Even while the New York Yankees struggled to score at times last week, they believed they were producing good at-bats.
The strong results offensively have resulted in 14 runs over the past two nights.
The Yankees will seek another productive showing at the plate on Thursday afternoon when they host the sliding Seattle Mariners.
On Wednesday, New York pulled away for a 10-5 victory thanks to an offense that totaled 13 hits, including six doubles.
“More encouraging signs,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I’ll take it back to even the Saturday (game) against Chris Sale, I thought we had a good offensive performance, but even getting shut down Sunday (a 2-1 loss to Atlanta), I thought there were some good things.”
New York’s Trent Grisham is coming off his third straight multi-hit game, and that effort — his fourth three-hit game of the season — featured a pair of homers and a tiebreaking RBI double in the seventh on Wednesday. The center fielder is 8-for-17 with three homers and seven RBIs in his past four games.
Rookie Spencer Jones also drove in three runs with a pair of doubles on Wednesday while hitting third for the second time in his career. The outfielder has 10 RBIs in his past 13 games.
New York is coming off scoring 10 runs for the first time since July 9 and only the third time since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured rib two months ago
Seattle will attempt to avoid its first seven-game slide since Aug. 11-18, 2020. The Mariners have been outscored 34-10 in their six-game skid and also are 5-15 in their past 20 games.
Seattle heads into Thursday after scoring five runs for the fourth time in its past 20 games. Randy Arozarena belted a two-run homer Wednesday and has gone deep in both games of the three-game series, while Julio Rodriguez is hitting .316 in his past 11 games after homering Wednesday.
“We just got to find a way,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said after his team hit three homers for the first time since July 28. “That’s really the bottom line to it is finding a way.”
Left-hander Max Fried (4-3, 2.88 ERA), who has a 1.83 ERA in four no-decisions since returning from the injured list, will start on Thursday for the Yankees.
Fried’s pitch count is gradually increasing, and he threw 90 pitches when he allowed three hits in 6 1/3 innings against Atlanta on Friday during his sixth scoreless start this season. New York beat the Braves 3-2 in 10 innings.
Fried is 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in four career starts against Seattle.
Right-hander Logan Gilbert (8-7, 3.42 ERA), who is 0-1 with a 3.54 ERA in his past three starts, will pitch for Seattle on Thursday.
Gilbert has allowed two runs or less in 12 starts this season, including a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Friday, when he allowed two runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Gilbert is 2-4 with a 6.80 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees, who batted .301 in those games.
–Field Level Media
