Seattle @ New York preview
Yankee Stadium
Last Meeting ( Jun 29, 2010 ) Seattle 7, NY Yankees 4
There are many reasons why the Seattle Mariners are buried at the bottom of the American League West cellar.
Chief among them have been a failure to consistently generate any offense and an inability to win on the road – two factors why the Mariners own the second-worst record in the AL.
For at least one night, Seattle solved both problems, riding the stellar pitching of Cliff Lee and a 12-hit attack to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.
It was just their 12th win away from home – third-fewest in the majors - and marked the third time this month that the Mariners had scored at least seven runs in a game.
Yet despite ranking last in the AL in runs scored (262) and home runs (45), Seattle has won eight of its last 11 games and will look to close out the month with its second straight win over the defending World Series champions.
The Mariners send out right-hander Felix Hernandez, who has found his groove after a rocky six-start stretch that produced four losses and two no-decisions.
Hernandez has tossed back-to-back complete games and was within an out of having thrown three in a row. He has worked at least eight innings in five of his six starts and is showing the form that carried him to a sparking 19-5 record a year ago.
Opposing Hernandez will be Javier Vazquez (6-6), who has won five of his least seven decisions after enduring a miserable start to the season in which he won just once in his first six starts.
A notorious innings-eater for much of his career, the 33-year-old right-hander had pitched seven innings in four consecutive starts prior to his last time out, when he lasted just five frames against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Vazquez will be facing a Seattle offense that appeared to be rejuvenated by the return of first baseman Russell Branyan, who was re-acquired from the Cleveland Indians over the weekend.
Branyan, who slugged 31 homers for the Mariners in 2009, was 1-for-4 Tuesday as every Seattle regular had at least one hit. He has had great success against Vazquez, going 3-for-6 – with all three hits leaving the ballpark.
Right fielder Nick Swisher walloped a pair of solo home runs in the series opener for the Yankees, who saw their lead in the American League East trimmed to one game by the Boston Red Sox.
A number of Yankees have had success in limited at-bats against Hernandez. Among the players who have faced him the most, Mark Teixeira is 11-for-36 with three home runs and Curtis Granderson is batting .360 (9-for-25) with 10 strikeouts.