Before his last start, I wrote about how Tanaka needs to be the Yankees’ stopper. He proceeded to throw over 30 pitches in the first inning, allow three runs and essentially hand Oakland a win before the Yankees went through their lineup.
Now, it’s up to Tanaka to keep the good vibes going. The other four pitchers have given the Yankees enough to win their last four, though they’ve only taken three. The right-hander doesn’t have to duplicate James Paxton’s ace-level outing from Los Angeles, but it’d be nice to see progress from his last game.
Luckily, Tanaka is essentially at home with the way he owns the Mariners over his MLB career. He is 7-0 with a 2.19 ERA over nine career starts and improves to a 1.70 ERA at T-Mobile Park. This isn’t the same M’s team, though it might be worse.
To the lineups!
Yankees (86-47)
- DJ LeMahieu, 2B
- Aaron Judge, RF
- Gleyber Torres, SS
- Gary Sanchez, DH
- Brett Gardner, CF
- Gio Urshela, 3B
- Mike Tauchman, LF
- Austin Romine, C
- Mike Ford, 1B
RHP Masahiro Tanaka
Mariners (56-76)
- Mallex Smith, CF
- J.P. Crawford, SS
- Omar Narvaez, DH
- Kyle Seager, 3B
- Tom Murphy, C
- Daniel Vogelbach, 1B
- Tim Lopes, LF
- Dee Gordon, 2B
- Dylan Moore, RF
LHP Yusei Kikuchi
News & Notes
- Luis Severino had a 35-pitch bullpen session and is slated to make a rehab appearance in Trenton on Sunday. It’ll be his first game action since ALDS Game 3 last year.
- No Didi or Maybin in the lineup today, though Didi was on the field making plays in pregame.
- Giancarlo Stanton took BP on the field today. Slowly but surely, this team could actually be getting healthy?
- MLB confirmed that Cory Gearrin’s motion yesterday was legal and he shouldn’t have been called for a balk. I love balks, but only real ones. I prefer the accidental kind.
- MLB also confirmed that the ump made the wrong call in Saturday’s ninth inning, but there was no grounds for protest. Oh well.
For the final time this season, the Yankees have a 10:10 p.m. start. Game will be on YES, and you don’t have to worry about weather with the retractable roof. Enjoy!