"We could do this", said Yankees fans everywhere as they came into,t his series against the offensive powerhouse Seattle Mariners "If we can beat the Twins, we can beat these guys".
That was spoken out of confidence and not of cockiness as the Yankees (AKA NY Railriders) continued to shine coming into this series, and it didn't stop here as they took 3 of 4 from the Mariners in the Bronx this week.
It was a wild 4 games so let's get into them.
GAME 1: MARINERS 3 YANKEES 7
With the pitching matchup being Felix Hernandez against CC Sabathia, many expected a close game with pitching being the key in this contest.
But right out of the gate, the Yankees took the former strikeout king deep into the seats time and time again, as Luke Voit blasted one into the left field seats two Yankees batters into the game, to give the Bombers an early 2-0 lead.
The HR barrage continued in the second, as Brett Gardner and Thario Estrada (2 runHR) went deep to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead with Estrads being the first of his career.
Tired of home runs, the Yankees started pounding out hits, as DJ LeMaihu singled home Mike Tauchman to complete the 4 run frame, before a Gardner triple and a Gio Urshela RBI single gave the Yankees a 7-0 lead after 3.
As for CC Sabathia, he gave the Yankees length as he went 5 innings and put himself in line for the win despite serving up HRs to Domingo Santana (2run HR) and Dee Gordon to cut the Yankees lead to 7-3. CCs last pitch of the night was a big one as he got out of a bases loaded two out jam with ground ball to 1st base to end his night.
Jonathan Holder relived CC in the 6th, and struggled as he left with the bases loaded and one out for Adam Ottavino who came in and got out of the jam, with some help from Estrada, who made and incredible barehanded throw to Voit at 1st to end the inning.
After that, the Yankees bullpen coasted with Tommy Kahlne and Luis Cessa putting the final touches on the 7-3 victory.
MVP: Thairo Estrada
LEFTOVERS:
It should also be noted that Gio Urshela had a big game as well, as he had an RBI single, while also making two great plays at third.
GAME 2: MARINERS 4 YANKEES 5
This was one of those games that you felt wasn't going to go how you expected it to go on paper. The pitching matchup featured Marco Gonzalez and Masahiro Tanaka, and though you thought it was going to be a pitchers duel. It really wasn't in the end.
Both teams traded early runs, with the Yankees getting there's on a Brett Gardner RBI groundout, to bring Urshela home as he showed off his speed.
But the Mariners would come right back in the 5th, as Yankee-killer Edwin Encarnacion went deep for a solo shot that gave Seattle a 2-1 lead. Throughout this game, the Yankees weren't really playing very good baseball as Gonzalez shut the offense down, while in the field Clint Frazier seemed to forgot how to catch In his second game back from the IL, as he made a couple of eye popping drops on easy fly balls.
But Mother Nature had other plans, as with the Yankees down 2-1 in the top of the 7th, the game came to a halt due to rain, and the teams scurried to their clubhouses for shelter.
This was good news for the Yankees as it meant Gonzalez was done for the night, and even though Tanaka was done as well you felt confident in the Yankees bullpen to hold the Mariners and keep the Yankees offense within striking distance.
But after the game resumed, the Yankees came out flat and the Mariners capitalized, as a rare Gio Urshela error, to go along with another Clint Frazier error ultimately led to two runs being scored and the Mariners taking a 4-1 lead.
The Yankees threatened to comeback in the 7th and 8th Innings, as they had runners on 1st and second with 0 outs in both innings, and only scored one run via a wild pitch in the 8th to cut the Seattle lead to 4-2.
In the top of the 9th, with no hope in sight, the Yankees brought in one of their second tiers Joe Harvey in the top of the 9th, who was impressive and held the Mariners offense off the board and kept the Yankees within 4-2.
In the bottom of the 9th, the Mariners turned to Anthony Swarzack to close the game, but a Gleyber Torres single brought up the red hot Gio Urshela, who walloped a game-tying 2runHR to stun the Mariners and tie the game at 4.
After that, the Yankees knew they were somehow going to win this game, and they did in the 9th, as Camron Maybin singled before stealing second to bring up DJ LeMahieu with the game-winning run on second, and two outs in the 9th.
What happened next, was LeMahieu’s best moment as a Yankee thus far, as he singled home Maybin for the game winning run to complete the best Yankees win of the year 5-4.
MVP: Gio Urshela
LEFTOVERS:
Joe Harvey notched his first win of his MLB career in this contest.
GAME 3: MARINERS 10 YANKEES 1
Nothing really to say about this game except that the Yankees got demolished.
Yusei Kukuchi shut the Yankees down, by going 8 innings of 1 run ball, while Mitch Haniger went deep twice off Yankees starter Jonathan Losiga who was replacing James Paxton who is out at most 3 weeks with a left knee inflammation.
There was some controversy in this game, as the TV showed pine tar under Yusei's cap which is illegal for pitchers to use during a game. However, the MLB didn’t penalize him for using it. To be fair, it didn’t really effect the game with the Mariners beating the Yankees so badly.
MVP: Yusei Kukuchi
GAME 4: MARINERS 1 YANKEES 3
The Yankees knew to come into this game, that their best case scenario would be for JA Happ to make them happy, and make Mike Leake, leak his pitches in the strike zone.
Happ was brilliant for the Yankees, as he went 5 scoreless innings, while only allowing 1 hit and striking out 7, keeping the Yankees in this game. On the other side, the Yankees got to Mike Leake just enough to put him in line for the loss, as Cameron Maybin doubled home the only run the Yankees would score off Leake in this game, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
After both pitchers departed, the game was officially a battle of the bullpens and looking for insurance runs in the 8th, the Yankees turned to Gio Urshela with the bases loaded, and he delivered, bringing home two runs to give the Yankees some breathing room heading into the 9th up 3-0.
Aroldis Chapman came on in the 9th, and faced 4 batters, and got three of them out, with the other one being HR by Domingo Santana to break the shutout and make the final score 3-1 Yankees, which was also the final in this series.
MVP: Gio Urshela
Series MVP: Gio Urshela
LEFTOVERS:
Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahlne, Abe Zack Britton all did a great job of building the bridge from Happ to Chapman, with Adam getting some help from Gleyber Torres in the 6th, as he completed an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners.
UP NEXT:
With this win, the Yankees clinched the series over the Mariners 3-1 and will now head south to take on the red -hot Tampa Bay Rays (22-13) in a 3 game weekend showdown, between the top two teams in the AL East.
Game one will be on Friday night (5/10) with Domingo German going for the Yankees against the undefeated Tyler Glasnow of the Rays.
Game time is 7:10 PM.
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