New York Yankees Recap: Yanks Lose 3-2, RISP Woes Continue

Saturday afternoon was the second game of a nine-game home stand as the New York Yankees (4-5) took on the Seattle Mariners (4-6), with the Yankees looking to bounce back from a 7-1 loss on Friday night.  On the mound for the Yankees was CC Sabathia, who after a solid first start, looked to duplicate his success against Seattle.  He faced off against Felix Hernandez who was on the mound for the Mariners.

The second inning looked promising for the Yankees after a leadoff single by Starlin Castro.  He was able to steal second on a 2-0 pitch to Chase Headley, who walked on four pitches.  Didi Gregorius was able to advance Castro to third on a fly ball to right-center field, but the Yankee struggles with runners in scoring position continued as Austin Romine popped out to short and Brett Gardner flew out to center field after a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury loaded the bases.

The Yankees entered Saturday just 3-for-34 with runners in scoring position.  That includes an 0-for-12 effort in Friday night’s game.  On Saturday, the Yankees once again went 0-12 with runners in scoring position.

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Despite their struggles, the Yankees were able to strike first, taking a 1-0 lead in the third on an RBI double by Carlos Beltran.  Mark Teixeira scored from first.  Beltran advanced on a wild pitch, but was stranded after two ground outs to third.  Just when it looked like the Mariners might get something going after Nelson Cruz led off the fourth with a broken bat double down the third base line, the Mariners were not able to capitalize as Sabathia was able to get the next three batters out.

The fifth kicked off with a blast to right-center field on a slider over the heart of the plate by Leonys Martin,which tied the game at 1-1.  The next batter, Luis Sardinas, singled, advanced to second on an Nori Aoki ground out, but got caught rounding third on a dribbler by Ketel Marte, a heads up play by Gregorius.  Robinson Cano hit a single up the middle, which scored Marte from first.  A hesitation by Ellsbury and a throw that was cut off, cost them a run.  Cano took second on the throw.  The Yankees would now trail the Mariners, 2-1.  Cano would quickly score on a sharp grounder down the third base line by Cruz, giving a 3-1 lead to Seattle.  That would be it for Sabathia.  Johnny Barbato would close out the fifth.

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Sabathia ended his day taking the loss, going 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, one home run, one walk and added five strikeouts.  CC looked great over four innings, getting ahead in the count and hitting his spots, but was already at a higher pitch count heading into the fifth, where he gave up the leadoff homer and allowed two runs.

Hernandez, credited with the win, went five innings, struck out four and allowed just one run on five hits.  He had a career-high in walks for a game with six, but tied Randy Johnson for first overall in franchise history in strikeouts with 2,162.

Beltran would continue swinging a hot bat in the seventh as he hit a solo shot off Nick Vincent, cutting the Mariners’ lead to 3-2.  Castro would follow with a single to left, but that would be it for New York after a nice double play by Cano and Marte. Beltran drove in two runs, going 4-for-5 with a single, two doubles and a home run.

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The Yankee bullpen was able to keep Seattle from scoring, including Andrew Miller striking out the side in the ninth.  Beltran looped a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth, followed by a single by Castro, but Headley could not get the job done, grounding out to second for the final out.  Credit Steve Cishek with the save.

It’s only been 10 games, but if the Yankees want to get back in the win column on Sunday, they need to solve their issues swinging the bat with runners in scoring position.

Sunday’s game will showcase Hisashii Iwakuma (0-1, 4.09 ERA) on the mound for the Mariners, and Masahiro Tanaka (0-0, 3.38 ERA) for the Yankees.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET.