Field Level Media
Aug 28, 2019
Masahiro Tanaka pitched seven scoreless innings, and Aaron Judge reached a milestone with a tape-measure home run as the New York Yankees defeated the host Seattle Mariners 7-0 Tuesday night.
Brett Gardner also homered for the Yankees, who won their third consecutive game and remained tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the major leagues at 87-47.
Judge hit a two-run shot off Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (5-9) in the first inning. The blast to straightaway center field hit halfway up the batter's eye and was projected by Statcast at 462 feet.
The homer was the 100th of Judge's career, making him the third-fastest player to reach that mark. He accomplished the feat in 371 games, trailing only former Philadelphia standout Ryan Howard (325 games) and Yankees teammate Gary Sanchez (355).
Tanaka (10-7) didn't allow a hit until Kyle Seager's leadoff double to right field in the fifth. Tim Lopes reached on an infield single two outs later, but Tanaka got Dee Gordon to ground out to first base to end the inning.
The only other hit Tanaka allowed was a leadoff double to Omar Narvaez in the seventh. Tanaka walked one and struck out seven.
Kikuchi, a rookie from Japan, was facing countryman Tanaka for the first time. The Seattle lefty, who threw a two-hit shutout at Toronto in his previous start, lasted just four innings this time. He allowed five runs on eight hits with three walks and one strikeout.
Kikuchi struggled from the outset. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a line-drive single to left, and Judge followed by hitting the next pitch over the fence, his 17th home run of an injury-plagued season and his fourth in the past five games.
The Yankees took a 5-0 lead in the third on Gardner's three-run homer to right field, his 18th.
New York added a run off right-hander Reggie McClain in the fifth. Gio Urshela led off with a double to left and scored an out later on Austin Romine's groundout to short.
Luis Cessa tossed two innings to complete New York's shutout.
--Field Level Media