


Struggling at Triple-A?
All Jhony Brito needed was a trip to the majors to turn it around on the mound.
With the Yankees in need of a spot starter on Wednesday, they turned to Brito, who delivered 5 ²/₃ scoreless innings on the way to a 4-2 win over the Mariners in The Bronx.
Entering this series on the heels of a four-game losing streak, the Yankees may have discovered a winning formula: strong pitching, home runs from unexpected sources … and perhaps playing the Mariners, too.
Jake Bauers, Billy McKinney and Anthony Volpe all homered to make sure Brito’s strong outing did not go to waste as he outdueled Mariners ace Luis Castillo in his first big league outing since May 20.
Brito was not exactly returning to The Bronx on a high note.
Over his last two starts at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he had given up 12 runs on 14 hits and four home runs across 10 ¹/₃ innings.
But against a Mariners lineup that Gerrit Cole quieted on Tuesday, Brito gave up just two hits and walked one, while striking out three.
The 25-year-old right-hander allowed just one Mariner to reach second base and at one point retired 12 straight batters.
Jimmy Cordero, Wandy Peralta and Michael King followed Brito, and Tommy Kahnle secured the final two outs of the ninth inning to record his first save of the season.
Bauers gave Brito a lead to work with in the third inning when he crushed a two-run homer to right field. McKinney made it 3-0 in the fourth when he belted a solo homer off Castillo, his second home run in as many nights.
Another mental mistake from Gleyber Torres cost the Yankees a chance to add on more runs in the fifth inning.
He was on first base with Bauers on second and one out when Anthony Rizzo hit a fly ball to right field. Teoscar Hernandez had to run a good distance to track it down, but did, and then caught Torres on an easy double play at first base.
Torres, either thinking there were two outs or that the ball was going to drop, had rounded second before realizing Hernandez caught it.
In the seventh inning, Volpe delivered his 10th home run of the season, against lefty reliever Gabe Speier, a day after general manager Brian Cashman reiterated that the Yankees have no plans of sending the rookie shortstop to Triple-A.
The Mariners got a run back in the top of the eighth when pinch-hitter Dylan Moore drilled a solo home run off Peralta, and added another one Jarred Kelenic’s sacrifice fly in the ninth before Kahnle struck out Eugenio Suarez to end it.