Mariners at Yankees
The Seattle Mariners have led the majors in homers for the bulk of the season and hit two more Monday, but even the most powerful lineup in baseball cannot seem to solve the riddle of the New York Yankees. The Yankees set their sights on a sixth straight home win against the Mariners and look to beat them for a 14th time in 17 meetings overall when they play the second of four games on Tuesday.
New York jumped all over Felix Hernandez in Monday's opener, getting home runs from Luke Voit, Brett Gardner and Thairo Estrada - the first of his career - to build a seven-run lead after three innings and hold on for a 7-3 victory. The Yankees, who have not lost a season series to Seattle since 2003 (12-0-4), are the American League's hottest team since their 6-9 start, reeling off wins in 14 of 19 to close within two games of Tampa Bay for the top spot in the AL East. The Mariners showed off the form they enjoyed during their 13-2 start in Sunday's 10-0 victory in Cleveland, but they did little offensively outside of home runs from Domingo Santana and Dee Gordon on Monday. Even including Sunday's result, Seattle has been outscored 60-25 while dropping seven of its last eight.
TV: 6:35 p.m. ET, ROOT Northwest (Seattle), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH Marco Gonzales (5-1, 3.28 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (2-3, 3.92)
Gonzales lost for the first time in 12 starts dating back to last August in Wednesday's setback at the Chicago Cubs after he was charged with six runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings. The Gonzaga product went 6-0 with a 2.45 ERA during his undefeated stretch, never allowing more than three earned runs. Miguel Andujar finished 2-for-3 with a two-run homer as the Yankees tagged Gonzales for six runs in 6 1/3 innings last June, sending him to a loss in his only career outing against them.
Tanaka returns to New York after getting roughed up and taking the loss in each of his last two road turns. The former All-Star went 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA over his first five starts of the season before surrendering six runs (five earned) across 5 2/3 frames versus the Los Angeles Angels on April 25 and three runs over four innings in Arizona on Wednesday. Edwin Encarnacion (11-for-25, two homers versus Tanaka) will try to change Seattle's luck against the 30-year-old, who is 7-0 with a 2.02 ERA in eight starts versus the Mariners.
WALK-OFFS
1. Voit, who has six homers and 14 RBIs over his last 13 contests, is batting .386 with seven blasts and 37 RBIs with runners in scoring position since making his Yankee debut on Aug. 2, 2018.
2. Gordon is hitting .489 with runners in scoring position this season, second only to Boston's Andrew Benintendi (.545).
3. Seattle's 70 homers are tied for the most in club history through 37 games (1999).