Yankee bats lose luster with Yusei Kikuchi on the mound

On the anniversary of James Paxton’s no-hitter, Yusei Kikuchi attempted to accomplish the feat in the same uniform. Kikuchi, who dominated the Yankees for 7.2 innings, gave up his first hit in the bottom of the sixth inning to Mike Tauchman. He finished the night allowing one run on three hits.

Jonathan Loaisiga, who is currently in the rotation for Paxton, threw just four frames on Wednesday night, making all his starts this season four or fewer innings. They weren’t a productive innings either, as he allowed four runs. After Loaisiga, Luis Cessa came in and pitched three great innings except for one mistake.

Leadoff hitter Dee Gordon got things going fast with a groundball single. After having five hits in the first two games, he kept adding on. Mitch Haniger then walked to put Gordon in scoring position. With Edwin Encarnacion batting, Gordon scored on a sacrifice fly, allowing the Mariners to take a 1-0 lead. Fast forward to the top of the third inning, and Haniger once again had a productive at-bat, hitting a home run to double the lead to 2-0.

Loaisiga managed to get two outs in the fourth, but he couldn’t end the inning. He allowed consecutive doubles to Ryon Healy and Dylan Moore. Right after, Gordon singled with a replica of his first inning groundball hit. It right up the middle, making the score 4-0.

Cessa performed well, going three innings, allowing three hits with five strikeouts. The big mistake came against Encarnacion who hit a home run to left field. Jake Barrett then let things get away from him and the Yankees, as he allowed five runs in two innings of work, bringing the Mariners run total to 10.

The Yankees offense finally arrived in the bottom of the sixth when Tauchman blooped a double over the head of third basemen Healy. DJ LeMahieu, once again with a great at-bat, moved over Tauchman to third on a single to right field. Voit followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in the first and only run for the Yankees.

The Yankee bats just didn’t show up hitting a total of five hits. Four of those hits came from LeMahieu and Tauchman, each knocking in two. With two more hits tonight, LeMahieu now extends his hit streak to ten games, with seven multi-hit games mixed in.

Urshela battled through a ten pitch at-bat in the seventh for a fly ball. More importantly, in the same at-bat, he hit a pitch off his leg resulting in a knee contusion. Frazier, who could have made a great diving catch on a Omar Narvaez pop fly, once again saw the ball deflect off his glove. It proved costly as Healy, the Yankee killer of the night, homered.

Unlike the Yankees, the Mariners kept the hits coming. With a total of fourteen hits, they surely must feel better after watching the Yankees walk off against them last night. Healy went 4-for-5, hitting three double, and Gordon picked up two more hits, bringing his series total to seven.

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