Braves sweep Yankees with 2-1 win in game two

Aaron Boone did the Braves a favor. For some reason, he took out starter Masahiro Tanaka when he was sailing in the game against Atlanta.

Tanaka pitched five shutout innings, allowing only three hits, with no walks and four strikeouts. The Braves weren't even getting good swings off Tanaka, but yet Boone lifted him throwing only 66 pitches in the five innings.

Chad Green came in and also looked great - for two batters. He got Johan Camargo and Ronald Acuna, Jr. to start the sixth inning, but then Dansby Swanson got an infield hit to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.

Enter Freddie Freeman, and boom, gone, see ya. Freeman hit his fifth home run of the season to give the Braves the 2-1 lead.

Mark Melancon came in to get his fifth save of the season pitching a scoreless seventh inning. Melancon's ERA is now 1.80 on the season.

For the second game in a row, the starting pitching was great for the Braves. Let me re-write that again to make sure even I believe that. For the second game in a row, the starting pitching was great for the Braves.

Not wanting to be outdone by rookie Ian Anderson, who allowed one run in six innings in game one in his MLB debut, Braves ace Max Fried did the same thing. He gave up a run on a sac fly when he minimized damage after the Yankees had runners on second and third with no one out in the fifth inning.

Fried (5-0) gave up that run on four hits, with one walk and five strikeouts. His ERA is now 1.35 and he's tied with Cleveland's Shane Bieber for the best earned run average in the game.

The Braves are now 18-12 at the halfway point of the 60-game regular season. They are off Thursday before starting a three-game weekend series in Philadelphia.

For more Braves coverage, listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.