It started well for the Seattle Mariners.
But didn’t go so great for them after.
Dee Gordon struck first with speed on a leadoff double, causing havoc on the bases before scoring on Mitch Haniger’s fielder’s choice in the first inning.
But the New York Yankees struck with power. A lot of it.
There’s a reason they call them the Baby Bombers. The Yankees hit four homers, including two in a span of three batters in the fifth to bust a four-run lead on Marco Gonzales and cruised to a 7-2 victory in the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
The most baby of those bombers, rookie Gleyber Torres, had the most impressive shot, taking former Yankee Nick Rumbelow to the second level behind the left-field wall in the eighth to cap the clobbering. It was Torres’ 14th home run this year — and the Venezuelan is only 21 years old.
“In this ball park, that’s going to happen,” Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters afterward. “No question that’s how they’re built is to drive the ball out of the park.
“We got to get back to controlling the strike zone. Good chance we’ll see more of that in the series and for us to get on the right side of the series we got to make the adjustment.”
That’s two consecutive losses for the Mariners (46-27), who allowed three home runs in a 9-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
But Seattle had just two hits on their end in this one against 25-year-old right-hander Domingo German.
“We were on it early,” Servais said. “The quality of the at-bats throughout the lineup though wasn’t there. German was effectively wild with his stuff. Give him credit, he made pitches when he had to.”
Gonzales struck out the first two batters he faced in the game, Aaron Hicks and Aaron Judge.
But then came Ginacarlo Stanton. The reigning National League MVP in his first season with the Yankees launched the first curveball he saw over the center-field wall for a solo home run to tie the game 1-1.
It remained that way until the fifth. Gonzales bounced back and German didn’t allow a hit for 18 consecutive Mariners batters after Gordon’s leadoff double.
Then more Yankees homers.
Miguel Andujar rocketed a two-run shot and two batters later Hicks hit a two-run homer to put the Yankees ahead, 5-1.
Nelson Cruz added a home run of his own for Seattle in the seventh, sending the first pitch he saw from German just over the left-field wall for his 18th of the season, but Torres then took Rumbelow yard the next inning for a 7-2 Yankees lead.
German allowed just two hits in seven innings, with no walks, nine strikeouts and the one run allowed.
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