AMERICAN LEAGUE

Yankees light up scoreboard quick, beat Mariners

YANKEES 4, MARINERS 3

NEW YORK -- Aaron Boone bristles at the notion his New York Yankees are all or nothing, built entirely on home runs.

"I think it's a silly argument," the manager said. "That does bother me, actually."

Maybe, but it's sure a quick way to light up the scoreboard.

Aaron Judge and Miguel Andujar hit two-run home runs off James Paxton in the first inning that sent the Yankees over the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Thursday for a three-game sweep.

Luis Severino and the Yankees boosted the best record in the majors to 50-22. They've won four consecutive and 17 of 21.

"We've obviously played well, racked up a lot of wins," Boone said. "We've played well against some of the elite teams."

Seattle, which was 20 games over .500 coming into the Bronx this week, has lost a season-high four consecutive.

New York launched eight home runs in the sweep and tops baseball with 122 long balls. Andujar sliced a drive the other way, and it barely settled into the short right-field porch.

"Both teams play in the same park. I thought it was a flyball because most places we play, it's probably a flyball," Paxton said. "But it got out of here and that's just the ballpark and you're going to have that sometimes. You just have to deal with it and move on."

Giancarlo Stanton homered in the first two games of the series and almost added another, but Mariners center fielder Mitch Haniger jumped to reach above the wall to rob him in the opening inning.

Severino (11-2) wasn't at his best. He gave up Kyle Seager's two-run home run in the second and permitted eight hits overall, matching a season most. He was pulled with two outs in the sixth after Ben Gamel's RBI single cut Seattle's deficit to one run.

"Today I wasn't the best," Severino said.

Severino improved to 7-0 at home this season. David Robertson and Dellin Betances protected the lead, and Aroldis Chapman struck out Dee Gordon on three pitches with a runner on second for his 22nd save in 23 chances,

Paxton (6-2) vigorously pawed at the dirt in front of the rubber for a full 15 seconds before throwing his first warmup pitch. Coming off his shortest start of the year against Boston, he never got settled in his first career start facing the Yankees.

Clint Frazier led off with a single and Judge followed with his 19th home run. Gleyber Torres singled with two outs and Andujar's fly became the rookie's 10th home run.

Paxton drifted a few steps onto the grass as the ball flew and gazed toward center field when it left the park. Andujar was among several New York hitters who successfully went the opposite way against the big lefty.

"Just kind of had trouble getting it going today," he said. "I didn't really have much going, early especially, and just had to battle. I didn't have much. Made some better pitches late, but just really, not much command. Just a tough day."

Paxton had been 5-0 in 10 starts since April, including a no-hitter at Toronto. He went five innings and threw 107 pitches, the same total as Severino.

RED SOX 9, TWINS 2 Rick Porcello allowed one hit in seven innings, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) homered, and Boston beat host Minnesota to avoid a series sweep. Xander Bogaerts had 2 RBI for the Red Sox, who had a season-high 16 hits, and finished 6-4 on a road trip through Baltimore, Seattle and Minnesota. Porcello (9-3) retired 19 of 20 Twins hitters, including the last 16. Throwing 97 pitches, he struck out 5 and walked 1.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ROCKIES 6, METS 4 Nolan Arenado homered for the third consecutive game and drove in five runs to help Colorado beat visiting New York. Arenado also doubled to back another strong outing from Kyle Freeland (7-6). Freeland has pitched at least 6 innings in 10 of his last 11 starts and has emerged as the team's most reliable starter.

DIAMONDBACKS 9, PIRATES 3 Ketel Marte and Alex Avila each hit two-run home runs and Arizona scored eight runs in the first three innings to power their way past host Pittsburgh. REDS 6, CUBS 2 Jesse Winker hit his first career grand slam during a big sixth-inning rally, putting Matt Harvey in line for his second victory for Cincinnati, this one over visiting Chicago.

BREWERS 11, CARDINALS 3 Brent Suter pitched seven strong innings, Manny Pina homered and host Milwaukee capitalized on a season-high four errors by St. Louis for the victory.

INTERLEAGUE

NATIONALS 4, ORIOLES 2 Juan Soto hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning, and Washington beat visiting Baltimore in the deciding matchup of a three-game interleague series.

Sports on 06/22/2018

Upcoming Events