While the New York Yankees are starting to gain some separation in their bid to hold on to the American League’s top wild-card spot, the Seattle Mariners are fading fast.
The Yankees will attempt to produce enough clutch at-bats and widen their lead in the wild-card race on Wednesday night when they host the Mariners, who hope to see their offense get going and snap a five-game losing streak.
New York is 17-10 over its past 27 games and has won three of four since letting its lead over the Red Sox slip to a half-game on Thursday. New York heads into Wednesday’s contest with a three-game lead over Boston while trying to catch the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
New York, which trails the Rays by six games, earned its latest win by opening the series against Seattle with a 4-1 victory Tuesday. Ryan McMahon and Trent Grisham delivered two-run singles against relievers Michael Rucker and Eduard Bazardo, and the Yankees went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
McMahon and Grisham gave the Yankees a rare win decided by three runs or more. New York’s previous six victories were by two runs or less, and the Yankees scored four runs for the sixth time in 23 games since the All-Star break.
“I hope it serves us well in the end,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of constantly playing in tight games. “I think there’s value in playing in these games and proving we can win in these games. It’s a testament to how good the pitching’s been.”
Seattle has tied a season worst by losing five straight for the third time. This skid is part of a stretch of 14 losses in 19 games, and since their last victory, the Mariners are hitting .178 and have been outscored 24-5.
On Tuesday, Randy Arozarena homered, but the Mariners were held to three hits. The other two hits were infield singles, and none were by Cal Raleigh, who is 3-for-23 in his past seven games and 7-for-51 in his past 15.
“It’s not good,” Raleigh said. “We’re not playing well. That starts with me. I’m awful. It is what it is. I got to find a way to be better and help bring the guys along. We just got to play better ultimately.
“We’re just playing very, very bad, bad baseball. Every facet of the game you got to pick it up from the energy standpoint to the execution to the little things in the game that help you win baseball games, and we’re just not doing it right now.”
The Mariners endured another quiet night while Josh Naylor was held out due to wrist soreness. He is day-to-day along with reliever Gabe Speier (back discomfort).
New York right-hander Will Warren (8-6, 4.18 ERA) will start on Wednesday. He has given up no runs in two of his past four outings, and last Wednesday he allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings during a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Warren is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in two career starts against the Mariners.
Bryce Miller (4-6, 3.08 ERA) will start for Seattle and is seeking his first win in over a month. Since pitching seven innings in a 1-0 win over the Angels on July 2, he is 0-4 in his past six starts, including Thursday, when he allowed four runs on five hits in five innings of an 11-0 loss to the Tigers.
Miller is 0-2 with a 7.56 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
