Young prospects like catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielder Aaron Judge have come in and given the Yankees new life despite their slim postseason chances.
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“I think I was a little bit overthrowing the first couple of innings, but afterward, I was able to adjust that”, Tanaka said through a translator.
“What’s his pace – 100 home runs?” His 26 hits as a major-leaguer are tied with Bob Meusel for the third-most by any Yankee (since at least 1913) in his first 20 MLB games.
Walker seemed in control until the fifth inning, when the Yankees scored two quick ones on a home run from Jacoby Ellsbury, who showed some rare pop with his sixth home run of the season, giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
After losing the series opener 7-5 on Monday despite two homers apiece from Sanchez and Castro, the Yankees held Seattle to just one run in the final two games to win three consecutive road series for the first time this season. And that includes the Seattle Mariners, who intentionally walked him twice on Wednesday.
Taijuan Walker went 5.2 innings and gave up 4 runs (3 ER) on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5.
Tanaka was shaky early, escaping jams in the second and third innings before rolling the rest of the way.
The Yankees are 15-4 at Seattle since 5/29/11 and are 22-10 since the start of the 2009 season. But as they fell into a good rhythm, so did Tanaka, who retired 12 of his final 14 batters.
Seattle’s best scoring chance came in the second inning when Leonys Martin missed a two-run homer by inches, settling for a line drive single off the top of the fence in right field and advanced Adam Lind to third base.
Walker gave up four runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings. Seattle DH Nelson Cruz was pinch-hit for in the eighth inning due to back spasms.
New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge (99) dives safely back to second base as Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano moves toward him for the tag on a pick-off attempt in the second inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, in Seattle.
Mariners: 3B Kyle Seager was out of the lineup after fouling a ball off his right foot in Tuesday’s game. Initial X-rays were negative, but Servais said Seager would get additional examination before the team left for its road trip.
Walker will face New York’s C.C. Sabathia in the second game of a three-game series.
This early bomb off Seattle Mariners righty Hisashi Iwakuma, the 23-year-old Dominican’s ninth homer of the most fantastic month ever by a Yankees rookie, was the start of a very good day that ended a very successful West Coast trip that keeps them in the talk for playoff baseball.
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The return of Walker and James Paxton’s expected Thursday start leaves Seattle with six starters, so LeBlanc was put to use in long relief.
