Sept. 19—The Mariners can only hope the New York Yankees can shake off their hangover Thursday afternoon as Seattle looks to avoid a three-game losing streak at home.
The Yankees (89-63) clinched an American League playoff spot with a 2-1 victory in 10 innings on Wednesday night. Anthony Rizzo drove in two runs for New York, the second of which was a double down the right field line by automatic runner Jason Dominguez.
New York is back in the postseason after missing out last year.
“A lot of things came together,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Maybe the overall health has gotten better. There’s definitely been extra attention to guys who have gone through tough times, and simply put, we’ve gotten better. We weren’t a great team last year and as a team we have a chance to do something special.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge leads the team in home runs (53) and RBIs (136). Agree.
“(It’s) definitely going to be exciting, especially since we missed the playoffs last year,” said Judge, who finished second to Kansas City’s Bobby Witt with a .321 batting average. “That’s what we’re going to do this season, get in the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to win the World Series.”
The Yankees earned at least a wild-card spot, but have their eyes set on the AL East title. With 10 games left, they lead the Baltimore Orioles by five games.
“Our goal is to win the division. That’s what we want to do,” Yankees right fielder Juan Soto said. “We’re going to focus on that and try to finish the season strong.”
The Mariners (77-75), five games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West and three games out of the final wild-card spot, had a chance to tie Wednesday’s game in Game 10 but fell victim to what manager Dan Wilson called a “bizarre scene.”
Cal Raleigh led off with a single to left, pushing runner Julio Rodriguez to third.
When Randy Arozarena lost control of the bat and missed third down, the bat flew straight down the third base line toward Rodriguez, who entered foul territory. Yankees catcher Austin Wells cautiously passed the ball to third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who tagged Rodriguez before jumping back to the bag.
“It was a great game in all aspects and a tough one to lose,” Wilson said.
After the game, Rodriguez sat near the locker room and watched replays on his phone.
“I saw a bat flying towards my face and I ran away from it. I didn’t get back to the bag in time,” Rodriguez said. “At that point, I wasn’t really thinking about the game, I was just trying to get away from the bat coming at me. That was it. Just a weird situation.”
In the final game of the series, Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.41 ERA) will face Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (7-11, 3.24).
This will be Schmidt’s third start after missing more than three months because of a strained right lat muscle. He allowed a combined two runs in 10 1/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox.
Schmidt allowed only two runs on four hits in five innings in a 6-3 loss to the Mariners at Yankee Stadium on May 21. In his two career starts against Seattle, he is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA.
Gilbert, who had lost the previous three games, allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings in the Mariners’ 5–4 victory over New York on May 20. Gilbert has a 1–2 record with a 7.18 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees.
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