Yankees bats ignite, opening series with 10-4 win over Mariners
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Coming off a thrilling walk off victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates that secured a series win, the Seattle Mariners were thumped by the New York Yankees with a final score of 10-4. Seattle starter Bryce Miller had the worst outing of his young career following a historic start to it, getting eight earned runs pinned against him on eleven hits and failing to get past the fifth inning. Yankees superstar outfielder Aaron Judge had a strong night, blasting two homers and robbing Mariners right fielder Teoscar Hernandez of a homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was all New York in this game, but Seattle still has the opportunity to turn things around and win this series considering this was only game one of three.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Millers had the worst outing of his young career, as the Yankees batters were able to tee off on his fastball (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Miller gets thumped in worst outing of young career
Young and talented Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller has had a historic start to his young career, but today was an outing he wants scrubbed from history. Miller relies heavily on his fastball, at least he has early on into his time at the Major League Baseball level, and that presented an intriguing matchup with tonight’s game against the New York Yankees. New York has hit the fastball well all season, and considering that it’s Miller’s main pitch, the Yankees had somewhat of an advantage coming into this game considering that Mariners pitchers main goal is to “attack the strike zone” and thus peppering it with balls. If New York was able to make contact, they’d like find those balls in the zone and be able to use their power to get on base. That was the case tonight, as the Yankees chased Miller out of the game before he could record the final out of the fifth inning.
Bryce Miller threw his fastball 58% of the time he was on the mound, and New York hitters were able to get ahold of it for those eleven hits on the day. It appeared to rock Miller, who didn’t walk anybody but did hit replacement center fielder Greg Allen (Harrison Bader left the game in the third inning with hamstring tightness) with a pitch during a rough inning. It was said even after his impressive outing against Oakland a few days ago, he’ll need to continue to develop his off-speed pitches and he still has time to do so, but we saw today what teams can do when they get ahold of it. It’s Miller’s toughest outing to date, and there were some balls in play that were very, very low in terms of expected batting average meaning that he got somewhat unlucky tonight. He has plenty of time to bounce back and respond to this outing, and Seattle does see this Yankees team in the month of June, so perhaps there’s a chance at revenge.
New York state of mind
This game was all New York, nearly all night, on both sides of the ball. Looking on the offensive end of things, eight of the nine starting batters collected hits for the Yankees. Two players in pinstripes notably had big impacts, as former Mariner Jake Bauers recorded a three-hit night that included a homer and a double while also drawing a walk to get on base four times. Considering the sort of impact he had in Seattle, seeing a performance like this from Bauers was mind boggling. The performance from Aaron Judge was not, though, considering the level of superstar that he is and the level of play he displays night-in and night-out. The superstar that re-upped with the Yankees this past free agency blasted two homers, one off the left-field foul pole and the other into the Mariners bullpen, while also robbing a homer in right field off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez.
At the plate, many Seattle batters struggled outside of Julio Rodriguez and Jarred Kelenic, who both recorded multi-hit games. Even though Mariners infielders JP Crawford and Ty France did get knocks, they went one-for-five on the day which isn’t too great either. Seattle was facing New York starter Domingo German, who’s freshly coming off a suspension for “sticky-stuff usage,” just couldn’t solve him tonight. German used a heavy dosage (48%) of his curveball in this game, fooling the Mariners batters just enough so that the Yankees lead could build. While his game wasn’t necessarily spectacular as he allowed four runs on seven hits while walking four batters, it was good enough for the lead that New York had built.
Seattle Mariners centerfielder Julio Rodriguez had another good game on this homestand, including his solo homer (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Julio just keeps getting it done
Seattle centerfielder continues his impressive homestand, making his adjustments into action on the field after a struggling start to his sophomore season. The homestand has been huge for Julio, who came into this ballgame with a batting average of .470, and could be a big launching point for the rest of his season. Seattle’s offense is at its best when the 2022 American League Rookie of the Year is firing on all cylinders, and he appears to be trending in that direction if these past seven games are any sort of indication. The Mariners centerfielder with a smile that never seems to falter has been barreling up the ball and spreading the ball all over the field, including sending it over the outfield fence, which Rodriguez did again today with his solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning. Despite the result of tonight’s game, Julio’s homestand continues to remain strong and should be a great turning point in his season.
Outside of Julio Rodriguez, the Mariners got solid contributions from other outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Teoscar Hernandez (Photos by Liv Lyons)
Quick notes
Seattle dropped tonight’s series opener to the Yankees by a 10-4 score.
Despite the loss, the Mariners are 6-2 through the first 8 games of the current 10-game homestand.
Julio Rodríguez hit a lead off home run in the 4th inning to give the Mariners another run…this was Julio’s 10th home run which is tied for the team lead with Jarred Kelenic.
Rodríguez and Jarred Kelenic are the only teammate duo age 23-or-younger with 10+ home runs each this season…it's the third time in franchise history that multiple Mariners age 23-or-younger hit 10+ homers in the same season…it also happened in 1984 (Alvin Davis, Jim Presley) and 1997 (Alex Rodriguez, Jose Cruz Jr.).
Julio recorded his 6th straight multi-hit game after hitting a 2 RBI single in the 5th inning scoring Taylor Trammell and José Caballero.
During this homestand Rodríguez is batting .471 (16x34) with 7 runs, 4 doubles, 3 home runs, 10 RBI, 1 hit-by-pitch, and 1 stolen base in 8 games.
Left fielder Jarred Kelenic had a multi-hit night after going 2-for-4 with 2 singles and 1 run…this was Kelenic’s 11th multi-hit game of the season.
Kelenic is now batting .283 (54x191) on the season with 27 runs, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 10 home runs, 26 RBI, 7 stolen bases, and 16 walks.
Kelenic also recorded his 7th stolen base of the season in the 2nd inning when he stole second base.
The Mariners opened their scoring in the 2nd inning after Teoscar Hernández grounded out to the shortstop allowing Jarred Kelenic to score.
Hernández also singled in the 6th inning, and he has now recorded a hit in 5 of his last 6 games.
José Caballero reached base safely multiple times tonight after getting hit by a pitch in the 3rd inning and drawing a walk in the 5th inning…this was his 7th game this season where he reached base safely multiple times.
J.P. Crawford went 1-for-4 tonight with a single…during this current homestand Crawford is batting .286 (10x35) with 8 runs, 1 double, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, and 2 walks.
Mariners starter Bryce Miller pitched 4.2 innings and allowed 8 runs on 11 hits (2 home runs), 1 hit batter, and no walks while striking out 3 on 86 pitches, 58 strikes.
Mariners relievers Juan Then and Chris Flexen combined for 4.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing a pair of runs.
In the 2nd inning Seattle challenged at out call at second base…after review the call was overturned and the runner was safe at second.
A pitch clock violation was called on Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán in the 5th inning and pitcher Albert Abreu in the 9th inning.
A pitch clock violation was called on Yankees batter Gleyber Torres in the 6th inning.
In the 8th inning Seattle challenged a safe call a first base…after review the call was overturned and the runner was out at first.
What’s next?
Following today’s tough loss, the Mariners will look to bounce back from the bruising they took from the Bronx Bombers when game two comes around tomorrow, May 30th, with a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST. Seattle will look to bounce back from a game that was all New York, all night, but will need a strong effort from starting pitcher Logan Gilbert as he battles on the mound against former Mariner Nestor Cortes on the mound. While the Seattle offense wasn’t poor against New York, they went 1-9 with runners in scoring position, which isn’t something that they can afford to do when playing against this strong Yankees squad.