M’s Get Shutout, Lose To Yankees 7-0

Story from Associated Press:

SEATTLE — Aaron Judge became the third-fastest player in baseball history to reach 100 home runs, Masahiro Tanaka threw seven sharp innings and outpitched Yusei Kikuchi in a showdown of Japanese starters, and the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 7-0 on Tuesday night.

Judge joined elite company on the first pitch he saw from Kikuchi, hitting a two-run homer off the batter’s eye in center field in the first inning. Judge reached the 100-homer mark in his 371st game. Only Ryan Howard (325) and Yankees teammate Gary Sanchez (355) got to 100 faster. It was Judge’s 17th homer of the season after going deep in all three games at Dodger Stadium last weekend.

Brett Gardner added a three-run homer off Kikuchi and was more than enough offense on a night Tanaka was dominant.

With plenty of attention back home in Japan, the 16th matchup all-time between Japanese starting pitchers in the majors ended up being one-sided. Tanaka didn’t give up a hit until Kyle Seager’s double leading off the fifth inning. Kikuchi was done after only four innings, five runs allowed and nearly 100 pitches.

Tanaka (10-7) won for the third time in his past four decisions, allowing just three hits. He struck out seven and Seager was the only baserunner to reach third base. Tanaka was able to stay down in the strike zone and Seattle had eight groundball outs.

Seattle was hopeful of seeing another brilliant performance from its young left-hander after throwing a two-hitter in his last start on Aug. 18 against the Blue Jays. But the decision to skip his last turn in the rotation and give Kikuchi extra rest didn’t yield the desired result.

Kikuchi (5-9) was hit hard from the start. Judge’s homer was the highlight of the first, but Mike Ford continued his hot streak with a long double in the second before Kikuchi was knocked around for four hits in the third, including Gardner’s 18th home run.

Kikuchi threw 96 pitches in his complete game against Toronto; he threw 95 to complete four innings against the Yankees.

UP NEXT

Another intriguing matchup as New York’s James Paxton faces his old team, while Seattle counters with Justus Sheffield. Paxton was dealt from Seattle to New York last November and Sheffield was the centerpiece of the trade package that went back to the Mariners. Paxton (10-6, 4.43 ERA) won his fifth consecutive start last Friday against the Dodgers allowing two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings. It will be the second career start for Sheffield (0-0, 6.43), who struggled early and managed four innings in his first start last Friday against Toronto.

Game highlights: