NEW YORK (AP) - Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasn’t too surprised by the rude welcome the fans gave Robinson Cano in his return to Yankee Stadium. What really shocked him was how the Mariners scored four runs off CC Sabathia.
Cano drove in a run and scored another in his first game against his old team, helping the Seattle Mariners beat New York 6-3 Tuesday night for their fourth win in five games.
“I thought he had really good stuff tonight and it’s hard to believe he gave up those four runs like that,” Girardi said of Sabathia.
Amid lusty boos from a modest crowd on a rainy, 46-degree night, Cano began his first game in the Bronx since joining Seattle this winter for $240 million with a wink - at Sabathia (3-3).
Sabathia breezed into the fifth, striking out Cano to end the first. But Mike Zunino reached on an infield single - one of his four hits - thanks to a successful replay challenge by Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon to start the fifth. Seattle then scored four runs in the inning with Cano driving in one with a groundout.
“It’s frustrating,” Sabathia said. “It just is what it is.”
Sabathia was chased after putting two on in the sixth, his shortest outing since July 26. He gave up nine hits and four runs in five-plus innings. He struck out six.
More frustrating for the Yankees is that suspended right-hander Michael Pineda has a Grade 1 strain of an upper back muscle. He cut short a simulated game in Tampa, Fla., after experiencing tightness in his lat and an MRI revealed the injury. Before learning the results of the test Girardi said Pineda’s first scheduled start (Monday) after a 10-game ban for having a foreign substance on his neck was in jeopardy.
Cano’s night went much better despite the fans’ reception. He got a mock cheer when he struck out to end the first inning, then was met with chants of “You sold out!” from the Bleacher Creatures when he took his spot at second base.
When Cano grounded out to first base in the fourth, first baseman Mark Teixeira gave him a smile after the close play. The five-time All-Star was even booed when he cleanly handled a grounder.
“That’s something I can’t control,” said Cano, claiming he never heard the chant. “I’m not surprised. Just got to go out there and play my game.”
Chris Young (1-0) gave up a second-inning homer to Teixeira and not much else in 5 2-3 innings to earn his first win since 2012.
Fernando Rodney yielded an RBI single to Brett Gardner in the ninth before striking out Jeter and Carlos Beltran with two runners on base.
Cano really riled up the crowd in the fifth after driving in Seattle’s first run with a groundball to Teixeira with the bases loaded.
After Zunino, the catcher whose errant throw to second in the third inning on Gardner’s stolen base gave New York a 2-0 lead, was ruled to have beaten out a grounder to second base, Sabathia gave up a single to Willie Bloomquist. Abraham Almonte followed with bunt hit to load the bases. Yankees second baseman Brian Roberts was playing near the bag and did not reach first to cover when Teixeira fielded the bunt.
“I took off, but it was just too far from me,” Roberts said. “I’ve got to be able to cover the double play and the bunt.”
Cano hit a sharp grounder to first for the run, Corey Hart followed with a two-run double and Justin Smoak made it 4-2 with a single.
In the seventh, Cano reached on an infield single to second base and stole second. He was greeted there by Jeter, who gave his former double-play partner a friendly tap on the chest.
Earlier, Jeter had playfully run his fingers through Cano’s fuzzy beard. Facial hair was no-no during Cano’s nine years with New York.
“I’ve gotten used to not seeing him here, but then seeing him in another uniform because we don’t play him in the spring is kind of an odd picture,” Jeter said.
Pinch-hitter Dustin Ackley and Zunino had RBI singles in the seventh, more than enough support to give Young his first victory since Sept. 2, 2012, for the New York Mets.
NOTES: Mariners first base coach Andy Van Slyke was ejected by third base umpire Adam Hamari in the bottom of the eighth. It came shortly after Cano was called out on a check-swing appeal. … Yankees RHP Ivan Nova had reconstructive elbow surgery Tuesday. Dr. James Andrews performed the operation in Pensacola, Fla. … Yankees CF Jacoby Ellsbury was out of starting lineup because of a sore left hand.
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