Yankees lose third series in a row, Atlanta’s Max Fried defeats Nestor Cortes

On a scorching Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, the Yankees’ offense was ineffective against Atlanta’s star player Max Fried.

And although starter Nestor Cortes continued to put in a strong performance at home, it wasn’t enough for the Yankees to avoid a 3-1 loss or their third consecutive Series loss.

Facing a heat warning and temperatures in the 90s, Fried used his 90-degree fastball and a series of breaking pitches to overcome the Yankees’ batting order. The lanky left-hander limited the Yankees to one run in six innings and improved his record against them to 3-0 in three career starts.

Hours after batter Giancarlo Stanton was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left thigh, the Yankees managed just three hits and zero runs in the first five innings against Fried.

The Yankees became dangerous in the sixth inning when Trent Grisham’s leadoff single and Anthony Volpe’s RBI double cut the deficit to 3-1 with no outs. However, Volpe was thrown out at third base on a fielder’s choice by Juan Soto, and Alex Verdugo hit a ground ball two batters later that led to an inning-ending double play and ended the comeback.

Fried, who finished second in the 2022 NL Cy Young Award voting, pitched four strikeouts — including Aaron Judge twice — and issued no walks. The 30-year-old is in the midst of another stellar season in his walk year, improving to 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA on Sunday.

Soto struck out in the eighth inning after home plate umpire Chris Conroy denied him time. Soto turned around when reliever Joe Jiménez threw a third strike, leading to an unsuccessful appeal by Soto.

Cortes, meanwhile, held Atlanta to three runs and seven strikeouts in seven innings, dropping his record to 4-6.

Jarred Kelenic’s solo home run in the third inning just cleared the Yankee Stadium wall in right-center to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Kelenic added a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Ozzie Albies hit a two-out RBI single one batter later to complete the scoring against Cortes.

Cortes’ ERA at Yankee Stadium rose slightly this season to 1.84, compared to 5.57 on the road. The left-hander has pitched at least six innings in each of his last three starts and has not allowed a walk in the last two.

The Yankees (52-28) lost the series opener 8-1 to Atlanta (43-32) on Friday night before coming back with an 8-3 win on Saturday night.

But Sunday’s loss was another defeat for the Yankees, who lost two of three games the weekend before in Boston and last week at home to the Orioles. Before this stretch, the Yankees had never lost two series in a row.

The Yankees have now lost four of their last five series, having also lost two of three home games against the Dodgers from June 7-9 before winning three of four games against the Royals in Kansas City.

Stanton’s injury was another blow to the Yankees, who are expected to be without Anthony Rizzo (broken forearm) for about two months. Center fielder Grisham and rookie first baseman Ben Rice, who effectively replaced Stanton and Rizzo in the Yankees’ lineup, both went 2-for-3 on Sunday.

The Yankees are off Monday, then return Tuesday night to start a two-game Subway Series at Citi Field. Gerrit Cole (0-0, 4.50) will make his second start of the season after recovering from elbow inflammation, while David Peterson (3-0, 3.97 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Mets.