Upon his return to the Mariners, Taijuan Walker did well until the fifth inning.
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Rookie Gary Sanchez homered for the ninth time in 18 games since joining the NY lineup and Masahiro Tanaka won his fourth straight start.
Tanaka threw seven innings, scattering six hits and walking just a single batter.
“He hung in there and competed”. After the game, manager Scott Servais said the injury was a bad bruise and hopeful that Seager would be ready Thursday in Chicago. “I think I’ve seen him take maybe two, possibly three swings where it looked to me maybe he was guessing a little bit and chasing a pitch”.
“I got the hard-hit line drive double play today”, Sabathia said.
His two full seasons of sub-.200 averages – and the plethora of uncomfortable swings that came with them – are now a distant memory for the 25-year-old catcher. In relief on Monday night were RHP Nick Vincent (3.92 ERA), LHP Vidal Nuño (2.70 ERA), RHP Steve Cishek (3.24 ERA), and RHP closer Edwin Diaz (2.25 ERA).
“The story tonight was our offense got just shut down”, Servais said. “That’s the first time that has happened in a long time”. Right after making a nice catch for the first out of the inning, Judge misplayed fly ball to right, allowing Leonys Martin to get to third with a stand up triple. Textbook, pitching 101, back and forth, changing speeds, on the edges, pitching inside. “We had a rough one yesterday and we got some big hits tonight”.
Ellsbury staked NY to a 3-1 lead in the fifth with his sixth home run, a two-run shot to right-center that followed a leadoff double by Ronald Torreyes.
The Yankees boosted their lead to 4-1 in the sixth after Mark Teixeira’s leadoff double. Didi Gregorius added a ground-rule double, scoring Ellsbury.
C Mike Zunino, recalled from Tacoma on July 20, was 0 for 2 with a walk and has reached base safely in 19 straight games. The Mariners are 5-1 in their last 6 during game 3 of a series and 8-2 in Iwakumas last 10 starts.
Walker was 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA with 6 strikeouts in 3 starts with AAA Tacoma, including 1 rehab start on August 1. Infielder-outfielder Stefen Romero, who was called up Friday, also was sent back to Tacoma.
Right-hander Cody Martin was demoted to the Rainiers to make room for Walker, who has been plagued by foot issues for parts of the last two months.
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. He had been 2-6 with a 6.78 ERA over his previous 11 starts since starting the year 5-4 with a 2.20 ERA.
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Masahiro Tanaka will attempt to outduel his former Rakuten Golden Eagles teammate Hisashi Iwakuma at Safeco Field, where the Yanks have won 9 of 10 games dating to June of 2013.
