ATLANTA — The Yankees arrived at the third and final leg of their road trip Monday hoping to bounce back from a late collapse on Sunday against the Marlins.
But beyond their own self-inflicted issues, it proved difficult for the Yankees to find much bounce when they ran into the brick wall that was the Braves lineup.
Clarke Schmidt had his worst start in three months, getting shelled by a relentless offensive attack as the Yankees lost their third straight game, 11-3, to the juggernaut Braves at Truist Park.
After making 14 straight starts in which he gave up three runs or fewer, Schmidt was clobbered on Monday for eight runs on nine hits in just 2 ¹/₃ innings.
The loss dropped the Yankees (60-59) to 5 ½ games back of the final AL wild-card spot and just one game above .500 for the first time since they were 18-17 on May 7.
With two games left in the series — in which they are scheduled to start the struggling Luis Severino and either Randy Vasquez or an opener in front of him — the Yankees are at risk of leaving here under .500 for the first time all season.
The Braves (76-42), who got back in town early Monday morning after beating up the Mets for 40 runs in a four-game series over the weekend, pounded out 15 hits in their first crack at further sinking another New York nine.
The Yankees actually held a pair of leads early against lefty Max Fried before the game got out of hand.
They loaded the bases with one out in the first inning but only scratched across one run on Harrison Bader’s RBI groundout.
Then, after Austin Riley tied it in the bottom of the inning on an opposite-field home run, the Yankees regained the lead in the top of the second when Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined a single that scored Oswaldo Cabrera to make it 2-1.
From there, things unraveled in a hurry.
Schmidt got the leadoff man in the bottom of the second before walking Marcell Ozuna. Eddie Rosario poked a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third before Schmidt recorded a big strikeout of Orlando Arcia.
He then got ahead 0-2 on No. 9 hitter Nicky Lopez before jamming him with a cutter that Lopez sawed off for a single down the third-base line and the 3-2 lead.
After Ronald Acuña Jr. walked, Michael Harris II followed with a single to left that put the Braves up 4-2 before Schmidt got out of the inning.
But the wheels came off in the third inning as the Braves just kept sending wave after wave at Schmidt.
With runners on second and third and one out, Rosario roped a single to right field that scored both runs to make it 6-2.
Giancarlo Stanton threw home without much of a chance to nab the runner, allowing Rosario to take second.
Arcia followed with a single up the middle that scored Rosario after Kyle Higashioka was unable to cleanly handle the throw home from Harrison Bader, which also allowed Arcia to move up to second.
Lopez then delivered the Braves’ fourth straight hit, another single up the middle that pushed the lead to 8-2 and knocked Schmidt out of the game.
The Yankees’ mistakes on Monday were not limited to just pitching.
Trailing by six runs with two outs in the top of the sixth, Bader was inexplicably picked off of first base by Fried to end the inning.
After Ian Hamilton provided 2 ²/₃ scoreless innings of mop-up duty, Albert Abreu got tagged for three runs in three innings, including a two-run shot from Rosario in the eighth.