Seattle 4, NY Yankees 3
When: 1:05 PM ET, Saturday, July 18, 2015
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Temperature:
78°
Umpires:
Home -
Gary Cederstrom, 1B -
Eric Cooper, 2B -
Lance Barksdale, 3B -
Quinn Wolcott
Attendance:
46119
By The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK -- Robinson Cano heard the booing from most of a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium but paid little attention to the noise.
Instead, the second baseman directed his focus to making loud sounds with his bat.
In a game that manager Lloyd McClendon felt was a "must-win," Cano carried the Seattle Mariners to a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees by hitting a pair of long two-run home runs Saturday afternoon.
New York drew its sixth sellout crowd of the season and most directed their venom at Cano, who signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with Seattle following the 2013 season.
"I don't really pay attention," Cano said. "I'm not going to be the first or the last. I don't pay attention to how many boos. I just hear the boos. Honestly I don't really care."
Instead Seattle cared more about getting a win after opening the second half with a 4-3 loss Friday when Cano went 0-for-4.
The Mariners wasted little time rebounding.
Cano blasted the first pitch he saw, turning on a Michael Pineda fastball and driving in to center field into the loading dock area adjacent to Monument Park with one out in the first inning.
Before recording his 14th career multi-homer game and first since July 1, 2013, at Minnesota, Cano had a .249 average, was hitless in six previous at-bats against Pineda and 2-for-18 against the Yankees this season.
"I don't know how comfortable he is here when he has 40,000 people here booing him," McClendon said. "He likes this stadium, he likes hitting in a lot of places. Robby's Robby and he's going to hit. I've said that a thousand times he's going to hit."
"He's a really good player," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira added. "He does everything well."
Cano followed his first home run with a base hit in the third and in his next at-bat in the sixth, he drove a 0-1 fastball into the second deck in right field. The ball landed near some fans holding a sign that read "New York Loves Cano" but more importantly for the Mariners that hit came two innings after right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma (2-1) gave up a two-run home run to catcher Brian McCann.
"It's a game-changer," Iwakuma said through an interpreter. "They came back and tied the game and then he gave us a two-run lead and that gives us momentum. That makes it a lot better and when Cano hits we have to win."
Cano's big day raised his average to .254 and gave him eight home runs and 34 RBIs. He began his second season with the Mariners hitting .236 in his first 63 games but over his last 25 games, Cano is batting .300 (30-for-100) with six home runs and 15 RBIs.
"It's crazy because if you look at the average, people get caught up in the average but I think in here we've all seen it," Seattle center fielder Austin Jackson said. "He's swinging the bat well. He doesn't really get a lot to show for it but it's starting to fall for him. He's heating up at the right time."
"We know he's a really good player," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We know that."
Iwakuma allowed the two-run home run among five hits in 5 2/3 innings. In his third start since returning from a lat injury, Iwakuma recorded three of his five strikeouts against designated hitter Alex Rodriguez.
Iwakuma exited after throwing 76 pitches with two on in the sixth, and five relievers combined to limit the Yankees to one run and two hits over the final 3 1/3 innings.
Left-hander Joe Beimel recorded the final out of the sixth and Mark Lowe pitched a scoreless seventh. Vidal Nuno recorded the first two outs of the eighth and Fernando Rodney retired Rodriguez for the final out.
Then things became dangerous for Carson Smith, who gave up a leadoff double to Teixeira on a ball that Jackson appeared to misjudge. After throwing a wild pitch on a strikeout to third baseman Chase Headley, he allowed an RBI groundout to right fielder Garrett Jones before getting his seventh save in eight opportunities.
In his second career start since being traded from Seattle three years ago, Pineda (9-6) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings.
NOTES: Yankees manager Joe Girardi said there is a good chance that OF Carlos Beltran will be activated from the disabled list Sunday after missing over two weeks because of an oblique injury. ... Seattle LHP Charlie Furbush (left biceps tendinitis) was slated to throw a bullpen session but manager Lloyd McClendon said he was experiencing more discomfort and will be shut down until next week. ... The Yankees swapped pitchers in their latest transaction, optioning RHP Bryan Mitchell to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre and recalling RHP Branden Pinder from there. ... Seattle's Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager are the fourth pair of teammates to record multi home run games in the same series at Yankee Stadium. The first pair of teammates were Russell Branyan and Ichiro Suzuki for the Mariners Aug. 20-21, 2010.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Seattle |
|
NY Yankees |
Hisashi Iwakuma
|
Player |
Michael Pineda |
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
5.2 |
IP |
6.0 |
5 |
Strikeouts |
2 |
5 |
Hits |
6 |
3.18 |
ERA |
6.00 |
Hitting
Seattle |
|
NY Yankees |
Robinson Cano
| Player |
Mark Teixeira |
3 |
Hits |
2 |
4 |
RBI |
0 |
2 |
HR |
0 |
9 |
TB |
3 |
.750 |
Avg |
.500 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Seattle
|
7 |
2 |
13 |
.212 |
10 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
NY Yankees
|
7 |
1 |
12 |
.200 |
11 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |