SEATTLE (AP) — The slumping New York Yankees showed the punch that still exists in their lineup by erupting on one of their former top prospects.
Giancarlo Stanton clubbed a three-run homer off the railing of the second deck in the first inning, Luke Voit had a career-high five hits and three RBIs, and the Yankees thumped the Seattle Mariners 12-1 on Tuesday night.
The Yankees seemed to release nearly a week worth of frustration with an early offensive outburst against the Mariners and one-time New York prospect Justus Sheffield.
“This is probably as good an outing as we’ve had — a couple of homers, a ton of hits, everyone getting a lot of hits and finding some holes, even when it wasn’t perfect,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But I feel like there’s lineups building that momentum. We're getting more and more guys kind of locked in and who they are.”
New York had been a reeling for more than a week, a stretch that included being swept in Boston and last Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Angels where the Yankees blew an 8-4 lead in the ninth inning. Getting out of the Big Apple seemed to help, as did the continued problems for Sheffield.
“I had a three run lead before even throwing a pitch. Those guys were locked in from the get go,” Yankees' starter Jameson Taillon said. “They had some long innings there. It's cool in the dugout, you can feel them feeding off each other. They had some energy and swag tonight out there.”
DJ LeMahieu singled in each of the first three innings, becoming the first New York player to have three hits in the first three innings since Aaron Judge in April 2018. Stanton’s homer was his 15th of the season and left the bat at nearly 116 mph.
Voit’s had a two-run single on an 0-2 pitch and was the final batter Sheffield faced. Judge added an RBI double and Voit had an infield single in the fifth to score another run. Rougned Odor hit a three-run homer in the eighth, his ninth of the season.
Voit capped his night with a double in the eighth and single in the ninth.
The 12 runs and 18 hits were season highs for the Yankees.
“Last week was a pretty frustrating week. I think I had as many hits as I had in the last 10 games as I had tonight,” Voit said.
The big offensive outburst made for an easy night for New York starter Jameson Taillon. Pitching with a lead from the outset, Taillon (4-4) cruised through the Mariners lineup allowing four hits and one run. He matched his season-high with nine strikeouts and completed seven innings for the first time since April 3, 2019 when pitching for Pittsburgh.
Taillon was nearly through six shutout innings, but Ty France’s two-out flare into shallow left field dropped despite Miguel Andújar’s diving attempt and scored J.P. Crawford.
“It's definitely nice to see it in a box score, but I do feel like I’ve been working on the right things and kind of tracking in the right direction for a bit now,” Taillon said
Sheffield (5-8) may have lost his spot in Seattle’s rotation, losing his fourth straight decision after a month of struggles. Sheffield failed to make it through the second inning for the first time in his career and has not finished five innings in four of his past five starts.
“It’s a combination of things,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “He just not locating. He's not throwing the ball great. He’s making mistakes at the wrong time in the game and it adds up.”
Sheffield has allowed 32 hits and 23 earned runs over 19 innings in his past five starts. He's scheduled to start the final game before the All-Star break but Servais said that'll be evaluated in the coming days.
“It’s not fun not going out and doing your job and not playing the way that you know you’re capable of playing and playing the way that I know I can play,” Sheffield said.
SUCCESS IN SEATTLE
The Yankees improved to 22-5 in Seattle since 2012 and with a win either Wednesday night or Thursday would win their 10th consecutive series against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle was the final American League team the Yankees had yet to face this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: RHP Darren O’Day was played on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain before Tuesday’s game. RHP Nick Nelson was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take his spot.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Domingo Germán (4-5, 4.50) will make his 16th start and pitch with an extra day of rest. Germán threw three innings, allowing three earned runs in his last start against the Angels.
Mariners: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (6-3, 3.18) makes his first start since being named to the AL All-Star team for the first time in his career. Kikuchi is 6-2 with a 2.33 ERA in his last 11 starts and has allowed one earned run or less in each of the past four.
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