Yankees held to one run in series finale loss to Braves

NEW YORK — Through the first two months of a season in which the Yankees’ glass seemed three-quarters full, caution remained in Aaron Boone’s voice and commentary, the manager recognizing that bumpy days would be inevitable over the course of a long schedule. They have arrived.

The Yankees have dealt with injuries, shaky pitching and offensive woes at various times during this June swoon, a stretch that Boone believes will ultimately build character. That doesn’t make it enjoyable now, though. The Bombers lost their third consecutive series, dropping a 3-1 decision to Max Fried and the Braves on Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

“Nobody is hanging their heads; nobody is panicking in here,” said left-hander Nestor Cortes, who tossed seven innings in the defeat. “It’s just a rough patch that in 162 games you’re going to go through. We’ve just got to figure out how to get out of it.”

Though the Yankees maintain their advantage in the American League East by 1 1/2 games over the Orioles and own the AL’s best winning percentage at .650 (52-28) heading into this week’s Subway Series showdown against the Mets, their recent results have not been pretty.

“Not that it’s ever easy, because it’s certainly not, but sometimes a little reminder of getting your lunch handed to you or getting popped in the mouth helps you over the long haul,” Boone said. “You keep that edge, keep that sharpness. It allows you to dig in on how a team attacks you and button those things up.”

Consider this an opportunity to do that, then. Fried limited the Yanks to a run over six sharp innings, with New York’s only scoring coming on Anthony Volpe’s RBI double in the sixth. Fried has struggled with his command this season, but he was largely pinpoint against the Yanks, whom he held to six hits without a walk.

“I thought our approach was good,” Volpe said. “We had good at-bats throughout, but he made good pitches.”

Concluding a week in which the Yankees lost veterans Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton to injuries, New York dropped two of three games in the weekend series to Atlanta. They had lost just two series all season before losing six of nine to the Red Sox, Orioles and Braves.

“That’s the Major League season. It’s coming for you,” Boone said. “It comes in different ways. We’ve had a pretty strong bill of health the first couple months of the season. You’re going to get nicked up along the way.”

Cortes was saddled with the loss, permitting three runs and five hits over seven innings. Jarred Kelenic hit a third-inning homer and later lifted a sacrifice fly off Cortes, who struck out seven without a walk.

“I thought that was about as good of stuff as Nestor has had,” Boone said. “He’s obviously having a good year, but today he came out and the fastball was really good. His secondary and cutter were really good.”

Cortes notched his 500th career strikeout in the first inning. Over his past eight starts, Cortes has pitched to a 2.68 ERA (14 earned runs in 47 innings).

“I feel like the last few have been really good because of that fastball-cutter combination,” Cortes said. “Good areas, good locations.”

The Yanks had a couple of late gripes in the defeat, coincidentally both coming with Juan Soto at the plate. In the sixth, Soto hit a grounder to shortstop Orlando Arcia, who spotted Volpe dashing for third base.

Said Volpe: “That’s my instinct, to go there. So I went.”

Arcia’s throw arrived in time to nab Volpe, and though Boone said he had no issue with Volpe’s aggressiveness — “It’s actually a risky play [on the Braves’] part,” Boone said — he wondered aloud if third baseman Austin Riley had impeded Volpe’s path.

“We’re not seeing that blocking the bag [rule] called much at all,” Boone said. “It turns into a really good play by Arcia. I didn’t have a problem with [Volpe’s] read.”

In the eighth, with the Yanks down to their final four outs, Soto raised his hand to ask for time ahead of a two-strike pitch from Joe Jiménez. There appeared to be one second left on the pitch timer, and home-plate umpire Chris Conroy did not grant the request; Jiménez pumped a fastball past Soto for a called third strike.

“I looked at it; [Soto] got it off,” Boone said. “It’s close; I get it from Chris’ standpoint, but he did say it before he rose up. But it’s close, I understand that.”