The New York Yankees entered this game against Seattle having lost their last six games when facing a rookie
starting pitcher. Wouldn't you know it, the Mariners were starting
rookie right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma. The Yankees really
needed a win, but the deck seemed stacked against our struggling offense
that was further handicapped by the loss of Alex Rodriguez to a broken
hand.
Derek Jeter gave the Yanks a spark when he
homered in the first. With ARod lost to the
disabled list for a six to eight week period, Jeter was batting second
in the re-shuffled Yankee lineup for the first time this season. Apart
from giving the Yankees an early 1-0 lead, Jeter had to be pleased that
he hit the shot to left field following yet another brush back pitch
from a Mariner pitcher.
Unfortunately, Yankee starter Ivan Nova could not
respond. He allowed two runs in the bottom of the first. Nova yielded
back to back singles to Michael Saunders and Jesus Montero. He also allowed back to back walks to John Jaso and Kyle Seager. The
Seager walk produced an RBI as Saunders was forced home, and a 3-6
fielder's choice off the bat of Mike Carp scored Montero. Just that
quickly, the Yankee lead had evaporated.
Nova only allowed two hits and the two first inning
runs during his 5+ inning outing. Despite walking six, Ivan Nova was able to keep the Yankees close. Bottom line, he didn't have great command and only 58 of his pitches
were strikes.
Later on, Ichiro laced a one out single
to center, but was caught stealing. Jeter
followed with a single to center and Robinson Cano doubled to left.
Jeter had to stop at third. Mark Teixeira then flew out to right field
to end the inning in which the Yankee managed to score no runs on three
hits.
The game rocked along at 2-1 into the eighth inning.
Yankee relievers Clay Rapada, David Phelps, and David Robertson combined
for three innings of both hitless and scoreless work. Offensively, the
Yankees found a little groove in their half of the eighth. Derek Jeter was
hit by a pitch, again, and the Mariners replaced Josh Kinney with lefty
Lucas Luetge. Luetge allowed singles to Jeter and Cano to load the
bases. Following a fly out by Curtis Granderson, Girardi played his
trump card.
He opted to pinch-hit Jayson Nix for Raul
Ibanez, and in so doing, he forced Mariner manager Eric Wedge to bring
in a right hander. Nix immediately responded with a 3-run
double to left field. His drive cleared the bases and the Yankees
finally had a lead at 4-2. Russell Martin added an RBI single to score
Nix, and the Yankees had a 5-2 lead and their highest run total of any
game on the road trip!!!
The Boston Red Sox will be in New York for a three game series starting Friday...be ready.
--Frank Gentry, BYB Writer
ORDER A BYB SHIRT NOW, DROB WEARS ONE! Also, Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting on Bleeding Yankee Blue.