Mariners 3 - 6 Yankees
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Ichiro, Yankees welcome Mariners to the Bronx

Aug 3, 2012 - 2:50 PM

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(Sports Network) - Ichiro Suzuki will get another look at his old team when the New York Yankees welcome the Seattle Mariners to the Bronx for a three- game set.

The Mariners dropped two of three at home to the Yankees from July 23-25 after dealing Ichiro, a two-time batting champion and 10-time All-Star, to New York before the start of the series.

The Japanese star went 3-for-12 in that series against his old teammates and has hit safely in all nine games he had played with New York, recording exactly one hit in each game.

The Yankees, however, haven't been playing all that well with Ichiro, although they still hold a comfortable 6 1/2-game lead on both Baltimore and Tampa Bay in the American League East.

Since the trade of Ichiro the Mariners have gone 8-2 and the Yankees are just 4-5.

In fact New York has dropped two of three to both Boston and the Orioles since leaving Seattle, most recently salvaging the finale of its set with Baltimore with a 12-3 win on Wednesday.

Robinson Cano capped a seven-run third with his ninth career grand slam, a stinging liner to right in that one as the Yankees halted a season-high tying four-game losing streak.

"Whatever you can add on it's important because Baltimore can score some runs...Our guys kept at it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Derek Jeter tallied three hits, three RBI and a run scored and Jayson Nix registered three hits, a pair of runs scored and an RBI for the Yankees, who are currently playing without injured sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

Curtis Granderson had two hits, including his 29th homer of the year, and two runs scored.

Cano and Granderson had been a dismal 7-for-45 combined through five games on a nine-game residency coming into Wednesday's game.

The M's, meanwhile, won their season-high seventh straight game on Wednesday when Eric Thames hit a game-tying two-run home run in the fifth inning and John Jaso had the deciding RBI single in the sixth to lift Seattle over the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-3, completing a three-game sweep at Safeco Field.

The seven-game run is the Mariners longest since an eight-game winning streak from June 23- July 1, 2007.

"I tell you what's going on, we're winning games in different fashion," manager Eric Wedge told the Mariners' website. "That's important to me, and that's important at this level."

Ace CC Sabathia will take the hill for New York on Friday, hoping to bounce back from a bad outing and aiming to extend a seven-start win streak against the M's. The big left-hander, who allowed six runs in six innings during an 8-6 loss to Boston on Saturday, traditionally dominates the Mariners and is 11-4 with a 2.42 ERA in 19 career starts against them.

In the seven-start run against the Mariners, Sabathia's ERA is an eye-popping 0.88.

He'll be opposed by veteran right-hander Kevin Millwood, who is just 3-7 with a 4.73 ERA in 15 career starts against the Yanks.

New York has won four of six versus the Mariners this season.






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