C.C.’s Complete Game Leads Yanks Over M’s 6-3

The Yankees (62-43) beat the Seattle Mariners (50-58) 6-3 in the first game of the three game weekend series on Friday evening thanks in part to C.C. Sabathia pitching an absolute gem of a ball game. Sabathia was incredible in what was probably his best performance of the season albeit against the Mariners going the distance giving up three runs on only three hits and striking out 10 along the way.  The win puts Sabathia at 11-3.

The Yankees got on the board in the third inning off of Mariners starter Kevin Millwood. Ichiro reached on an infield single and Russell Martin doubled leading to a Curtis Granderson two run single. The Ichiro single made him the only player in the live ball era to start his Yankee career with a base hit in his first nine games.

The first Mariner run came from a Casper Wells solo home run in the fourth inning. Wells a graduate of Schenectady High School has 7 home runs and is hitting .241 for the Mariners.

Eric Chavez hit a two run home run off of Millwood in the bottom of the sixth putting the Yankees up 4-1. It was Chavez 10^th home run of the season. Millwood went six innings gave up four runs on nine hits and struck out three. In the seventh inning Robinson Cano and Raul Ibanez each had RBI singles off of Seattle reliever Oliver Perez.

 Going into the ninth inning Sabathia was pitching a two hitter however after walking the lead-off hitter Brendan Ryan, Sabathia surrendered a two run homer to Dustin Ackley making the score 6-3. It was Ackley’s eighth of the season. After a short mound visit from Girardi, Sabathia stayed in and punched out the last three Mariners giving him the complete game.

The Yankees will play the Mariners again on Saturday afternoon. Felix Hernandez (9-5 2.79) will get the start for the Mariners while Hiroki Kuroda (10-7 3.28) goes for the Yankees. Pregame coverage begins at 12:30, first pitch at 1:05 right here on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.