It was all the Yankees would need with Tanaka on the mound.
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“They pitched us well all series”, said Servais, whose team lost its first series of the month.
Iwakuma was something of a mentor to Tanaka in Japan, as he was the ace of the staff when Tanaka joined the Golden Eagles out of high school. “But I think the most important part is (Seattle is) just a couple games ahead of us in the wild-card race”. Past year we saw that all the time, and it’s rare now.
While the Mariners were silent, Sanchez continued to slug his way into the record books.
Sanchez homered into the second deck in left field in the first inning on the first pitch from Iwakuma, his ninth home run in 18 games since joining the Yankees lineup August 3.
While Sanchez hit another home run, went 2-for-3 and was intentionally walked twice, he was only the second-best Yankee on the field Wednesday. In the ninth inning, Sanchez took first on a second intentional walk.
“You win by the homer, you die by the homer”, Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Also, they were trying to get some contact on the ball, so I just tried to place it in a good location where I could get some ground balls or possibly fly outs”.
And Sanchez – the AL’s reigning Player of the Week – completed a 10-for-22 road trip, with three doubles, four homers, five RBI and five walks in six games.
On Wednesday, Sanchez’ early homer was all hot Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka needed for his second duel of the season against Iwakuma, a fellow Japanese righty. Managing to get through six innings and save some arms in the bullpen was little consolation for Iwakuma.
Vincent earned himself his third win of the season (now 3-3), tossing a blank frame with 1 strikeout in 1.0 inning of work. He is batting.385 with eight home runs and 15 RBIs (runs batted in).
The game’s first run scored after a two-out error by third baseman Kyle Seager in the second inning.
Hendricks (12-7) gave up two runs and four hits, striking out eight and leaving with a 2.19 ERA.
Dellin Betances worked a scoreless inning in the ninth, sealing a 5-1 win. He allowed just one extra-base hit, a Leonys Martin triple in the third inning, and two singles.
Tyler Clippard got two outs in the eighth, but allowed two singles.
“It’s hard to believe with the catchers that we’ve had here and some of the success that we’ve had here with the catchers”, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “His stuff really got good to me in the fourth inning, when he seemed to settle in”.
The Yankees were heading into the bottom half of the inning when catcher Brian McCann heard “a loud thud” and looked over to find a fan laying on the dugout floor.
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3B Kyle Seager, and C Mike Zunino both connected for 3-run blasts, both giving the Mariners a comeback lead over NY. Although initial X-rays were negative, Seager was limping noticeably through the clubhouse Wednesday morning.
