Never in a million years would I have predicted this Mariners team could win a game in New York 2-1, let alone in extra innings, against THAT bullpen. My oh my indeed!
I was in the downtown Seattle Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Seahawks game, but I was so distracted by the little TV in the corner with the Mariners game on that I had to text my dad to have him DVR the football game, because I was missing too much.
I thought Ariel Miranda did a helluva job wiggling off the hook in a lot of self-inflicted jams. 4.2 innings isn’t anything to write home about, but he kept the Yankees off the scoreboard and that’s all you can ask when the games matter this much.
Kudos to Emilio Pagan for getting Miranda off the hook in that fifth inning and bridging the game into the seventh.
I thought Scott Servais did a terrible job putting David Phelps there in the eighth inning of a 1-run lead. That’s Nick Vincent territory! For the second time in a row, he brought Phelps into a VERY tough situation straight off the DL; how about a softer landing, huh???
So, yeah, it was a bummer that Phelps blew the save there in the eighth, but good on Vincent to keep the game tied at one and getting the game into extras.
Big ups to Mike Zunino for scoring the team’s only run against C.C. Sabathia with his solo homer to left. 7 innings of 1-run ball, with 5 hits, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts for the ageless wonder.
Even bigger ups to Yonder Alonso for the go-ahead solo homer off of Aroldis Chapman of all people! The M’s faced the teeth of the Yankees’ bullpen, loaded the bases on Dellin Betances, but couldn’t quite push the go-ahead run home in the top of the ninth.
And, closing it out, we have Edwin Diaz with his 30th save on the year. That’s how you do it!
The M’s picked up a game on the Wild Card-leading Yankees, and are within 0.5 games of the Twins for the second Wild Card spot (having passed over the Royals and Angels with their losses tonight). Two more games to go in New York; getting just the one victory was beyond my wildest dreams, so I don’t know what I’d do if we somehow managed to get two. Early starts the next two days, so it won’t take long to find out.