After coming up small against their rivals, the Yankees are at least acing the junior varsity portion of their schedule.
They barely broke a sweat in their three-game sweep of the Nationals, which they completed with an 11-2 thrashing in The Bronx on Wednesday.
It featured five no-hit innings from Max Fried, six homers and a nine-run third inning against last-place Washington, with a trip to the cellar-dwelling White Sox on deck.
“That was a good performance coming off a tough weekend,’’ Aaron Boone said of the sweep.
Coupled with their win in the series finale versus Boston, the Yankees have won four in a row and nine of their last 12.
And this last one was easy to close out a home stand that began with three losses to the Red Sox.
The Yankees clobbered four home runs in just 2 ¹/₃ innings off Washington starter Cade Cavalli and got a second straight encouraging start from Fried, who followed up six scoreless innings against Boston with seven innings of one-run ball versus Washington.
4Austin Wells celebrates after hitting a home run against the Nationals on Aug. 27, 2025.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
The lefty retired the first 11 batters he faced and by the time he walked Riley Adams in the fourth, the Yankees had a 10-run lead.
Fried didn’t give up a hit until Jacob Young led off the sixth with a single to center, as he continued to put his recent eight-start rough patch behind him.
But the cakewalk won’t last much longer for the Yankees.
Once they get by the White Sox, they’ll have four straight series against teams in playoff position.
After visiting the first-place Astros, the Yankees host the front-running Blue Jays and Tigers before a trip to Boston.
4Aaron Judge blasts a home run for the Yankees.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
They’ve done what they’ve needed to do of late.
The Yankees took the lead on Trent Grisham’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the first that just cleared the wall —and a leaping Dylan Crews in right — and then they loaded the bases with no one out.
But Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez whiffed and Anthony Volpe lined to third to squander the opportunity to add on.
They added on in the third — and then some — as they went deep four times in an inning that took 41 minutes and 77 pitches for the Nationals to finish.
“Everybody was clicking,” Judge said of the third inning, the third time the Yankees have scored nine or more runs in a frame this season. “It was pretty wild. We were all locked in.”
“It was a lot of fun,’’ Ben Rice said. “We were enjoying ourselves. It was contagious.”
Rice opened with a single and Judge followed with a two-run shot to center. The 424-foot blast was his 41st home run of the season.
4Ben Rice celebrates a home run with Amed Rosario.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
And Cody Bellinger made it back-to-back homers, as he took Cavalli deep on the next pitch for a 4-0 lead.
After Chisholm walked and stole second, Domínguez hit a ground-rule double to right-center. Austin Wells reached on a catcher’s interference and Ryan McMahon smacked his second homer as a Yankee.
Rice added his 22nd of the season two batters later and Domínguez’s run-scoring infield single capped the inning.
4Yankees pitcher Max Fried (54) throws a pitch during the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Fried, who stayed loose by throwing lightly in the tunnel, didn’t have any complaints about the length of the third.
“It’s a good problem to have, when it goes from 1-0 to 10-0,’’ the lefty said. “There’s definitely worse things to happen.”
Austin Wells hit his 18th homer of the year in the fourth to finish the Yankees’ scoring for the afternoon.
The Nationals finally woke up in the sixth, with three consecutive singles to open the inning, but the Yankees still cruised.
And they hope to do the same in Chicago.
