Marcus Stroman delivered his best start yet as a Yankee.
He left the mound in the eighth inning pumping his chest and receiving a standing ovation as he exited the game.
He was nearly flawless.
But it wasn’t enough.
Stroman tossed 7 ¹/₃ innings during the Yankees’ 5-4 loss to the Mariners on Monday night at the Stadium, surrendering just one run, one walk and three hits while striking out six.
But Clay Holmes, a near sure thing this year as the Yankees’ closer, blew it by giving up four runs in the ninth inning, spoiling Stroman’s gem.
“To be honest, that’s baseball,” Stroman said. “We can sit here and say it’s this, this and this, but Clay has been unbelievable. I think Clay is the best closer in baseball. I think it was very weak contact — essentially if they hit the ball harder on some of those plays, we wouldn’t be in this situation. … Clay is gonna be incredible for us, not even a slight worry there. That’s how baseball shapes up sometimes, it just doesn’t go your way.”
It was the first time in Stroman’s early Yankees tenure that he pitched more than six innings, let alone seven, and was his longest outing since last May 29, when he was pitching with the Cubs.
His only mistake came in the eighth inning, when he gave up a solo home run to Dominic Canzone to cut the Yankees’ lead to 3-1.
Manager Aaron Boone pulled Stroman after the homer.
Stroman’s dominance continued a lights-out stretch for Yankees starters.
Though Monday’s loss snapped a seven-game winning streak, Yankees starters allowed just five earned runs in 52 ¹/₃ innings for a 0.86 ERA over their last eight games.
For the season, Yankees starters own a stellar 2.95 ERA.
“It was fun to watch,” Boone said of Stroman’s outing. “That’s probably as good as he has been, that’s probably his best one. He was dealing, had it all going. Was working quickly, felt like he had a little bit of everything that he can do to cut them up.”
After signing with the Yankees on a two-year, $37 million contract this past offseason, the Long Island native has fit in well in The Bronx.
He certainly feels at home.
“I feel like that’s why we play the game. New York, being born here and coming out of the game to a standing ovation means the world to me,” Stroman said. “Just trying to show the love, and reciprocate the love from the crowd right back to them, because they don’t know how much that means to me and how much that picks me up.”
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