Luis Severino, New York Head West To Face Seattle, Felix Hernandez

After visiting Minnesota for a series with the Twins New York now heads out west  for a four game set with Seattle starting Thursday. 

Felix Hernandez has always enjoyed the challenge of facing the Yankees, and the star right-hander will get a chance to see Todd Frazier in his new uniform on Thursday when the Mariners open a four-game series against the Yanks at Safeco Field.

King Felix will be making his 11th start of the year after spending two months on the disabled list with right shoulder bursitis. It will be the six-time All-Star's 21st career start against the Yankees, having gone 10-6 with a 3.13 ERA in their previous meetings.

Right-hander Luis Severino draws the starting call behind a new-look lineup following the Yankees' big trade with the White Sox. Frazier is expected to play regularly at the infield corners, while New York's bullpen has been bolstered by the additions of Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson.

"It's up to us to come in every day and try to play hard and win a ballgame every single day," said Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner. "Our goal is to win the division, and right now we're a little bit on the outside looking in, but we're fully capable of getting back to where we need to be at."

A first-time All-Star, Severino did not record a decision in his last start, a 16-inning, 4-1 Yankees victory at Fenway Park on Saturday. Severino limited the Red Sox to a run on four hits over seven innings. He lost his only career start against Seattle on April 15, 2016.

Frazier has two homers in eight at-bats vs. Hernandez, and as a dead-pull hitter, he figures to be eyeing left field at Safeco. Since the start of 2016, 83.7 percent of Frazier's extra-base hits have gone to the left side of the field, the fourth-highest rate among 60 right-handed batters with at least 75 extra-base hits during that time.

Right fielder Mitch Haniger could return to the Mariners' lineup after missing the past four games with a finger injury on his right hand. Haniger is batting .265/.370/.459 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in 49 games.

 Gardner is 12-for-33 (.364) lifetime against Hernandez. That ranks third among active Major Leaguers with more than 30 at-bats against him, behind only Nick Markakis (.452) and Mike Trout (.367).

As for New York's last game, 

New York not winning a  series continued Wednesday as Jordan Montgomery wasn't sharp in this outing as he got crushed as New York took the loss 6-1.

Jose Berrios threw 6 2/3 strong innings and Miguel Sano crushed a three-run homer as part of a six-run second inning to lift the Twins to a 6-1 win over the Yankees on Wednesday, marking their first series victory over New York in Minnesota since 2008. It was also the first series win for the Twins over the Yankees since '14. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

Unable to find his curveball or changeup early, Yankees lefty Jordan Montgomery was hit hard, allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings. All six runs came with two outs in the second, keyed by a two-run single from Zack Granite, an RBI single from Eduardo Escobar and Sano's team-leading 23rd blast of the year. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

Berrios, who had a 6.63 ERA over his past four starts, bounced back with a solid outing. He gave up one run on six and two walks while striking out five. He improved to 9-3 with a 3.50 ERA. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

"A win is a win, but when you can go out there and beat a team like the Yankees, it's awesome," Berrios said through a translator. "I know they've struggled for a few weeks and have gone down in the standings, but with that lineup they have, it's a good victory." "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

The Yankees scored their lone run against Berrios in the seventh on a two-out RBI single from Brett Gardner after Todd Frazier struck out as a pinch-hitter in his Yankees debut following Tuesday's trade with the White Sox. Reliever Tyler Duffey replaced Berrios and got out of a jam with two runners in scoring position, striking out Jacoby Ellsbury looking. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

The Yankees have not won a series since they swept the Orioles from June 9-11, going 0-8-2 in their last 10 series. It marks their longest such drought since 1991 when Stump Merrill was filling out the Yankees' lineup cards. "according to tohttp://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

"I feel like we've played better in the second half than we did in the first half, but we have not hit like we did," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I just feel like we're poised to make a good little run here. I like what our pitchers are doing and the way they're competing, and offensively, we'll get going and we'll put things together." "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

Granite picked up the first two RBIs of his career with his two-run single to open the scoring with two outs in the second. Granite was moved down to ninth in the order after opening his career 2-for-22, but he came through in a big way to help spark the six-run rally. Granite got a 0-1 curveball that caught too much of the zone and hit it back up the middle. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

Sometimes I just stand back and look up and go, 'I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now,'" Granite said. "Growing up from New York, huge Yankee fan, but it was good to go out and beat them today. It's exactly what we needed to do." "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

 The Yankees threatened in the second, loading the bases with two outs after Austin Romine walked. But Berrios got Ronald Torreyes to ground out to second to end the inning and the scoring threat. Berrios went on to retire nine of the next 10 batters he faced. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

"Jose had a much better day, but it didn't really start out that way," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "[Pitching coach] Neil [Allen] had a good meeting with the bases loaded, and he was able to get off the field. He seemed to settle in." "according to "http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/243125152/jose-berrios-6-run-2nd-lead-twins-vs-yankees/

New York falls to 48-45 and is now 4.5 games back of their American League East rival Boston who is leading the division.

As for Seattle last game, 

James Paxton continued his mastery of the Astros, allowing six hits and one run with seven strikeouts in seven innings, as the Mariners took a series at Minute Maid Park with a 4-1 victory Wednesday afternoon. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

Ben Gamels  two-run homer in the fourth inning put the Mariners ahead, 2-1, and was all the offense needed for Paxton (9-3), who improved to 2-0 in three starts this year against Houston, allowing one run in 20 innings. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

Paxton was outstanding today," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "It's exactly what the doctor ordered. He was on top of his game. You started to see a little bit of his cutter come into play the last outing, and today it came into play big time." "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

The Mariners finished a 5-1 road trip heading into a four-game series against the Yankees beginning Thursday in Seattle, as they evened their record at 48-48, just 1 1/2 games back of the Yanks for the second American League Wild Card spot. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

Astros starter Charlie Morton (7-4) worked 6 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. Robinson Cano bases-loaded fielder's choice in the sixth made it 3-1, and Mike Zunino ended Morton's day with an RBI double in the seventh to push the lead to 4-1. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

We swung the bats fairly well early and hit a couple of balls hard and didn't really push anything across, but he's really good," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Paxton. "His arm strength is at the top end of left-handed starters in the league. His breaking ball was good today, which is something that we knew was going to be tough on us if he could get it over for a strike." "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

Morton retired the first nine batters he faced before Jean Segura led off the fourth with a single, setting the stage for Gamel to blast a two-run homer to right field to give Seattle the lead. The ball traveled 361 feet, according to Statcast, with an exit velocity of 104 mph. That was his first home run since June 23 against the Astros at Safeco Field. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

"My first at-bat I saw everything he had. He threw me a cutter, he threw me a curveball and he threw me a changeup. I was just looking for something elevated, got it and didn't miss it," said Gamel, who drove a 1-1 cutter into the seats in his second look at Morton. "according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

Just when the Astros had something brewing in the eighth after a leadoff single by George Springer, Mariners left fielder Guillermo Heredia saved the day. Heredia fielded a hard-hit single off the wall by Jose Altuve and threw out Springer at third base for the first out. After Yuli Gurriel reached on a Segura error, Nick Vincent struck out Evan Gattis and Marc Rzepczynski fanned Carlos Beltran to strand runners at first and third." according to http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/243166182/james-paxton-leads-mariners-to-win-over-astros/

New York will now head further out on the west coast as they open up a series with Seattle Thursday.  Right -hander Luis Severino who has a record of 5-4 with a 3.40 earn run average will start the opener. Severino did not record a decision in his last outing, a 16 inning 4-1 Yankees victory at Fenway Park Saturday. Severino limited the Redsox to a run on four hits over seven innings. He lost his only career start against Seattle last April 15th. He will go up against Seattle right-hander Felix Hernandez who has a record of 5-3 with a 4.20 earn run average. Hernandez is 3-1 with a 3.72 earn run average in five starts since coming off the two-month disabled list stint shoulder bursitis and has won his last two. The 31- year - old has fared well against the Yankees over his career going 10-6 with a 3.13 earn run average in 20 starts. "according to https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-mariners/2017/07/20/491527#game_state=preview,game_tab=,game=491527

Will Luis Severino be as sharp in this outing as he was his last on Saturday where he got a no decision in Boston in a sixteen inning game? Will New York's offense be able to get runs off of  Seattle right -hander Felix Herandez who recently returned from the disabled list? Will Seattle's offense be able to get their offense going against Luis Severino? Will Luis Severino get his first win in his career against Seattle? 

First pitch is set for 10:10 pm from Safeco Field. The game will be televised on Yes and Major League Baseball Network. "according to https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-mariners/2017/07/20/491527#game_state=preview,game_tab=,game=49152