09/19: Ichiro Takes Mo Deep for Walk-off as Yankees Lose to Mariners, 3-2
Posted by: Patrick
At times this season, A.J. Burnett has been brilliant. Unfortunately, the consistency hasn't exactly been there. On May 22, his ERA was 5.28. On July 27, it was 3.53. Before last night's game, it was 4.33. For his last 10 starts, here is the number of earned runs he allowed in each one: 6, 1, 6, 3, 9, 3, 3, 0, 7 and 0. 0-3, we can work with. The 6s, 7 and 9... not so much. In that span, he was 2-5 and the team was 5-5.
Out of his 29 starts this season, he allowed 0 runs on five occasions, 1-3 sixteen times, 4-6 five times and 7 or more three times. Suffice to say, now would be a good time to string together some nice starts before the postseason.
You can count last night as a "nice start." 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Yes, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses in the game (28th in runs scored, as I write this), but you have to take what you can get.
Mariners' starter Felix Hernandez was right there with him against baseball's highest scoring offense, holding the Yankees to two runs, only one earned, over nine innings pitched. He allowed 8 hits and walked one.
The Yankees scored in the first when A-Rod hit a sac fly that scored Jeter. In the sixth, Johnny Damon led off the inning with a single and then made it all the way to third on a passed ball. Mark Teixeira did his job, bringing Johnny home on his own sacrifice fly.
This led to Mariano Rivera coming out to close down a one run win in the ninth. Things started off great. Two batters up, two strikeouts. Mike Sweeney was inserted as a pinch hitter and doubled, to put a runner on second for Ichiro. Ichiro did what we'd done only 9 other times this year: hit a home run. He took a pitch that was a ways outside and deposited it into the seats for a two-out, walk-off Seattle win.
Steve Lombardi at WasWatching.com mentioned that Ichiro becomes only the fourth player to hit a walk-off home run off of Rivera to end a 9 inning game. One other player has done it in extra innings. Lost in the shuffle was Mo picking up his 1,000th strikeout. Congrats to him on that, but I'm sure it doesn't mean much, at the time, when you lose.
It was only Mariano's second blown save of the year and the first since April 24. Here's how the top 5 save leaders in the American League break down:
1. Brian Fuentes, Angels - 43 saves, 7 blown
2. Joe Nathan, Twins - 42 saves, 5 blown
3. Rivera, 40 saves, 2 blown
4. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox - 37 saves, 3 blown
5. David Aardsma, Mariners - 35 saves, 6 blown
It's another late one tonight as CC Sabathia (17-7, 3.42) will go against Doug Fister (2-2, 3.53) at 10:10 PM ET.
Recap records: Seamus: 45–23, Patrick: 38–20, Andrew: 11–11
Out of his 29 starts this season, he allowed 0 runs on five occasions, 1-3 sixteen times, 4-6 five times and 7 or more three times. Suffice to say, now would be a good time to string together some nice starts before the postseason.
You can count last night as a "nice start." 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks and 6 strikeouts. Yes, the Mariners have one of the worst offenses in the game (28th in runs scored, as I write this), but you have to take what you can get.
Mariners' starter Felix Hernandez was right there with him against baseball's highest scoring offense, holding the Yankees to two runs, only one earned, over nine innings pitched. He allowed 8 hits and walked one.
The Yankees scored in the first when A-Rod hit a sac fly that scored Jeter. In the sixth, Johnny Damon led off the inning with a single and then made it all the way to third on a passed ball. Mark Teixeira did his job, bringing Johnny home on his own sacrifice fly.
This led to Mariano Rivera coming out to close down a one run win in the ninth. Things started off great. Two batters up, two strikeouts. Mike Sweeney was inserted as a pinch hitter and doubled, to put a runner on second for Ichiro. Ichiro did what we'd done only 9 other times this year: hit a home run. He took a pitch that was a ways outside and deposited it into the seats for a two-out, walk-off Seattle win.
Steve Lombardi at WasWatching.com mentioned that Ichiro becomes only the fourth player to hit a walk-off home run off of Rivera to end a 9 inning game. One other player has done it in extra innings. Lost in the shuffle was Mo picking up his 1,000th strikeout. Congrats to him on that, but I'm sure it doesn't mean much, at the time, when you lose.
It was only Mariano's second blown save of the year and the first since April 24. Here's how the top 5 save leaders in the American League break down:
1. Brian Fuentes, Angels - 43 saves, 7 blown
2. Joe Nathan, Twins - 42 saves, 5 blown
3. Rivera, 40 saves, 2 blown
4. Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox - 37 saves, 3 blown
5. David Aardsma, Mariners - 35 saves, 6 blown
It's another late one tonight as CC Sabathia (17-7, 3.42) will go against Doug Fister (2-2, 3.53) at 10:10 PM ET.
Recap records: Seamus: 45–23, Patrick: 38–20, Andrew: 11–11
