The Yankees dropped a 4-3 rubber match Wednesday at the Seattle Mariners.
Here are the takeaways...
- Nestor Cortes Jr. gave a strong effort. The southpaw threw six frames, allowing three runs in while striking out 10. The three runs charged to his line do not tell the entire story as he dominated the Mariners the majority of his outing.
- This game felt fairly similar to Tuesday night's marathon through the earlier frames. As Robbie Ray was able to match nearly everything Cortes. was able to do, perhaps even better. Ray went 6.1 innings allowing two runs on a Kyle Higashioka homer that gave the Yanks a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh. Ray struck out seven but did allow five walks on the evening.
- Aaron Judge homered yet again. The frontrunner for the AL MVP mashed his 45th homer in the top of the seventh inning that gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead and appeared to put them in a phenomenal position to win -- which did not happen.
- Due to Tuesday night's marathon, Aaron Boone was thin with his bullpen. He called on Albert Abreu after Cortes worked himself into some trouble in the seventh inning and left the game at 3-2. Abreu left a hanging changeup over the heart of the plate to Carlos Santana who drilled it into the right-center seats. The Yankees then trailed 4-3 after seven.
- The Yanks bats went silent over those final frames, as they have for quite some time now, and they would lose the game and series by a score of 4-3.