NEW YORK (AP) — Ozzie Albies hit a two-run homer on Carlos Rodón’s second pitch of the night, Austin Riley and Matt Olson also went deep off the left-hander and the Atlanta Braves routed the suddenly struggling New York Yankees 8-1 on Friday for their seventh win in eight games.
“It’s kind of more of what I think who we are," Braves manager Brian Snitker said after his team improved to 32-31. "It’s good to see the guys hung in there and, hopefully, this is a trend that’s going to turn around for us.”
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NEW YORK (AP) — Ozzie Albies hit a two-run homer on Carlos Rodón’s second pitch of the night, Austin Riley and Matt Olson also went deep off the left-hander and the Atlanta Braves routed the suddenly struggling New York Yankees 8-1 on Friday for their seventh win in eight games.
Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson watches his two-run home run, near New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies (1) runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón watches a two-run home run by Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón, right, hands the ball to manager Aaron Boone during the fourth inning of the team's baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley hits a home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies runs the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson, right, celebrates with Ozzie Albies after they scored on a home run by Olson against the New York Yankees during the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Chris Sale (10-2) joined Kansas City’s Seth Lugo and Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez as the major leagues’ only 10-game winners, getting his first victory over the Yankees since 2018.
“Just like we weren’t worried when it wasn’t going well, we’re not going to sit here and throw a party when it is," Sale said. “You just got to stay consistent, stay on the job and keep pulling your weight.”
New York has lost five of six, including three in a row while allowing 32 runs to the Braves and Baltimore, and was in danger of dropping below the Orioles into second place in the AL East before Baltimore lost 14-11 at Houston.
By the end of the fourth inning, the Yankees had given up runs in 13 of 14 innings, including nine in a row — tying a team record from June 16-18, 1940.
“Nobody says it’s going to be easy to go through the whole year. Nobody says it's going to be flowers, roll all the way to the World Series,” Yankees star Juan Soto said. “We got to take it like a man and forget about it and just keep moving forward.”
Rodón (9-4) lost his second straight start after winning seven in a row. He gave up eight runs -- seven earned -- in 3 2/3 innings and 11 hits, including seven for extra bases. His ERA has climbed from 2.93 to 3.86 in his last two outings.
“They attacked me on my strengths and they executed their swings," he said.
He appeared to shout at assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel in the dugout after the top of the first.
“Emotions got going,” Rodón said. “Just a little fiery there. I gave up three runs, two homers, that’s pretty much why.”
Atlanta’s first five hits were off fastballs as the Braves extended their winning streak to four. Atlanta has won four straight over the Yankees, outscoring them 26-4.
Sale gave up one run and one hit in five innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. The 35-year-old left-hander was an All-Star in seven straight seasons through 2018, then struggled with injuries before Boston dealt him to Atlanta during the offseason.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto each struck out twice against Sale. Judge has 18 strikeouts in 30 career at-bats against him and Soto has six in seven at-bats.
Albies homered after Jarred Kelenic's leadoff single and Riley also homered in the first. Kelenic hit a run-scoring single in the second, Ramón Laureano had an RBI double in the third and Olson hit a two-run homer in the fourth.
Riley was 2 for 3 with two walks and has 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats, including four homers and four doubles. Laureano had three doubles.
DJ LeMahieu drove in New York’s run with an RBI grounder in the second after Jahmai Jones’ wind-blown triple. The Yankees matched the season low with three hits. Brought up from Triple-A, Yoendrys Gómez pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings and Phil Bickford got two outs in his Yankees debut.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: RHP Ian Anderson (Tommy John surgery on April 12, 2023) made his first rehab appearance Tuesday for the Florida Complex League Braves, striking out four in two hitless innings. Anderson is to make another FCL start before going out to higher minor league club, Snitker said. Anderson, 26, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since Aug. 13, 2022. ... LHP A.J. Minter (hip inflammation) threw batting practice Wednesday and is slated to make a minor league rehab appearance Saturday for High-A Rome.
Yankees: 2B Gleyber Torres had an MRI that was negative after leaving Thursday’s game in the fifth inning because of right groin tightness. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he will be available this weekend.
UP NEXT
Braves RHP Charlie Morton (4-3, 3.91) and Yankees RHP Marcus Stroman (6-3, 3.08) are to start Saturday.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy, left, celebrates with pitcher Grant Holmes, right, after a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson watches his two-run home run, near New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies (1) runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón watches a two-run home run by Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón, right, hands the ball to manager Aaron Boone during the fourth inning of the team's baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley hits a home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Ozzie Albies runs the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Atlanta Braves' Matt Olson, right, celebrates with Ozzie Albies after they scored on a home run by Olson against the New York Yankees during the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, June 21, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, will meet for a debate on Thursday that offers an unparalleled opportunity for both candidates to try to reshape the political narrative.
Biden, the Democratic incumbent, gets the chance to reassure voters that, at 81, he’s capable of guiding the U.S. through a range of challenges. The 78-year-old Trump, meanwhile, could use the moment to try to move past his felony conviction in New York and convince an audience of tens of millions that he’s temperamentally suited to return to the Oval Office.
Biden and Trump enter the night facing fierce headwinds, including a public weary of the tumult of partisan politics. Both candidates are disliked by majorities of Americans, according to polling, and offer sharply different visions on virtually every core issue. Trump has promised sweeping plans to remake the U.S. government if he returns to the White House and Biden argues that his opponent would pose an existential threat to the nation's democracy.
With just over four months until Election Day, their performances have the rare potential to alter the trajectory of the race. Every word and gesture will be parsed not just for what both men say but how they interact with each other and how they hold up under pressure.
“Debates tend not to change voters’ perception in ways that change their vote: They ordinarily reinforce, not persuade,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on presidential communications. “What makes this debate different is that you have in essence two incumbents about whom voters have very well-formed views. But that doesn’t mean that those perceptions are right or match what voters will see on stage.”
Biden on Thursday afternoon greeted several dozen supporters outside of his hotel in Atlanta, where he was spending the several hours before the debate after arriving in the city from Camp David. Trump landed in Atlanta later Thursday, about three and a half hours before the 9 p.m. debate start.
Trump and Biden haven't been on the same stage or even spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort to overturn his loss to Biden that culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection by his supporters.
Thursday's broadcast on CNN will be the earliest general election debate in history. It's the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news outlet after both campaigns ditched the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had organized every matchup since 1988.
Under the network’s rules, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not qualify.
Aiming to avoid a repeat of their chaotic 2020 matchups, Biden insisted — and Trump agreed — to hold the debate without an audience and to allow the network to mute the candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to speak. There will be two commercial breaks, another departure from modern practice. The candidates have agreed not to consult staff or others while the cameras are off.
The timing follows moves by both candidates to respond to nationwide trends toward early voting by shifting forward the political calendar. It remains to be seen whether the advanced schedule will dampen the effects of any missteps or crystallize them in the public’s mind.
“You have two men that have not debated in four years,” said Phillippe Reines, a Democratic political consultant who helped former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepare for debates with Trump in 2016.
Biden and Trump, he said, “don’t like each other, haven’t seen each other, (are) pretty rusty heading into the biggest night of their lives. That about sums up what’s at stake on Thursday.”
The debate falls days after the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, ending a federally guaranteed right to abortion and pushing reproductive rights into the center of politics ever since.
The faceoff also occurs just after the Biden White House took executive action to restrict asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to lower the number of migrants entering the country. Trump has made illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign.
The wars in Ukraine and Gaza loom over the race, as do the candidates' sharply differing views about America’s role in the world and its alliances. Differences on inflation, tax policy and government investment to build infrastructure and fight climate change will provide further contrasts.
Also in the political background: The Supreme Court is on the brink of announcing its decision on whether Trump is legally immune for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. That’s weeks after Trump was convicted in New York of taking part in a hush money scheme that prosecutors alleged was intended to unlawfully influence the 2016 election.
Biden spent the week leading up to the debate secluded at Camp David with senior White House and campaign aides as well as a coterie of longtime advisers and allies. A mock stage was built at the compound to simulate the studio where the debate will be held, and Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, was reprising his role as Trump in practice sessions.
Aides say the work reflects Biden's understanding that he can't afford a flat showing. They insist the sometimes stodgy orator would rise to the occasion.
“You know this president," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday. “He likes to fight.”
Trump, meanwhile, has continued his more unstructured debate prep with two days of meetings at his Florida estate, phoning allies and supporters, and road-testing attacks in social media postings and in interviews with conservative-leaning outlets. The unorganized style that is a hallmark of the former president’s often-rambling rally speeches could present a challenge in the regimented, tightly timed debate format.
Trump and his aides have spent months chronicling what they argue are signs of Biden’s diminished stamina. In recent days, they've started to predict Biden will be stronger on Thursday, aiming to raise expectations for the incumbent.
Atlanta, the debate's host city, offers symbolic and practical meaning for the campaign, but each side believes that what happens there will resonate far and wide.
In 2020, Biden secured Georgia’s 16 electoral votes with a margin of less than 12,000 votes out of 5 million cast. Trump pushed the state's Republican leadership to overturn his victory based on false theories of voter fraud, memorably being caught on tape saying he wanted to "find 11,780 votes.” He now faces state racketeering charges.
Both campaigns held a flurry of events in Atlanta leading into the debate, including competing events at Black-owned local businesses. Trump called in Friday to a gathering at Rocky’s Barbershop in the Buckhead community to talk about his matchup with Biden and question whether CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would treat him fairly.
Heading out of the debate, both Biden and Trump will travel to states they hope to swing their way this fall. Trump is heading to Virginia, a onetime battleground that has shifted toward Democrats in recent years.
Biden is set to jet off to North Carolina, where he is expected to hold the largest-yet rally of his campaign in a state Trump narrowly carried in 2020.
Miller, Superville and Weissert reported from Washington and Price from New York. AP video journalist Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.
First lady Jill Biden poses for photos with campaign volunteers and supporters at the Virginia Beach Democratic Coordinated Campaign Office on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP Photo/John C. Clark)
President Joe Biden, second right, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Joe Biden, second right, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Joe Biden takes a photo with a child as he greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Joe Biden, left, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - This combination of photos taken in Columbia, S.C. shows former President Donald Trump, left, on Feb. 24, 2024, and President Joe Biden on Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo)
