The Mariners found a way to beat the New York Yankees in game one of a three game series despite an off night from Michael Pineda. After falling behind 3-0 after five innings, the Mariners rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth and six innings to take a 4-3 lead.
Pineda surrendered his first earned run in fourteen innings after Mark Teixiera hit a solo home run to right field in the top of the first inning. Teixiera's home run is only the fourth home run Pineda has given up this season.
In the fourth inning, Nick Swisher was close to bringing that total to five home runs, but Franklin Gutierrez glided to the wall in right center field and jumped to catch and rob Swisher of his home run.The Yankees added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning credit to a wild pitch and an Alex Rodriguez RBI single.
The Mariners answered the Yankees in the bottom of the fifth inning. After a Brendan Ryan single and an Ichiro double, Luis Rodriguez and Justin Smoak hit consecutive ground outs to drive in Ryan and Ichiro respectively. A chain of similar events occured in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs and Ryan and Ichiro both grounded out to score Adam Kennedy and Miguel Olivo.
The Mariners bullpen prevented a threatening Yankees lineup from making a comeback. David Pauley, Jamey Wright and Brandon League pitched a combined four innings of shut out baseball. Pauley recorded the win, while League notched his 13th save of the season.