YANKEES 10, MARINERS 4: CAPTAIN IN CONTROL
The Yankees must have been feeling particularly ruthless when they arrived at T-Mobile Park on Monday. After hospitable treatment from other opponents in his first five MLB starts, the Bronx Bombers gave Seattle’s Bryce Miller quite a rude greeting.
Entering the contest having not given up a home run and only four runs total in his first five big league starts, Miller got torched for 8 runs on 11 hits, including home runs from Aaron Judge and Jake Bauers. Judge also apparently felt the need to remind everyone who won AL MVP last year, finishing the day with two home runs, a double, and a home run robbery as the Yankees opened this series with a resounding victory, 10-4.
As promised, Miller came out of the gate pouring fastballs over the plate. Eleven of his 13 first-inning pitches were four-seamers, and only Willie Calhoun managed to avoid swinging underneath, lining a double down the right foul line for New York’s first hit of the contest. The Yankees would open the scoring the following inning, as Harrison Bader led off with a single before Bauers — part of the lefty-heavy contingent to face Miller — doubled him home.
Seattle leveled the scores in the bottom of the frame, Jarred Kelenic leading off with a single before stealing second. Eugenio Suárez walked to put a pair on with no outs, and both advanced a base on a weak groundout. This allowed Kelenic to score on a Teoscar Hernández groundout, but the tie would prove just a temporary reprieve for the home side.
It certainly looked like the Yankees hitters had figured out the shape of Miller’s fastball by the third inning. Gleyber Torres led off with a single, setting up Aaron Judge to hit a 117 mph laser beam of the left field foul pole for the first big league home run against Miller, but more importantly to put the Yankees up, 3-1.
The inning ended in a decidedly less fortunate manner. Harrison Bader hustled out a single, but appeared to wince as he was decelerating. It was later announced he had exited the game with right hamstring tightness, so we’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more. Greg Allen replaced him in center field.
Bauers had himself quite the night, leading off the fourth with an impressive piece of hitting to pull a fastball in off the plate yet still keep it fair for a homer. He would later add his second double of the contest in the seventh.
Julio Rodríguez broke up the shutout with a no-doubter to lead off the bottom of the fourth, part of a 2-for-4, three RBI night from the reigning AL Rookie of the Year. His final two driven in came in the fifth as Germán issued a pair of lead off walks. A soft grounder allowed both to advance, and a single from Rodríguez brought them home.
Fortunately for the Yankees, they had already put this game further out of reach in the top-half of the frame. Torres led off with his second single of the game and advanced to third on a Judge double. Calhoun plated the pair with a double, and after a Greg Allen hit-by-pitch, the pair would come around to score on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa double to make it 8-2 Yankees.
Rodríguez’s single might’ve made it 8-4, but Judge was far from finished exerting his MVP-sized influence on this game. He blasted a solo shot to left in the sixth for his second of the game to extend his lead atop the AL home run leaderboard to 17.
He even saved perhaps his most impressive exploit for last. In the eighth, Hernández lifted a middle-middle Albert Abreu sinker deep to the opposite field, but Judge timed it at the wall perfectly, leaping and stretching all of his 6-foot-7 frame to rob a home run that should’ve landed about two to three rows deep.
The Yankees tacked on a final run in the ninth as leadoff singles from DJ LeMahieu and Allen followed by a Bauers walk loaded the bases. A Kyle Higashioka bloop single plated LeMahieu to bring us to our final score, 10-4, giving the Bombers back-to-back contests scoring double-digit runs for the second time this season.
New York will look to guarantee at least a series victory tomorrow night, with Nestor Cortes set to face Logan Gilbert. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 pm ET so be sure to stay up late with us in the game thread!
2023-05-30T04:52:29Z dg43tfdfdgfd