The Yankees were no-hit for seven innings, but a late rally forced extras and Aaron Judge‘s walk-off sac fly lifted New York to an improbable 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night in the Bronx.
Mariners starter Bryan Woo was excellent but the Yankees bats would get to the Seattle bullpen with three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth off of All-Star reliever Andres Munoz to get the game to the 10th inning. Devin Williams shut down the Mariners, allowing the Yankees to bring home the winning run in the bottom half of the 10th.
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The Yankees’ sweep of Seattle extended the team’s winning streak to four games and they will enter the final series before the All-Star break two games behind the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who were off on Thursday.
Here are the takeaways…
-The Yankees lineup had a tall order on Thursday, taking on All-Star Woo. However, the Yanks led off the game with back-to-back walks to put Woo in trouble early. Judge struck out swinging before Cody Bellinger grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The most walks Woo had allowed in a game this season was two. He tied that in the first inning but that’s all the Yankees could do against the young right-hander. Woo would retire 20 in a row, working a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
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Jazz Chisholm Jr. — who declared for the Home Run Derby on Thursday — led off the eighth with a groundball single off of Woo to end the no-hit bid. Ben Rice followed with a single of his own. Austin Wells drove in the Yankees’ first run with a sac fly, which knocked Woo out of the game. Manager Aaron Boone had Giancarlo Stanton pinch-hit against reliever Matt Brash and he launched a two-run shot to pull the Yankees to 5-3. It’s the first pinch-hit homer in Stanton’s career.
Woo was excellent, though, and threw 103 pitches (67 strikes) across 7.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits, two walks while striking out five batters.
-Against Munoz, Trent Grisham led off the ninth with a single. Judge flew out on the first pitch he saw before Bellinger singled to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Chisholm flew out and Rice walked to load the bases for Wells. The Yankees backstop singled home two to tie the game at 5-5 before Volpe flew out.
In the 10th, with Volpe on second as the ghost-runner, pinch-hitter Oswald Peraza failed to get the bunt down against left-hander Gabe Speier before the pinch-hitting Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked. Speier walked Grisham, setting up Judge with the bases loaded. The Yankee Captain lofted a hanging slider to shallow center and Julio Rodriguez came home with a strong throw, but Volpe slid around Cal Raleigh‘s tag for the win.
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–Marcus Stroman had a tough task to try and match Woo and did a solid job. After a scoreless first, he allowed one run on two hits and a walk, but worked out of trouble. He worked a one-run game into the fourth inning when he winced in pain covering first on a groundout. Stroman was checked on by trainers but the veteran right-hander said he was fine to continue. He allowed a ground-rule double to the next batter that Grisham couldn’t get to — it had a 60 percent catch rate — a groundout and then an RBI single to Miles Mastrobuoni. Another single, and a mound visit later, Stroman got Rodriguez to ground out to stop further damage.
Stroman would grind through five innings (90 pitches/55 strikes), allowing two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three. He also lowered his ERA to 6.66 on the season.
-The Yankees bullpen also did well to keep the Mariners off the board until the seventh inning. Clayton Beeter had pitched 1.2 scoreless innings before he got into trouble. Two walks brought up Jorge Polanco, who deposited a three-run shot over the right field wall to put the Mariners up 5-0.
JT Brubaker picked up three key outs and Ian Hamilton got through the ninth inning without allowing a run to give the Yankees offense a chance.
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–Jasson Dominguez led off for the Yankees for the third game in a row but finished 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Judge went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and his average has dipped to .356 on the season but his first career walk-off sac fly made up for it.
Bellinger went 1-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 15 games. It’s the second 15-game hitting streak this season for Bellinger, the first time that’s happened since Derek Jeter in 2012.
Game MVP: Austin Wells
Judge’s sac fly was great, but the Yankees don’t get there unless Wells ties the game in the ninth.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees welcome the Chicago Cubs into the Bronx for a three-game series starting Friday. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
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The Cubs will have Chris Flexen (5-0, 0.83 ERA) on the mound while the Yankees have yet to announce a probable starter.
