There was no five-alarm fire in The Bronx. The Bronx was not Burning.
But manager Aaron Boone was looking for volunteers to extinguish the possibility of the season’s first four-game losing streak, and Marcus Stroman hosed down any embers of billowing hysteria among Yankees fans with an 8-3 win over the Braves.
Stroman surrendered a Marcell Ozuna first-inning homer, then held the Braves hitless following a second-inning Austin Riley single until Travis d’Arnaud’s opposite-field two-run home run with two outs in the seventh. Stroman held up his glove and applauded the fans who applauded him on his way off the mound into the dugout.
The Stro Show showed out at the best possible time.
Stroman rode the momentum boost that Aaron Judge’s two-run home run in the first gave him and never looked back.
If he had, he would have seen Judge marveling in center field at his Stro Show.
“Just a competitor that wants to go out there and win,” Judge told The Post before the game. “He’s not afraid of anybody. Doesn’t matter who we’re facing, we’re on the road, we’re at home, if the offense is clicking, not clicking, he goes out there and does his thing.
“I think that’s one thing that’s been amazing to watch is he’s unfazed by, kind of, the outside noise. Playing here in New York, you can maybe hear a lot of stuff from the fans, maybe if the offense isn’t picking you and give you the run support you can maybe get frustrated about that, but this guy shows up every single day and does his thing. And he has fun doing it, which is something I love and I think this whole team feeds off of.”
Judge respected Stroman (7-3, 3.15 ERA) as an opponent and even more so now as a teammate.
“Every single day, he’s in the gym,” Judge said, “which is amazing to see for a pitcher pitching once every five days. They could, kind of, sit on their butt and relax, but this guy continues to improve, continues to work on things. I always see him talking to a lot of younger guys, I think the connection him and [Clarke] Schmidt had starting in the offseason going into the season was big-time. … It’s been a treat to watch, and [I’m] excited he’s with us.”
Stroman, needless to say, is excited that Judge (28 homers) has his back.
“He’s on another historic run,” Stroman said.
Yankees pitchers had surrendered 32 runs over the previous three games.
“I felt pretty in control from the start,” Stroman said. “Even after the homer, I felt pretty settled. I knew I didn’t make the pitch I wanted to, so I wasn’t necessarily mad about it, but I felt pretty settled all night. Felt calm. I have a lot of confidence in Wellsy [Austin Wells] behind the dish, so I didn’t shake him one time all night.”
Stroman grew up on Long Island and always yearned for the big, bright Bronx stage.
“I’m not someone who shies away from the limelight or the pressure, the lights,” Stroman said when he signed in the offseason. “I think a lot of people avoid coming to New York and playing for the Yankees because of that reason. I feel like it brings out the best in me.”
His best was better than the Braves’ best.
“Just varying between my sinker, cutter, mixing in my change, I feel like we were just keeping ’em off balance,” Stroman said.
Boone was bracing for an undetermined loss of Giancarlo Stanton (MRI exam pending for left hamstring tightness). But because of Stroman, he left his office not hamstrung by a four-game losing streak.
“Really controlled the game,” Boone said. “Was getting the ball where he wanted to, was pounding the strike zone, I thought had a presence with everything, and I think everything was kind of working for him too,” Boone said. “It was nice to get just a good shutdown outing after just a little bit of tough week for us,” Boone said. “That was big.”
Stroman is not big. Stroman is 5-foot-8, 180 pounds. On Saturday night, he provided another reminder of his mantra: Height Doesn’t Measure Heart.