Seattle Mariners 1 – New York Yankees 2
The Yankees took on the tall task of King Felix in today’s series finale.
In the first inning against Felix Hernandez, Brett Gardner reached on a walk and Alex Rodriguez followed with a single but Mark Teixeira grounded into a double play to end the threat. Tasked with matching zero-for-zero with King Felix, CC Sabathia manned the mound. And through the first four innings, CC Sabathia did that, keeping the Mariners off the scoreboard despite three baserunners. He finished the fourth inning by striking out all three batters in the middle of the order.
In the fifth inning, the Mariners got on the board first.
Jesus Montero started the fifth inning with a single to right field. Shortstop Chris Taylor hit a soft fly ball to right field to put two on with no outs and they advanced on a sacrifice by Mike Zunino. With one out and two in scoring position, Austin Jackson came through with a single to center field that scored the first run of the game but CC struck out two afterwards, including Robinson Cano, to minimize the damage.
In six innings, CC Sabathia allowed one run on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Upon his exit, he was on line for the loss but the Yankees offense mustered enough to get their hefty lefty off the hook.
Brett Gardner started the sixth inning with a walk against Hernandez. Mark Teixeira got a hit-and-run single against the shifted infield, putting Gardner at third base and Teixeira at first base with two outs. Carlos Beltran, fresh off the disabled list, came through with a single to left field, scoring Gardner easily to tie the game at 1.
Justin Wilson pitched a scoreless top of the seventh inning for the Yankees and former Yankee Vidal Nuno gave the Mariners a scoreless bottom of the seventh inning. Despite walking two in the top of the eighth inning, Dellin Betances kept the Mariners off the scoreboard.
Fernando Rodney came on in the eighth inning looking to keep the Yankees from taking the lead.
With one out in the eighth inning, Alex Rodriguez popped out for the second out before Mark Teixeira broke the tie. On the 1-2 fastball from Rodney, Mark Teixeira hit a fly ball to right field, deep enough for his 23rd home run of the year, giving the Yankees the one-run lead with three outs to go.
Andrew Miller came in for the ninth inning against the bottom third of the Mariners order and he went right through them. After striking out the first two batters, catcher Mike Zunino flew out to left field for last out of the ballgame.
The Yankees take the finale of the three-game series with the Mariners on the bat of Mark Teixeira, who had a three-hit day and a great start by CC Sabathia.
Win – Dellin Betances (6-2)
Loss – Fernando Rodney (2-4)
Save – Andrew Miller (20)
Notables
Mariners
*Austin Jackson – 1 for 4, RBI (20)
*Jesus Montero – 2 for 2, R, BB
Yankees
*Mark Teixeira – 3 for 4, R, Solo home run (23) in the 8th, RBI (63)
*Carlos Beltran – 1 for 2, BB, RBI (31)
Current Yankees Record: 50-41
