NEW YORK — The last time Giancarlo Stanton stood in front of his locker at Yankee Stadium Authentic David Desharnais Jersey , he was in a testy mood with the line of questioning after a rough day at the plate.
Two days later, Stanton was in a much better mood, especially when he discussed the poise the young hitters batting behind him are showing.
It was on display Tuesday when the Yankees cruised to a 7-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on a night when rookies Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres hit their ninth and 14th homers, respectively.
Now Stanton and his young teammates get a chance at winning another series Wednesday night when the Yankees host the Mariners in the middle game of a three-game set.
The Yankees are 15-4 in their last 19 games after Stanton followed up a four-hit night in Washington by homering on the first pitch he saw. Then he watched as Andujar blasted a two-run homer and Torres hit a solo shot, giving the Yankees the chance to clinch their 16th series victory since April 19 on Wednesday.
“Seeing the guys and playing with them, I’m not surprised by what they can do,” Stanton said. “But the way they’ve been able to do it and keep doing it is cool to see.”
Andujar is on the verge of becoming the seventh Yankee to hit double figures in home runs. His homer snapped a 0-for-14 skid and was his 35th extra-base hit, the third-most by a Yankee in his first 65 games behind Bob Meusel (41) and Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio (47).
Torres has four homers in his last 10 games and his latest home run occurred in his 50th game, matching Aaron Judge for the third-fastest in team history. Only Gary Sanchez (19) and Kevin Maas (15) did it faster and Torres leads all first-year players with 14 homers and 35 RBIs.
“They’re very well rounded and they keep proving it,” Stanton said.
While the Yankees were marveling at more production from their youth, the Mariners are hoping to avoid losing three straight games for the first time since April 17-19 against the Houston Astros. The Mariners (46-27) are on their first losing streak since May 29-30 and are 37-19 since they last dropped three in a row.
The Mariners matched a season low by mustering two hits and went hitless in 20 straight at-bats at one point.
“The key on the road, is you have to play really good defense and you have to hit,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said before the game. “It’s hard to win the 1-0 game, 2-1 game. We’ve won a couple of them but it’s not easy. It’s not a formula you want to subscribe to often.”
Nelson Cruz homered and has seven in his last 10 games and eight in his last 13 contests.
“We’re going to play our game,” Cruz said. “Things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. We’ll come back positive tomorrow and try to make things better.”
After getting a rough outing from Marco Gonzales Tuesday, the Mariners will hope to rebound with Felix Hernandez on the mound.
Hernandez (6-6 Henrik Lundqvist Jersey Kids , 5.44 ERA) will start Wednesday after losing his last two starts. He allowed six runs (five earned) in three innings of a 7-3 loss at Tampa Bay on June 9 but took a tough 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox after allowing two hits on eight hits in seven innings on Thursday.
Hernandez has pitched at least five innings and allowed three runs or less in nine of 15 starts this season.
Hernandez is 10-7 with a 3.04 ERA in 21 career starts, including four complete games against the Yankees. In New York, he is 7-2 with a 2.00 ERA in 11 starts, including a 6-1 record with a 1.41 ERA in nine starts at the current Yankee Stadium.
Since Aug. 4, 2012, he is 3-0 with a 1.36 ERA in five starts at Yankee Stadium.
Jonathan Loaisiga will make his second start in place of Masahiro Tanaka (hamstring). He picked up the win in his major league debut Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays when he allowed three hits in five innings of a 5-0 win.
Loaisiga was the 11th pitcher (eighth starter) in Yankees history to go at least five innings in his major league debut and only the second since 1943. The other was Sam Militello in 1992.
Loaisiga was the first native of Nicaragua to appear for the Yankees and the 15th Nicaraguan to appear in the major leagues.
The Yankees are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings with the Mariners.
Marcus Mariota threw for a touchdown to give the Tennessee Titans an early lead, and had another TD pass that was the final score of the game.
In between, he spent a lot of time trying to limp away from the New England Patriots rush.
One week after leading the Titans to victory in his first career playoff game, Mariota took his first postseason loss – and took it hard – absorbing eight sacks while the Patriots scored five touchdowns in a row on their way to a 35-14 victory in the AFC divisional round Saturday night.
”Man, embarrassed,” said Mariota, who sustained what coach Mike Mularkey said was a strained quadriceps muscle in the first quarter and went 44 minutes between scores.
”It felt like the momentum was on our side” after a 15-yard pass to Corey Davis gave the Titans a 7-0 lead, Mariota said. ”They’re a team that’s been here before, and they didn’t blink an eye. They just stuck to their game plan and it worked out for them.”
Just two seasons after going 3-13 when Mariota was a rookie, the Titans (10-8) reached the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Last week, they earned their first postseason victory in 14 years Jimmy Vesey Jersey , rallying from a 21-3 halftime deficit to beat Kansas City in the wild-card round.
Against the defending Super Bowl champions, the two-touchdown underdogs jumped out to a surprising early lead but still trailed 21-7 at the half.
”We saw what happened last week in Kansas City, when Kansas City had a lead at the half similar to the one that we had,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. ”Our guys did a real good job of kind of keeping their foot on the gas and keep pressing it.”
Mularkey said Mariota’s leg prevented him from scrambling away from the New England rush. The Patriots sacked him four times in the third quarter – including back-to-back plays that left Tennessee with a third-and-31 from their own 2 – and three more in the fourth.
”They did a good job with the line game,” Mularkey said. ”Marcus was hampered. Tough to get away.”
Mariota completed 22 of 37 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns in the game, both of them to Davis. He also ran four times for 37 yards.
But Tom Brady was even better in leading New England to its seventh consecutive AFC championship game, completing 35 of 53 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Danny Amendola caught 11 passes for 112 yards, Rob Gronkowski had six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown and James White scored twice, once running and one receiving.
The Patriots will host the AFC title game on Jan. 21 against the winner of Sunday’s game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It will be Brady’s 12th appearance in the conference championship.
”Obviously, this is the blueprint,” Mariota said. ”New England has been in the playoffs consistently. They’ve won a bunch of championships and we can learn a lot from this, and I think we will.”
The Titans also committed 10 penalties in the game after a season in which they had the second-fewest in the NFL. One of the calls was for an offside that allowed the Patriots to avoid punting from their own end zone; they went on to score and extend the lead to 21-7.
”You can’t make those mistakes against a really good team that’s waiting for you to do it,” said Mularkey, whose job was reportedly in jeopardy even after reaching the playoffs.
”They didn’t make a lot of mistakes. That’s why they’ve been successful all these years. You can’t go and beat yourselves,” he said. ”I’d like to see us play a complete game. … We didn’t.”