It was supposed to be an entertaining pitching matchup – Jimmy Key against the former Yankee Sterling Hitchcock. Instead, Key recorded just one out before exiting the game after he was hit by a line drive on his left elbow.
Brian Boehringer came on in relief and pitched seven brilliant innings, keeping New York in the game. However, the offense wasn’t able to muster anything, and the Yankees fell to Seattle 2-1. Not the way you want to start a long west coast trip.
“We need one of those streaks to reinforce who we are,” said manager Joe Torre (Via NY Times). “We need to win 6 of 8 or something in the next 10 days or 2 weeks.” The Yankees have now lost 23 of their last 41 games. The Orioles gained a game in the division after a wild 12-11 win in extras against Oakland.
After Key struck out the leadoff batter in the first, Alex Rodriguez hit a line drive back up the middle, striking the lefty in his pitching elbow. Torre and trainer Gene Monahan rushed out to the mound, and walked with Key back to the dugout. X-Rays taken after the game showed no damage, and his elbow was heavily wrapped.
The Yankees’ only run on the night came on a Mariano Duncan sac fly in the seventh. Boehringer exited the game in the eighth after recording an out, handing the ball off to Graeme Lloyd. Lloyd immediately walked Ken Griffey Jr. and was replaced with Dave Pavlas. After another walk, Pavlas served up an RBI single to Jay Buhner, and the Mariners never looked back.
Hitchcock, the former Yankee, stuck it to his former team by tossing seven inning and allowing just that one run on five hits while striking out seven.
The series continues tomorrow with Kenny Rogers facing Jamie Moyer.
Box score and current stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 5 0
Mariners 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 X 2 9 0
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
Raines LF 4 0 1 0 0 2 .274 .365 .377
Jeter SS 3 0 0 0 1 1 .305 .367 .420
B.Williams CF 3 0 0 0 1 0 .304 .386 .525
Fielder DH 4 0 0 0 0 3 .254 .354 .486
Martinez 1B 4 1 1 0 0 1 .305 .369 .481
Strawberry RF 3 0 1 0 0 1 .276 .371 .524
R.Rivera PR-RF 1 0 0 0 0 1 .271 .403 .417
Duncan 2B 2 0 0 1 0 1 .326 .335 .476
Leyritz C 3 0 1 0 0 0 .263 .352 .377
Sojo 3B 3 0 1 0 0 0 .212 .244 .267
2B:Martinez (26)
RBI:Duncan (48)
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Key 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 4.89
Boehringer 7 6 1 1 0 4 5.60
Lloyd L (2-5) 0 0 1 1 1 0 3.31
Pavlas 0.2 2 0 0 1 0 2.38
