"Triple-A Yankees" Do It Again

Winning is good. Doing it in 9 innings, without keeping your fans up all night, is better.

That was, briefly, a concern last night, especially given that the Yankees' opponent was a West Coast team, the Seattle Mariners. But the game was at Yankee Stadium, not in Seattle. But rain was involved, so who knew when it was going to end?

Who knew? LeMahieu.

Masahiro Tanaka started for the Yankees, and pitched pretty well into the 7th inning. But the Yankees didn't hit for him, and when the rain came to delay the action in the top of the 7th, the Mariners led 2-1. Even the 1 Yankee run to that point scored on a groundout.

All season long, it's been the "Triple-A Yankees" carrying the team. Not Gleyber Torres (though his hitting has improved, as his batting average is up to .278), not Clint Frazier (due to injury, although he's back), not Miguel Andújar (ditto), not Justus Sheffield (whom the Yankees traded, after only 3 major league appearances, to these very Mariners, as part of the package to get James Paxton).

Instead of those 4 players, for whom Brian Cashman essentially threw away the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons, it's been the prospects that haven't been hyped like crazy, the ones who proved that we already had a great farm system, and it didn't need to be restocked.

Guys like Luke Voit, who has filled in the power gap left by the injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Guys like Thairo Estrada, who hit his 1st major league home run in the series opener against the Mariners on Monday night. Guys like Mike Tauchman. Guys like Mike Ford.

Guys like Gio Urshela, who, after the Mariners added 2 unearned runs in the 8th, tied it with a 2-run homers in the bottom of the 9th. And guys like DJ LeMahieu, who, after Cameron Maybin singled and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, singled to right to drive him in. The play at the plate was reviewed, but Maybin was safe.

Final score: Yankees 5, Mariners 4. WP: Joe Harvey (1-0), who pitched a scoreless 9th inning and got his 1st major league win. No save. LP: Anthony Swarzak (2-2), who, apparently, can't pitch in New York for the Yankees, or the Mets, or for opposing teams.

The rain delay meant that the game ended at 11:25 PM. Hey, PM is better than AM, and winning in 9 is better than winning in more, and either is better than losing.

The Tampa Bay Rays also won last night, so the Yankees remain 2 games out of 1st place.

The series continues tonight. Jonathan Loaisiga starts against Yusei Kikuchi.