6/20/23

Yankees 3, Mariners 1

(New York, NY) A change in venue was what the Seattle Mariners hoped would help them get a little bit of payback against the New York Yankees as the team’s met in the opener of a three-game series in the Bronx on Tuesday. While the game was closer than the two losses the Mariners had to the Yankees in Seattle, it was still a loss. A bumpy first couple of innings for George Kirby was all the Yankees needed with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound as Seattle dropped the opener by a final score of 3-1.

George Kirby did not get off to a good start in his Yankee Stadium debut. With Gleyber Torres on first and two outs, Anthony Rizzo hit a deep fly ball to right center that looked like it was gone off of the bat. Teoscar Hernandez then slowed down as if he had a beat on it but thought he was closer to the wall than he was. A leaping effort by Hernandez saw the ball drop and kick away from Hernandez and Julio Rodriguez. Torres scored from first as Rizzo made his way into second for his 10th double of the season giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Seattle left a couple of runners stranded in the top of the 2nd and New York extended their lead in the bottom of the 2nd. Harrison Bader returned from the IL for the Yankees after being injured in the first series between the M’s and Yankees and in his first at bat he showed that the hamstring was healthy. Bader singled and stole second to put himself in scoring position with nobody out. That stolen base really didn’t matter. Billy McKinney launched his second home run of the season well out of the park. That gave New York a 3-0 lead.

Things did not get much better for the Mariners as J.P. Crawford was forced to leave the game with a shoulder contusion. Crawford and Bader collided on the stolen base and it looked very harmless but Crawford said he could barely lift his arm and had to be pulled. X-rays were negative but Crawford is expected to get an MRI today.

Seattle would get the goose egg off of the board in the top of the 6th. Ty France stood on first after being hit by a pitch…again with two outs. Jarred Kelenic came up with a big two out hit for the second game in a row. Kelenic drove a fastball deep to left field that hit the top of the wall and missed being a home run by inches. Instead, he settled for his 17th double of the season, scoring France from first making it 3-1.

Although the beginning wasn’t strong, George Kirby turned in another quality start as he turned things around in his final five innings of work. Facing a dangerous lineup, Kirby did not back down and attacked the zone as per usual and challenged the Yankee hitters to do damage against him. Kirby finished with seven innings and allowed eight hits, five of which came in the first two innings, and allowed three runs with no walks and four strikeouts.

Kirby was unfortunately outperformed by Gerrit Cole. The Cy Young contender got a little payback against the M’s after Seattle hammered him in Yankee Stadium last season. Cole went 7 1/3 innings with four hits allowed and just the one run to go along with one walk and eight strikeouts. Cole also made headlines for some issues with Jose Caballero and Scott Servais regarding Caballero’s usage of the pitch clock. Cole wagged his finger at Caballero and Servais as he walked off the mound after the top of the 7th drawing some national attention.

Seattle could not get anything going against Clay Holmes either who recorded the final five outs for the Yankees. Lack of offense did the Mariners in again as Seattle dropped game one 3-1 to put themselves behind the eight ball for the rest of the road trip.

After getting back to .500, the Mariners (35-36) once again couldn’t stay above that mark and will look to not fall too far below that line when they meet the Yankees for game two on Wednesday at 4:05pm. Luis Castillo (4-5, 2.73 ERA) will try to continue his dominance at Yankee Stadium when he takes the ball for game two. Castillo pitched 13 2/3 innings at Yankee Stadium and allowed just four runs on seven hits with 16 strikeouts. New York (40-33) will start Jhony Brito (3-3, 5.58 ERA) who will pitch for the first time since May 20th.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• George Kirby (L, 6-6)- 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO
• Jarred Kelenic- 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB

Yankees

• Gerrit Cole (W, 8-1)- 7.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
• Billy McKinney- 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Anthony Rizzo- 3-4, 2 2B, RBI

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