Mariners lose the game and a couple players vs Yankees

After taking two of three from the Yankees in the Bronx last week, the Mariners were hoping to do the same thing in Seattle with the Yankees in town for another three-game series. Just like the first series, things started out rough for the Mariners.

The Yankees scored two in the first, and the Mariners cut it in half with a nice welcome-back bomb from Mitch Haniger. If Haniger can in fact play well for the Mariners, it’s going to quiet a lot of the negative fans out there who were unhappy that the Mariners didn’t do enough at the deadline. Okay, it’s probably not true. They’ll find something else to complain about.

The Mariners lost to the Yankees in the opener, and both teams lost some players

It wasn’t all good for the Yankees in that first inning though, as surprise standout Matt Carpenter fouled a ball off his foot. It’s always a worry when that happens, and the Yankees worst fears were confirmed when it was released that he broke his foot and will be out for at least a month.

The Yankees would score two more in the third, although the Mariners would score one in the 4th to make it 4-2. It wasn’t where the Mariners wanted to be, obviously, but they’d weathered some early runs against Gilbert, and still had a chance.

That line of thought went out the window in the fifth when the Yankees would score three more and essentially put the game out of reach with a 7-2 lead. Oddly enough, that was the score in the first game they played in New York. Raleigh would homer later, Haggerty would drive in a ninth-inning run, and the Mariners would end up losing 9-4.

The big story from the game, for me at least, was the Mariners losing two players to injury. Hopefully neither are too bad, but I am worried about Ryan Borucki. Whenever you hear that a pitcher has a forearm strain, it should make you nervous. That ends up being a precursor to a torn ACL more often than you would like, and I really hope it isn’t the case. He’s been alright since joining the Mariners with a 4.26 ERA in 21 games, and it would be great for him to see it be just a strain.

Jesse Winker is the other injured Mariners player, and luckily, his does seem like it is just a day-to-day thing. He hurt his back on a swing early in the game and then aggravated it further while leaping for a ball later on. Currently listed as day-to-day, he shouldn’t be out long. With Haniger back, it makes the outfield not quite as thin, but the team is still without Winker and Julio for a few days. This means a lot of Moore and Haggerty in the outfield.

While Winker hasn’t been great, he has been hitting with a bit more power as of late, and it was a nice spark for the Mariners. With an off day Thursday, the hope is he is back to normal for the next series on Friday and they can move on for that game against the Rangers in Texas.

The Mariners will pick back up with a rematch in Gerrit Cole vs Luis Castillo, and I think we are all hoping for a repeat of the last game when the M’s put up six on Cole in the first inning. They’ll also look to repeat that series by losing the first game, and hopefully winning the next two. It’s a night game Tuesday and an afternoon game Wednesday, so clear your schedules to catch the games, and as always… Go Mariners!