Mike Ford blasted 2HRs and the Yankees bullpen came up big again as the Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-4 on Monday night (8/26) in game 1 of a 3 game series at T Mobile Park in Seattle.
The win lowers the Yankees magic number to clinch the AL East down to 21.
Matt Wisler served as the “Opener” for Seattle and after he pitched a 3 up 3 down inning in the top of the 1st, the Mariners went to their real starter in Tommy Milone to start the second and the Yankees got to him early and often with the HR ball. Gleyber Torres got it started by crushing Milones first pitch into the seats for a solo shot that gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. A few batters later, Mike Tauchman showed off his “Wheels” as he hustled from 1st to home on an Austin Romine RBI single, before Mike Ford demolished a 2run shot to right that capped off a 4run frame and put the Yankees ahead 4-0.
Then, finding themselves up 4-3 in the 4th, Mike Ford did it again as he went deep for another HR with this one being a solo shot that gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead and would ultimately stand up as the winning run in this contest.
As for the Yankees pitching, JA Happ toed the rubber for the Yankees and was once again bitten by the long ball, as Dylan Moore crushed a 3run HR to Center Field in the second that cut the Yankees lead down to 4-3. But Happ would settled own after that, as he would go 5 innings of 3 run ball and leave with a 5-3 lead.
After JA departed, the Yankees bullpen came into play as Cory Gearrin came in for the 6th and after allowing a leadoff single and having a long conversation with the umpire about his weird “Toe Tap delivery” he was called for a balk.
After all of that weirdness happened, Cory would find his form as he struck DH Tom Murphy out with men on 1st and 2nd with 0 outs before giving the ball to Nestor Cortez JR who got the last 2 outs of that inning.
After that, it was all the “Big 3” as Tommy Kahlene, Zack Brittion and Aroldis Chapman came into lock it down as the Yankees sealed the deal on a 5-4 victory in Seattle.
MVP: Mike Ford
THOUGHTS:
Great win! Ford is insane and so is Gleyber! Nice job by Gio Urshela and DJ LeMahieu getting hits as well.
As for the pitching, Happ did better then usual and the bullpen was in top form again!
We now lead the Dodgers in the standings after they lost to the Padres tonight and I hope we are able to keep the pressure on them and the Astros for the best record in baseball and home field throughout the playoffs.
Let’s keep this up on Tuesday and let’s go Yankees!
STATS TO KNOW:
Gleyber Torres: 13th HR in August. Only other player to hit 13 HR in a calendar month this season was Mike Trout in July (also 13). He is two being Babe Ruth (15 in 1929) for the most by a Yankee in the month of August.
Mike Ford has homered in back to back games for the first time in his MLB career. It was also his 1st ever multi-HR game.
Yankees are 19-5 (.792) at Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park since 2012. That's the best record by any team at any ballpark in that span (min. 20 games).
UP NEXT:
It’s should be a fun one in game 2 because it’s an all-Japan battle between Masahiro Tanaka and Yusei Kikuchi. Expect a pitchers duel in that one!
Game time is 10:10 PM EST.
Comments