The Seattle Mariners had been the best team in baseball over the last few weeks, and have always given the Yankees trouble since they entered the American League in 1977. And with Domingo Germán as last night's starter, I was not optimistic.
Germán was fine, if not more than that: He went 5 innings, threw 90 pitches, and allowed 2 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. Ron Marinaccio, Aroldis Chapman, Jonathan Loáisiga and Wandy Peralta each pitched a scoreless inning, with the only baserunner being a single allowed by Chapman in the 7th, immediately turned into a double play.
As for the Yankee bats, they went to work right away. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a single, followed by Aaron Judge with a double, and Anthony Rizzo with a home run. 3-0 New York. The Mariners hit a home run in the 2nd, but so did Judge, his 43rd of the season. Pace: 67. The Mariners scored again in the 4th, but so did the Yankees, on a home run by Jose Trevino. Trevino hit another homer in the 8th, to finish off the scoring.
Yankees 7, Mariners 2. WP: Germán (1-1). No save. LP: Marco Gonzales (6-11). The Yankees are the 1st team to 70 wins this season, and are 3 full games ahead of the Houston Astros for home-field advantage through the AL portion of the postseason.
Also, with today being the trading deadline, on top of the acquisitions of Frankie Montas, Lou Trivino and Scott Effross yesterday, the Yankees actually found a taker for Joey Gallo. And it's the team vying with them and the Astros for best record in baseball and thus home-field advantage all the way through the World Series: The Los Angeles Baseball Team.
(I've taken to calling them that, in "homage" to the NFL team formerly known as the Washington Football Team. As far as I'm concerned, the Dodgers died in Brooklyn in 1957. Cause of death: Greed, a case of domestic violence, murdered by their owner.)
The Yankees sent Gallo and his slash line of .159/.282/.339, and his OPS+ of 76, to L.A. for Clayton Beeter, a righthanded pitcher currently struggling in Double-A ball with the Tulsa Drillers. He'll be 24 in October. He may never throw a pitch in the major leagues. This sounds like a "my headache for your headache" trade. Or, for each team, "addition by subtraction." Or, as Hank Williams would have put it, "Goodbye, Joe, you gotta go, me-oh-my-oh."
The series with the Mariners continues tonight. Jameson Taillon starts against Logan Gilbert.
UPDATE: Right after I posted this, it was made public that the Yankees had traded starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Harrison Bader. I don't know about this one...