Yankees take early lead then bullpen holds off M's without Aroldis Chapman
The Yankees' Aaron Judge is congratulated after scoring against the Mariners during the first inning on Wednesday in Seattle. Credit: AP/Elaine Thompson
SEATTLE — As soon as the game reached the eighth inning, the Yankees ahead by just a run, intrigue.
Intrigue as in: who would close?
Not Aroldis Chapman.
Indeed, rather than the struggling Chapman getting the nod, it was righty Chad Green brought on to protect the slimmest of leads.
Green got the job done, striking out two in a perfect ninth that secured 5-4 victory over the Mariners in front of 17,205 at T-Mobile Park.
"Just felt like that’s what the game called for there," Aaron Boone said afterward. "Obviously, Greeny’s throwing the ball incredibly well. He’s in a really good spot. He’s making few mistakes."
Green, in lowering his ERA to 2.23 in 35 games, needed 18 pitches to record his seventh career save, third this season.
"I think when anybody closes out the last three outs of a game, I think it just means more," Green said. "I think anybody who's been in that situation in the past realizes how hard it is, and those are three very difficult outs to get. So anytime you have an opportunity to finish a game, I think it's just exciting."
The Yankees (43-41), winners in the first two games of this series after arriving here Monday having lost seven of their last nine, improved to 21-4 in this ballpark since 2013 and 26-8 since 2011. They outhit the Mariners (45-42), 10-3.
Getting a two-run single from Gleyber Torres that highlighted a three-run first inning and a two-run homer by Aaron Judge in the second (his 20th), the Yankees jumped to a 5-1 lead after two.
But Domingo German, scratched from his start after undergoing emergency root canal surgery earlier in the day but coming in out of the bullpen, allowed a three-run homer to Tom Murphy in the sixth that suddenly made it 5-4.
German, who pitched a perfect fifth after taking over for Luis Cessa, recovered for a perfect seventh. Jonathan Loaisiga continued his mostly stellar season with a dominant eighth, setting up Green.
Cessa was terrific in relief of spot starter Nick Nelson, who likely will be ticketed back to the minors after allowing one run and three walks over two-thirds of an inning. He left a bases-loaded jam for Cessa, who got out of it when Shed Long Jr. hit a grounder to short. Cessa went on to allow one hit over 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
"A little of both," Cessa said with a smile, asked if coming into the situation he did in the first made him nervous or excited.
Of his overall outing, Cessa said: "The key for me was to stay focused and attack hitters early in the counts because this team is really aggressive."
The Yankees, as they did Tuesday night, were aggressive in bolting from gate early, this time against lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who came in 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA, having just been named to the AL All-Star team. He would need 29 pitches to get through the first and would be gone after five innings having allowed five runs and eight hits.
Judge worked a one-out walk — making it 42 of his last 49 games in which the rightfielder reached base at least once — and Gary Sanchez also walked. Luke Voit, coming off the first five-hit night of his career Tuesday, roped a first-pitch slider to left, the RBI single bringing in Judge to make it 1-0. Torres, in a 5-for-23 slide and returning to the lineup after missing Tuesday’s game with a sore left hamstring, followed by sending a first-pitch cutter to left-center, the single scoring Sanchez and Voit to make it 3-0.
"That’s big," Judge said of his team taking early leads back-to-back nights. "You can just tell the flow of the game is different. Our pitchers are able to attack guys differently, guys at the plate are maybe a little more comfortable knowing that, ‘hey, I don’t have to get the job done, we already have the lead, now I can focus on trying to get my pitch and drive it rather than trying to do too much…When we get a lead it just changes everything for us."
Nelson was a wreck in the bottom half of the first, however. He hit the second batter he faced, Mitch Haniger, with a pitch and walked Kyle Seager. Haniger went to third on Ty France’s long fly out to center and came in on a wild pitch with Jake Fraley at the plate. Nelson walked Fraley and Murphy to load the bases and Aaron Boone, clearly not wanting to take any chances, called on Cessa, who retired Shed Long Jr. on a routine grounder to short.
Tim Locastro, starting in left after getting the start in center Tuesday, led off the second with a double to center. After DJ LeMahieu flied to center, Judge drove a 2-and-1 slider halfway up the second deck in left.
"An absolute bomb," said a grinning Locastro, who was standing on third for Judge’s blast. "It was fun to watch that leave the stadium."
Cessa retired the first eight he faced before Murphy collected the Mariners’ first hit of the night, a ground shot back up the middle that glanced off the second base bag and shot into the outfield grass. Cessa made sure there was nothing further, getting Long Jr. to ground into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play, making it nine of 10 batters retired for the pitcher.
German, after his perfect fifth, found trouble in the sixth. The inning started with Haniger chopping one to third where Gio Urshela charged in but misplayed the hop, the ball skipping under his glove for an error (the play somehow was initially scored a hit before correctly being changed to an error).
It was costly.
German struck out Kyle Seager, but Ty France singled and, after Fraley struck out, Murphy hammered a 1-0, 94-mph fastball to left, his seventh homer making it 5-4.
Still, the Yankees hung on, winning the kind of game they’ve taken their share of losses in so far this season.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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