The Mariners wasted another outstanding start by Felix Hernandez and lost to the Yankees in New York 4-3 Tuesday night after taking a 3-0 lead, squandered by Seattle’s bullpen. Hernandez, matched against CC Sabathia in a duel of aces, allowed just one earned run on five hits over 6.0 innings before he was lifted because of a sore back.
The Mariners (18-21) couldn’t hold the lead, forged largely on a two-run homer by Raul Ibanez, and lost the first game of a nine-day, nine-game road trip. The Mariners and Yankees play Wednesday with Hisashi Iwakuma (4-1) opposing RHP Phil Hughes.
Hernandez suffered what the Mariner called a”minor” back injury when he made a throw to second base. As a precaution, manager Eric Wedge took him out before the seventh inning, and said later that Hernandez is not expected to miss his next start, against Cleveland.
“My back is a little tight, but I’ll be fine,” said Hernandez. “I’ll be ready for the next one.”
“He tweaked his back, but I didn’t want to take any chances,” said Wedge. “I wasn’t going to take any chances by sending him back out there.”
The Mariners went up 1-0 in the third when Michael Saunders reached on a fielding error and scored on a double by Kyle Seager. That lasted until the sixth, when the Mariners scored two runs on Ibanez’s two-run homer, his fourth of the year, that also scored Kelly Shoppach, who singled.
The Yankees got a run back in the sixth when Lyle Overbay’s double brought home Curtis Granderson, and won the game in the seventh by scoring three runs off Mariners relievers Yoervis Medina and Charlie Furbush.
Hernandez had eight strikeouts and two walks. Sabathia also had a good start. He allowed three earned runs on 10 hits, fanned 10 and walked two.
Former Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4 and is now 0-for-16 in his past four games.
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“Sabathia also had an outstanding start. He allowed three earned runs on 10 hits, fanned 10 and walked just two.”
According to the box score I saw, Sabathia gave up only 2 earned runs. The first run was UNearned, because, as you wrote, Saunders reached on an error.
Had Felix not been hurt, the M’s likely would have won this game. However, the M’s had a big advantage going into the game because the Yankees played a double header in Cleveland on Monday then had to travel back to NY, while the M’s had Monday off.
The M’s better hope neither Felix nor Iwakuma miss any starts this year.
No recap of this game should have omitted the atrocious role of umpire Jerry Layne. His strike zone was historically bad and one-sided at the most critical moments. Layne already changed history in the 2011 World Series, and he provided a kick to the gut on the eve of David Stern planning a kick to Seattle’s groin as his final swan song.
nice to see that wedge followed my comments on the blog here and put morales at 1st, rauuul at dh, and left the smoakamotive in the station. wilhelmsen should have been called upon for a 3 inning save.
might as well put morse at short and let ryan and andino work on the post-game buffet in the clubhouse. also.
Very disappointing that the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. The game was there for the taking and it’s rare to be able to come off the field at Yankee Stadium with a win. Got to learn to take advantage of those opportunities.
Disappointed with the bullpen choices for a Hernandez start. Then again, a 3 run lead with 3 innings left should’ve been enough for a supposedly tired Yankee lineup.