Mariners Game Recap: M’s Hold on to Win Third in a Row

After Felix walks 6, M’s produce just enough offense to get the “W”.

The Seattle Mariners (5-6) beat the New York Yankees (4-7) 3-2 today at Yankee Stadium behind strong pitching and just enough offense to win the ballgame. The Mariners now lead the 3-game series two games to none and have won 3 in-a-row after their 5-game losing streak. Felix Hernandez (1-1, 1.00) earned the win for Seattle and CC Sabathia (1-1, 5.06) was credited with the loss. Steve Cishek (1-1, 1.50) got his first save of the year.

Felix Hernandez went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 4. He was constantly having to get himself out of jams due to an uncharacteristic 6 walks. Among all of the walks, the one run he allowed was on a Carlos Beltran double that drove in Mark Teixiera, who reached on a base on balls. Hernandez has now pitched 18 innings and has struck out 20 in his first 3 starts of the season.

Sabathia went 4.2 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits. He struck out 5 and walked one before being knocked out of the game in the middle of the 5th inning.

Hernandez was pulled after throwing 106 pitches, and Vidal Nuno came into the game for the bottom of the 6th inning. Nuno allowed a hit, but also collected a strikeout to get through a clean 6th. Nick Vincent came out for the 7th and allowed a solo homerun to Carlos Beltran, but left the game still with a 3-2 lead.

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Joaquin Benoit threw a perfect 8th inning to give Steve Cishek the save opportunity in the bottom of the 9th. Cishek retired the first two batters he faced before giving up back-to-back singles to Beltran and Starlin Castro to have a first and third situation with 2 outs. Facing Chase Headley, Castro stole second to put runners on second and third before a full count was reached. On the 3-2 pitch, Cishek got Headley to ground out to Robinson Cano to retire the side and secure the win.

On the offensive side of things, Leonys Martin put the M’s on the board with a solo homerun in the top of the 5th. After the homerun, Robinson Cano had an RBI single followed by a Nelson Cruz double to drive in Cano all in that same inning. The Mariners had 10 total hits as a team, continuing their road success.

Next: Mariners Look to King Felix in the Bronx

Looking forward to tomorrow, Hisashi Iwakuma (0-1, 4.09) will take on Masahiro Tanaka (0-0, 3.38) as the Mariners look to sweep the series and get back to .500. These two starters were teammates on the Tohoko Rakutan Golden Eagles in Japan, and this is their first time going head-to-head in the States. Tomorrow’s game will be televised on Root Sports and will also be broadcast on 71o ESPN for Northwest listeners. The game can also be streamed on MLB.tv for subscribers. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 am PT.