A couple of familiar things happened Sunday as the New York Yankees nipped the Seattle Mariners, 2-1, before a season-high crowd of 43,389 at Safeco Field.
New York closer Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his 23rd save of the season, the 631st of his career and his 37th against the Mariners.
And Seattle starter Felix Hernandez allowed one run over seven innings but got no decision. It was the 22nd time in Hernandez’s career that he has gone at least seven innings, allowing one run or fewer, without a decision. That’s the most of any pitcher since Hernandez’s major-league debut in 2005.
“He had to work early on to find it and kind of get into the groove,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. “But once he did, then he was much more efficient from then on. He did a great job. I can’t say enough about what he’s doing.”
Hernandez struggled early, throwing 26 pitches in the first inning and giving up his lone run in the second.
Jayson Nix started the modest rally with a single up the middle, stole second, was bunted over to third and came home on a single by Brett Gardner, who had four hits on the afternoon.
However, when Hernandez took the mound for the third inning, you could almost hear the click.
“I was a little strong in the first two innings,” he said. “I was opening too quick. After that I just tried to calm down and make my pitches.”
The Mariners answered immediately with their only run, as Kelly Shoppach doubled and eventually came home on an infield single by Brendan Ryan.
After that, the Mariners couldn’t scratch across anything else against New York starter David Phelps or two other relievers leading up to Rivera.
“Regardless of who I’m pitching against I’m going to try to go out and put up as many zeroes as I can,” Phelps said. “It just so happens that if you’re facing an ace, you’ve got to try to keep them in the game a little bit more. (Hernandez has) done if for so long and he’s done it so well, you know that a lot of times you might only get one run; so you go out and try to pitch your game and keep them off the board as much as possible.”
As things turned out, New York (37-26) kept the Mariners (27-37) off the board the rest of the way. And that allowed the Yankees to survive with just one more run of their own. That came in the ninth, when Ichiro Suzuki walked, went to second on a ground ball, and scored on a Chris Stewart single.
Among Seattle’s modest offensive highlights, Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games, and Ryan recorded his third two-out RBI of the four-game series. Ryan has at least one hit in 18 of his past 25 games and is batting .314 over the stretch.
However, none of it added up to enough to avoid the second consecutive loss to New York, or to cheer Wedge.
“When we do create opportunities, we’re not taking advantage of it,” he said. “Having said that, we have to create more opportunities because you’re not going to come through every time. But we’ve damn sure got to do better than we’re doing right now. I know we’re beat up, we’re tired; I appreciate all that. But we’ve got to stick our nose in there and do a better job of fighting through (at-bats).”
With the score tied 1-1, the Mariners had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth when Alex Liddi doubled and Ryan bunted him to third. But Jason Bay and Nick Franklin both struck out, killing the threat.
Seattle’s main postgame consolation came from confirmation that Hernandez emerged physically sound. He walked off the mound briefly in the seventh inning, drawing a visit from Wedge, trainer Rick Griffin and several teammates. However, he finished the inning, and Wedge explained that Hernandez “got a little too amped up,” had trouble catching his breath, but was fine.
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