New York Yankees 5 – Seattle Mariners 1
After losing the series opener in Seattle, the Yankees looked to bounce back into the win column.
CC Sabathia and Mariners starter Taijuan Walker pitched scoreless first innings but two-out offense from the Yankees in the second inning supported the big lefty. After an error with two outs by Kyle Seager on the Aaron Judge ground ball, Aaron Hicks walked to extend the inning to the short but strong Ronald Torreyes. The Yankees vertically challenged third baseman rocketed a double over the head of left fielder Guillermo Heredia to score Judge.
In the third inning, an unusual route by Aaron Judge came back to haunt the Yankees. After snagging the first out in right, Judge took a poor route to a line drive by Leonys Martin and it got by Judge. With Martin’s speed, he easily got to third with a one-out triple. Ketel Marte brought him in to make it a tie game but an unassisted double play by Mark Teixeira cut down the momentum before it could amount to a bigger inning.
The warming spark plug of the bottom of the Yankees lineup got things going again in the fifth inning. On the first pitch from Walker, Torreyes laced another double to left field and he came home with ease when Jacoby Ellsbury took Walker deep to center field for a two-run home run. Aaron Judge added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to extend the Yankees lead to three.
In seven strong innings, CC Sabathia allowed one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out seven.
Tommy Layne pitched a scoreless eighth inning. In the ninth inning, Jacoby Ellsbury reached second on a poorly played ball by Heredia in left and this allowed Didi Gregorius to add to the lead when he hit a ground-rule double to right field, giving the Yankees a four-run lead. Dellin Betances came on in the bottom of the inning and gave up a single to Robinson Cano but no harm came of it when he struck out Nelson Cruz to secure tonight’s win.
Win – CC Sabathia (8-10)
Loss – Taijuan Waker (4-8)
Notables
Yankees
*Jacoby Ellsbury – 1 for 5, 2 R, Two-run home run (6) in the 5th, 2 RBI (42)
*Ronald Torreyes – 3 for 4, R, 2 2B, RBI (8)
Mariners
*Ketel Marte – 1 for 3, RBI (24)
*Leonys Martin – 1 for 3, R, 3B
Current Yankees Record: 64-61
