Well, it wasn’t exactly the prettiest performance we’ve seen all year. But, a win is a win!The Yankees, coming off a terrible showing against Felix Hernandez last night (0 runs and 4 hits), were looking to wake up against Jason Vargas and the Mariners. However, it certainly didn’t get off to the greatest of starts.
As the Bleacher Creatures continued their roll call, Ichiro lined a leadoff solo shot barely over the right-field wall to give the M’s a quick 1-0 edge. Two batters later, history was made. Russell Branyan SMASHED a 440 ft bomb into the terrace level in right-field. It’s one of the longest homeruns hit in New Yankee Stadium. So, Vazquez had managed to give up two homeruns to the first three batters of the game.
In the bottom of the 1st inning, Derek Jeter managed an infield single and Mark Teixeira hit a double to give the Yankees 2nd and 3rd with one out. Robinson Cano roped a single to centerfield to tie the game 2-2. Jorge Posada would then blast a two-run homer into the leftfield seats to put the Yanks up 4-2. Ichiro, who had only three home runs coming into Saturday, hit another home run off of Javier Vazquez to bring the Mariners within one run. Javy would retire the next two batters, but surrender singles to Jose Lopez and Franklin Guiterrez. Casey Kotchman singled in Lopez to tie the game.
Chad Gaudin was called upon to relieve Vazquez in the 4th inning and he certainly didn’t disappoint this time around, recording 3 K’s through 3 IP and allowing only 1 hit. Then, the Yankees opened the floodgates.
Austin Kearns and Curtis Granderson singled in the 7th to bring up Eduardo Nunez. In place of an injured Alex Rodriguez, Nunez lined an RBI single to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. Jeter would single to extend the lead further and Teixeira would add a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees up for good, 7-4.
Granderson and Pena would drive in runs thanks to an error and fielder’s choice in the 8th inning to cushion the lead at 9-4.
Boone Logan, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera combined to close out the final three innings of play. Rivera allowed one run in the 9th and notched his 25th save of the year.
Alex Rodriguez is headed to the 15-day DL due to his bad calf. The Yankees are now 11-0 without him in the lineup. Something tells me that won’t last too much longer.
The Yankees will look to finish off the Mariners with a series victory tomorrow at 1:05.
Cool random note: Casey Kotchman made an error in the eighth inning to end his streak of perfect defensive games at 274. According to ESPN, it was the longest stretch at that position in MLB history.