Brian McCann homers, Yankees rout Braves 15-4

Another Williams Perez start, another display of offensive excess from the opposing team. The New York Yankees jumped on the 24-year-old starting pitcher from the first inning, with Carlos Beltran's two-out single sparking a five-run, first-inning rally, which led to a 15-4 Atlanta Braves loss.

This marks the fifth brutal start for Perez in his last six games. In the end, Perez managed to last just 1.2 innings after allowing five hits and eight earned runs. He walked three batters and struck out two. A tweet from MLB.com's Mark Bowman really put Perez's outing — particularly the first inning — in perspective:

Some exit velocities produced vs Perez in the 5-run first: Beltran single (107 MPH), Headley double (102), Gregorious HR (107)

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 28, 2015

What's even more exciting is when you place Gregorious' 107-mph home run into context with his exit velo this season:

Basically, giving up that kind of home run to Didi Gregorious is the opposite of good. Which is to say, giving up that kind of home run to Didi Gregorious is bad.

But, we don't need to linger on Perez's efforts in this one. We can talk about other things.

Like how Brian McCann got a warm welcome back to Turner Field (this may or may not have to do with the fact that numerous Yankee fans were in attendance) and proceeded to go 1-for-3 with three walks and a three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning off of Andrew McKirahan.

Or how Masahiro Tanaka threw his 10th-consecutive game of at least six innings. Tanaka held the Braves to three earned runs over seven innings, while striking out seven batters and walking just one.

Or, maybe (definitely) most importantly, how Jonny Gomes made his first appearance ON THE MOUND during this one. I'm still not sure if this was an awesome thing or a horrible thing from a Braves baseball perspective, but it was awesome nonetheless. Gomes became the first Atlanta position player to get on the mound since John Russell back in 1989, which puts him in an elite club of players that even Chipper Jones can't claim to be in. While Gomes essentially tossed batting practice and gave up a bomb to Chris Young immediately, he still had a better outing than Perez, and struck out New York reliever Bryan Mitchell to end the inning.

During a game that was a blowout from the very start, it was at least an interesting way for it to end.

Here's to getting back to real baseball tomorrow.

Source: FanGraphs