Yankees Rally to Sweep Mariners

Just as they have been for most of this season, the Yankees were struggling against a left-handed starter. In this case it was the Mariners Jarrod Washburn. Thankfully, Mariners manager John McLaren pulled him after the 6th inning. The Yankees rallied for 4 runs in the 8th inning to beat the Mariners 6-5 and completed a 3-game sweep in the process. The victory also extended the Yankees winning streak to 5 games, and it was also the first game that the Yankees came back, in 23 attempts, this season to win when being down after the 7th inning.

Derek Jeter lead off the 8th with a walk against Sean Green and he came around to score on Bobby Abreu's double off of lefty Arthur Rhodes, cutting the lead to 5-3. McLaren quickly went to his closer J.J. Putz for a 6-out save, but the big right-hander walked Alex Rodriguez. Putz got a break when Jason Giambi was called out on strikes a 2-2 pitch that was well out of the strike zone, for the 1st out. But Hideki Matsui, pinch-hitting for Shelley Duncan, hit a little dribbler to the right out of the mound. Putz (1-2, BS 3) lunged for, going to his knees as he fielded it. His throw was wild to 1st Base, allowing Abreu to score and A-Rod to move to 3rd. Robinson Cano's sac fly to deep center not only tied the game at 5-5, but allowed Matsui to reach 2nd Base. Jose Molina then delivered a 2-out double to deep center to give the Yankees their first lead of the day, 6-5. Then it was all up to the Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and the king of the bullpen came through again with a 1-2-3 9th inning for his 12th save in as many chances.

The Yankees got the opportunity to win because reliever Edwar Ramirez gave them 1.2 innings of shutout relief after starter Chien-Ming Wang faltered. Ramirez (1-0) has now thrown 12.2 scoreless innings over 11 appearances this season. He's also struck out 15.

With the game tied 1-1 in the 3rd, Wang issued walks to Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson, sandwiched around a single by Kenji Johjima, to load the bases. Yuniesky Betancourt singled through the left side for a 2-1 Mariners lead and Duncan mishandled Ichiro Suzuki's grounder to 1st to allow another runner to score. If not for an odd double play, the inning could have been bigger for the Mariners. Duncan dropped Jose Lopez's line drive, but threw home to force Johjima at the plate. Molina then fired to Cano at 2nd to complete an odd 3-2-6 double play.

The Mariners finally drove Wang to the showers in the 7th after Joe Girardi probably left him in too long. Wang allowed 1-out hits to Betancourt and Lopez to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Vidro then singled to right-center to plate both runners and pushed the Mariners lead to 5-2.

News and Notes

Derek Jeter's RBI double in the 2nd and Johnny Damon's RBI ground out in the 5th were the Yankees runs prior to the 8th.

The victory was the 2nd of Edwar Ramirez's brief major league career.

Ichiro Suzuki homered in the 2nd inning, his 3rd of the season.

May 25, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Seattle	0	0	1	2	0	0	2	0	0		5	9	1
NY Yankees	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	4	X		6	8	1

Seattle	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Suzuki, CF	5	2	2	2	0	0	2	.289
Lopez, 2B	5	1	1	0	0	0	3	.299
Vidro, DH	5	0	2	2	0	1	0	.239
Ibanez, LF	4	0	0	0	1	1	1	.273
Beltre, 3B	3	0	0	0	1	0	3	.253
Johjima, C	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	.219
Sexson, 1B	3	1	0	0	1	3	1	.197
Balentien, RF	3	0	0	0	1	1	4	.215
Betancourt, SS	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	.278
Totals	36	5	9	5	4	6	15
BATTING 2B: Lopez (13, Wang). HR: Suzuki (3, 3rd inning off Wang, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Suzuki 5; Lopez 2; Vidro 2; Johjima 2; Betancourt 2. RBI: Suzuki 2 (13), Betancourt (18), Vidro 2 (24). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Beltre; Suzuki. GIDP: Lopez. Team LOB: 8. FIELDING E: Putz (1, throw). DP: 2 (Lopez-Betancourt-Sexson, Betancourt-Sexson).

Seattle	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Washburn	6.0	4	2	2	3	2	0	6.54
Green (H, 4)	1.0	1	1	1	1	0	0	4.10
Rhodes	0.0	1	1	1	0	0	0	5.59
Putz (BS, 3)(L, 1-2)	1.0	2	2	2	1	1	0	4.50

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.266
Jeter, SS	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	.287
Abreu, RF	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	.294
Rodriguez, 3B	2	1	1	0	2	0	0	.295
Giambi, DH	2	0	0	0	1	2	3	.230
Duncan, S, 1B	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	.176
a-Matsui, PH	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.321
Ensberg, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.203
Cano, 2B	2	1	0	1	1	0	2	.229
Molina, C	4	0	2	1	0	1	0	.216
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.255
Totals	28	6	8	5	5	3	14
a-Singled for Duncan, S in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Damon (14, Washburn), Jeter (7, Washburn), Abreu (11, Rhodes), Molina (10, Putz). TB: Damon 2; Jeter 2; Abreu 2; Rodriguez; Matsui; Molina 3; Cabrera. RBI: Jeter (23), Damon (20), Abreu (32), Cano (19), Molina (5). 2-out RBI: Jeter; Molina. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Abreu; Jeter; Duncan, S; Cabrera. S: Cabrera. SF: Cano. GIDP: Cano; Duncan, S. Team LOB: 6. BASERUNNING SB: Rodriguez (2, 2nd base off Washburn/Johjima), Damon (6, 3rd base off Washburn/Johjima). FIELDING E: Duncan, S (2, fielding). DP: (Duncan, S-Molina-Jeter).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang	6.1	7	5	5	4	2	1	3.82
Ramirez (W, 1-0)	1.2	2	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Rivera (S, 12)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.45

Green pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
Rhodes pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

HBP: Giambi (by Washburn).
Pitches-strikes: Washburn 95-53, Green 16-9, Rhodes 9-6, Putz 18-11,
Wang 112-70, Ramirez 24-17, Rivera 16-12.
Ground outs-fly outs: Washburn 12-4, Green 3-0, Rhodes 0-0, Putz 1-1,
Wang 12-5, Ramirez 1-2, Rivera 0-1.
Batters faced: Washburn 24, Green 5, Rhodes 1, Putz 6, Wang 30,
Ramirez 7, Rivera 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Rhodes 1-1, Putz 1-1, Ramirez 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Mike Everitt. 1B: Tim McClelland. 2B: Mike DiMuro.
3B: Larry Vanover.
Weather: 73 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 6 mph, Out to LF.
T: 3:10.
Att: 54,269.