Felix Hernandez dominated the Yankees in their own ballpark again, pitching his third shutout of the season to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 1-0 win on a sunny, sticky Saturday afternoon.
Hernandez outpitched Hiroki Kuroda in a duel of pitchers who haven't lost since June. Mike Carp hit an RBI single in the second inning for Seattle, which bounced back from having its seven-game winning streak ended the night before. The Yankees have lost 10 of 15.
Hernandez (10-5) just didn't give the Yankees any room. After Robinson Cano doubled with two outs in the first, Hernandez didn't allow a runner to second.
He began the ninth against the top of the Yankees order and retired Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano in order, fanning Cano to end the game in a breezy 2 hours, 32 minutes.
King Felix has the lowest career ERA at the new Yankee Stadium of any pitcher with at least two starts. After Saturday's masterful performance, he lowered his ERA to 1.13 after his second shutout at the new ballpark. He beat the Yankees 7-0 on June 30, 2010.
Overall, it was the seventh career shutout for the All-Star right-hander.
Only seven balls were even hit out of the infield — all to center field until Jeter flied out to right field for the second out of the ninth.
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Hernandez gave up two hits and two walks. Both free passes were with two outs.
Kuroda (10-8) left in the seventh after he hit Brendan Ryan with a pitch following a one-out double by Eric Thames. The Mariners shortstop went down on the plate and stayed there for a while, before he walked to the dugout with a trainer gingerly holding his left arm steady. Munenori Kawasaki pinch-ran, but he and Thames were stranded when Boone Logan retired Dustin Ackley and Michael Saunders.
Kuroda gave up seven hits and a walk, with four strikeouts for his first loss since June 19. He went 4-0 in seven starts in between.
Carp's single scored the first run Kuroda has allowed in a day game this season, ending a run of 31 scoreless innings. He stranded seven Mariners runners.
Seattle stranded two runners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Mariners had runners on first and third with one out in the sixth, but Kyle Seager popped to shortstop and Casper Wells hit into a force out.
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