Walker stumbles in return as Yankees beat Mariners 5-1
Published 9:45 pm Tuesday, August 23, 2016
By Bob Dutton
The News Tribune
SEATTLE — Taijuan Walker’s return Tuesday to the Seattle Mariners’ rotation mirrored his season. There were tantalizing moments of promise that faded into disappointment. And a 5-1 loss to New York Yankees.
Walker permitted just one hit through four innings, although that hit cost him a run, but he started the fifth by yielding a line-drive double to Ronald Torreyes.
Then came a two-run homer by Jacoby Ellsbury, whom Walker had struck out in two previous at-bats. The Yankees had a 3-1 lead, added another run in the sixth inning, and that was it.
New York veteran lefty CC Sabathia (8-10) delivered a turn-back-the-clock effort in limiting the Mariners to one run and three hits in seven innings before Tommy Layne and Dellin Betances closed out the victory.
So it wasn’t just Walker. A punchless attack gets a portion of the blame. So, too, does a defense that coughed up two unearned runs.
The combination resulted in a loss that dropped the Mariners to two games behind Baltimore in the race for the American League’s final wild-card berth with 37 games remaining.
The Mariners recalled Walker (4-8) earlier Tuesday from Triple-A Tacoma, where he had served a two-start remedial tour after a disappointing Aug. 6 effort against the Angels.
Walker balked at the demotion, which came after he made just one start following a month-long stay on the disabled list because of tendinitis in his right foot.
Even so, he pitched well at Tacoma, which made him the obvious choice when an injury-thinned rotation forced the Mariners to sift through possibilities for a starting pitcher.
So this was an opportunity. A wasted one. Walker gave up four runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings. Not awful. Just not what he or the Mariners needed.
The game’s first run scored after two-out error by third baseman Kyle Seager in the second inning. Walker then walked Aaron Hicks before Torreyes yanked an RBI double to left.
Walker limited the damage to one run by striking out Jacoby Ellsbury with runners at second and third.
Sabathia retired the first seven Mariners before Leonys Martin flicked a drive into the right-field corner that bounced away from Aaron Judge for a one-out triple in the third inning.
Ketel Marte sent a broken-bat grounder up the middle through a shortened infield for an RBI single, which tied the game at 1-1. The Mariners got nothing more.
Walker had allowed only the one hit before Torreyes opened the fifth with a near-identical double to left. Ellsbury then followed by driving a 94-mph fastball over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.
The Yankees boosted their lead to 4-1 in the sixth after Mark Teixeira’s leadoff double. He went to third on a grounder and scored on Judge’s sacrifice fly.
New York’s final run came against Wade LeBlanc in the ninth inning after left fielder Guillermo Heredia turned Ellsbury’s leadoff liner into a two-base error. Didi Gregorius followed with an RBI double.
