first part of their junior varsity schedule, barely breaking a sweat in their three-game sweep of the Nationals.
It’s hard to know what to make of the Yankees’ domination the last few days, finishing with an 11-2 win in The Bronx on Wednesday that featured five no-hit innings from Max Fried, six homers and a nine-run third inning, since the Nationals are awful.
And the Yankees made them pay early and often to close out a homestand that opened with three losses to the Red Sox.
They clobbered four home runs in just 2 ⅓ innings off Washington starter Cade Cavalli and head to Chicago to visit the AL-worst White Sox before they get to their next major league opponent Tuesday in Houston.
In addition to all the homers, the Yankees also got a second straight encouraging start from Fried, who followed up six scoreless innings against Boston with seven innings of one-run ball versus Washington.
The lefty retired the first 11 batters he faced and by the time he walked Riley Adams in the fourth, the Yankees had a nine-run lead.
Fried didn’t give up a hit until Jacob Young led off the sixth with a single to center, as he continued to put his recent eight-start rough patch behind him.
But the cakewalk won’t last much longer for the Yankees.
Once they get by the White Sox, they’ll have four straight series against teams currently in playoff position.
After visiting the first-place Astros, the Yankees host the front-running Blue Jays and Tigers before a trip to Boston.
They’ve done what they’ve needed to do of late.
The Yankees took the lead on Trent Grisham’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the first that just cleared the wall — and a leaping Dylan Crews in right — and then they loaded the bases with no one out.
But Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez whiffed and Anthony Volpe lined to third to squander the opportunity to add on.
They did in the third, though, as they went deep four times in the inning.
Ben Rice opened with a single and Aaron Judge followed with a two-run shot to center. The 424-foot blast was his 41st home run of the season.
And Cody Bellinger made it back-to-back homers, as he took Cavalli deep on the next pitch for a 4-0 lead.
After Chisholm walked and stole second, Domínguez hit a ground rule double to right-center.
Austin Wells reached on a catcher’s interference and Ryan McMahon smacked his second homer as a Yankee.
Rice added his 22nd of the season two batters later and Domínguez’s run-scoring infield single capped the 41-minute bottom of the third.
Wells hit his 18th homer of the year in the fourth.
The Nationals finally woke up in the sixth, with three consecutive singles to open the inning, including one by CJ Abrams to score Young, but Fried got Riley Adams swinging and Garcia to hit into a double play.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
