Yankees 6, Mariners 2

NEW YORK — Raul Ibanez tried jumping at the first pitch against Felix Hernandez, and that didn’t work.

Then he tried patience, and that failed, too.

So he went back to being aggressive, and that paid off.

Ibanez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off his former Seattle teammate with two outs in the sixth inning, leading the New York Yankees over the Mariners 6-2 on Friday night.

“When you’re facing an elite pitcher like him, sometimes the first pitch is the best one he’s going to throw you,” Ibanez said. “Then he gets nasty.”

Hernandez, his teammate from 2005-08, had just been given a 2-1 lead. He started Ibanez the same way in every at-bat.

“I was throwing that sinker for the first pitch,” he said, before detailing the mistake that caused the homer: “That was in the middle of the plate.”

Robinson Cano had four hits for New York, which overcame home runs by Dustin Ackley and former-Yankee Jesus Montero to send the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner to his first loss in four decisions at new Yankee Stadium. On consecutive nights, New York beat Tampa Bay’s David Price and King Felix, among the AL’s elite pitchers.

“I just think our guys are starting to feel better at the plate,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Ibanez, who joined the Yankees a week after spring training began, is hitting .268 with six homers and 19 RBIs. That followed a slow exhibition season, which caused Girardi to make some inquiries.

“They said it takes him a while to get going in spring training,” the manager said. “Sometimes you find that with older players.”

Ibanez had faced Hernandez only three times before Friday, saying his most familiar view was seeing Hernandez’s back from the outfield.

Hernandez (3-2) allowed 11 hits — two short of his career high — and four runs in 62/3 innings, his second-shortest outing this season. He struck out seven and walked two, with his ERA rising from 1.89 to 2.29.

King Felix had been 3-0 at new Yankee Stadium, allowing one run in 24 innings. He weakened after Derek Jeter fouled off five pitches during a 10-pitch walk in the fifth, which started a stretch in which seven of Hernandez’s last 12 batters reached.

American League

Orioles 4, Rays 3 at Baltimore: Nick Johnson’s first homer in two years gave Baltimore a seventh-inning lead and the Orioles edged Tampa Bay in a duel for first place in the AL East.

Johnson’s two-run drive off Joel Peralta (0-2) put Baltimore in front 4-3, and the bullpen made the margin stand up.

Red Sox 7, Indians 5 at Boston: Dustin Pedroia had three hits and three RBIs to back an effective outing by Clay Buchholz, and Boston beat Cleveland to sn a three-game skid.

Will Middlebrooks hit a two-run double off Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3) and Daniel Nava, called up from the minors Thursday, made a pair of outstanding defensive plays in left field to help the last-place Red Sox (13-19) win for only the second time this month.

White Sox 5, Royals 0 at Chicago: Adam Dunn hit his 11th homer to match his total from last season, leading Gavin Floyd and Chicago over Kansas City.

Dunn’s long homer to right off Felipe Paulino (1-1) gave Chicago the lead in the first.

Dunn’s sixth homer in 10 games was enough for Floyd (3-3), who allowed five hits, struck out five and walked two in 72/3 innings.

National League

Marlins 6, Mets 5 at Miami: Greg Dobbs’ single with two outs in the ninth inning scored Emilio Bonifacio from second base, and Miami rallied to end New York’s five-game winning streak.

The Marlins scored twice in the ninth off Frank Francisco to win for the ninth time in 10 games.

Nationals 7, Reds 3 at Cincinnati: Roger Bernadina and Danny Espinosa each hit a two-run homer in one of Washington’s biggest scoring splurges of the season.

Washington matched its season high for runs by taking advantage of Mike Leake (0-5), who lasted three innings and remained winless in six starts.

Astros 1, Pirates 0 at Pittsburgh: Bud Norris allowed three hits in six sharp innings, leading Houston to the win.

Brian Bogusevic singled and scored in the second on a double-play grounder, providing all the offense Houston would need. Norris (3-1) struck out eight without walking a batter.

Brett Myers pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Phillies 7, Padres 3 at Philadelphia: Carlos Ruiz went 3 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs for Philadelphia, and John Mayberry Jr. homered and drove in three runs.

Vance Worley (3-2) struck out nine in six innings to help the Phillies sn a three-game losing streak.

Placido Polanco had a pair of doubles for Philadelphia, which was playing its first game after manager Charlie Manuel’s much-publicized team meeting on Wednesday. The slumping five-time NL East defending champs began the day four games below .500.

Yonder Alonso homered for San Diego, which lost for the eighth time in the last 11 meetings with the Phillies. Clayton Richard (1-5) gave up five runs in 51/3 innings.

Diamondbacks 5, Giants 1 at Phoenix: Paul Goldschmidt hit his first home run since his initial at-bat of the season, rookie Patrick Corbin allowed three hits over seven innings and Arizona ended a five-game losing streak by beating San Francisco.

The best efforts of one former New York Yankees prospect could not help the Seattle Mariners end their current road skid.

Another is ready to give it a shot.

Ex-Yankee Hector Noesi aims to earn his first win away from home and help the Mariners avoid an eighth straight road loss Saturday against the Yankees.

Catcher Jesus Montero, who had four homers and 13 RBIs in 19 regular season and playoff games with New York in 2011, hit one of Seattle’s two home runs in Friday’s 6-2 series-opening loss. The Yankees dealt Montero and Noesi to Seattle in a four-player offseason trade that brought All-Star pitcher Michael Pineda – now out for the season with a shoulder injury – to New York.

Montero is batting .267 with five home runs and 17 RBIs in 30 games, but his solo shot Friday is his only hit in eight at-bats over his last three contests.

Noesi (2-3, 6.30 ERA), who went 2-2 with a 4.47 ERA in 30 games – two starts – for the Yankees during his 2011 rookie season, has struggled with consistency in Seattle. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 9.22 ERA in three road starts, but is looking forward to taking the mound in the Bronx, where he went 1-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 14 pearances – one start – for the Yankees in 2011.

“It’s not like I’m really excited to come back because now I play for Seattle,” Noesi told the Mariners’ official website. “But (I’m) kind of a little excited.”

Noesi allowed a solo home run and three other hits Sunday while striking out five in seven innings of a 5-2 home win over major league-worst Minnesota.

“I felt like he just continued what we’d seen the last couple starts, doing a good job commanding his fastball, reaching out front and really finishing off his pitches and using all his secondary stuff,” manager Eric Wedge said.

Noesi will now try to help Seattle (15-19) end its longest losing streak away from home since a 13-game road skid that concluded with a 9-2 win at Yankee Stadium last July 27 – a victory that also snped a 17-game overall losing streak.

Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano had four hits Friday, improving to 11 for 21 with seven RBIs in his last five games against the Mariners. He’s batting .444 with eight RBIs in his last nine contests overall.

Former Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez hit a three-run homer for New York in the series opener, giving him three home runs and six RBIs over his last three games.

Seeking their sixth win in eight games, the Yankees (18-14) hope scheduled starter Phil Hughes (2-4, 6.67) can build on his longest outing – and likely his best – of 2012.

The right-hander, who had allowed eight runs over 8 1-3 innings while losing his previous two starts, yielded three runs and struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings of a 10-4 victory at Kansas City on Sunday.

It marked only the second time Hughes allowed three runs or fewer this season, and the first time he lasted through the sixth inning. The effort was probably enough keep him in the rotation even after Andy Petttitte’s scheduled return to the mound Sunday.

“If I continue to pitch well and throw well, I’m sure I’ll gain more trust,” Hughes told the Yankees’ official website. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Hughes is 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA in five career starts versus Seattle.

The 2012 MLB regular season well underway. It is still a long road to October baseball but paths are already starting to take she. The beginning of the year brings promise, and already memories have been created early in the season. At this point anything can still hpen.

The highlight of the day will be when the Seattle Mariners visit the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa, Fla.

Felix Hernandez (2-1, 2.48 ERA) of the Seattle Mariners will take the mound facing off against Jeremy Hellickson (3-0, 2.84 ERA) of the Tampa Bay Rays in what is sure to be a battle between two pitchers that are off to fantastic starts this season. As Tampa Bay fights to claim the top spot in the American League East over the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle has quite a bit of ground to make up if they hope to catch the American League West leading Texas Rangers. Regardless of outcome, the dual between these two premier pitchers will have baseball fans glued to their seats.

With a number of great games to be played on the day, this will be one of the better ones.

Check your local listings for game times and channel listings in your area. With MLB.TV all games are also available nationwide (local blackouts ply).

Note: All start times Eastern

Monday, ril 30, 2012

Arizona Diamondbacks at Miami Marlins, 12:40 p.m.

Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees, 7:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m.

Kansas City Royals at Detroit Tigers, 7:05 p.m.

Texas Rangers at Toronto Blue Jays, 7:07 p.m.

Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Atlanta Braves, 7:10 p.m.

Seattle Mariners at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston Astros, 8:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado Rockies, 8:40 p.m.

Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres, 10:05 p.m.

Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels, 10:05 p.m.

Sources:

All data provided by MLB.com

Paul Rados is a Cleveland based freelance sportswriter and Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @PSRados or leave him a message on Facebook.

SEATTLE — Jason Vargas zipped through the Cleveland lineup and the top of the lineup provided just enough pop.

Vargas struck out seven in seven innings to end the Indians’ four-game winning streak and give Seattle a 4-1 win Wednesday night.

“I was able to locate my fastball early in the game and kind of put them on the defensive,” Vargas said.

Just 11,343 watched the game, setting a new record-low at Safeco Field, which was built in 1999. The previous low was 11,701 against Baltimore on May 31, 2011.

Brandon League pitched the bottom of the ninth for his fifth straight save.

Derek Lowe (2-1) pitched 4 1-3 innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six — one short of his career-high.

Chone Figgins and Ichiro Suzuki provided a brisk start for the Mariners. Figgins turned an eight-pitch at-bat into his eighth career leadoff home run and first of the season. It was Figgins’ first home run since ril 1, 2011.

“Usually try to get one a year,” Figgins said. “Maybe I can try to get some more this year.”

Ichiro followed two batters later with his first home run of the year when he hit a drive to right-center field. That was his first home run batting third after hitting 94 batting leadoff, and one batting second, leaving him four shy of 100 career homers.

Vargas teetered in the sixth when he loaded the bases after walking designated hitter Travis Hafner. But, he struck out Shelley Duncan with a changeup and got a groundout to shortstop from Jose Lopez.

“Really had to bow his neck there in the sixth to get through that,” Wedge said. “He really had to step up there, wanted to give him the opportunity, and he did.”

The Mariners tacked on a run in the bottom of the second when Jesus Montero was walked on four pitches, pushing Brendan Ryan across the plate. But Lowe was able to get Kyle Seager to fly out to left field with the bases loaded to avoid further damage.

Cleveland shortstop Jason Donald bunted Aaron Cunningham to third after Cunningham doubled to open the third inning. Jason Kipnis’ sacrifice fly to center field drove Cunningham in for Cleveland’s first run.

Dustin Ackley drove in Ryan with a single to center to expand the Mariners’ lead to 4-1. Lowe staved off a bigger inning by getting Montero to ground into a double play.

Lowe’s bumpy night ended in the fifth following a single by Miguel Olivo that put runners on first and third with one out. Lowe threw 4 ? innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six, just one short of his career-high. It was his shortest outing of the young season.

“I think a guy had a remote out in right, but we caught him,” Lowe said. “He had a button he was pressing, moving the plate around.”

Jairo Asencio replaced Lowe and held off the Mariners in the fifth by getting Munenori Kawasaki to pop out and Brendan Ryan to ground out on a close play at first.

Ackley played first base for the first time in his Major League career. Regular first baseman Justin Smoak sat out Wednesday because of tightness in his right hamstring. He’s day-to-day after first feeling the tightness last Saturday.

NOTES: Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez was suspended five games Wednesday for throwing at Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas last weekend. Gomez will peal and make his normal turn in the rotation Saturday at Oakland. … Cleveland manager Manny Acta and third baseman Jack Hannahan were also fined. … Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager came into Wednesday 14 for 22 (.636) against Cleveland in his career. … Tuesday night’s rally from seven down was Cleveland’s largest comeback since an 11-10 win May 25, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay when the Indians entered the bottom of the fourth trailing 10-0. … Mariners catcher Adam Moore tore the medial meniscus in his right knee while playing for Triple-A Tacoma. He will have surgery Thursday.

Jason Vargas threw seven innings and the top of the order provided pop for the Seattle Mariners in a 4-1 win Wednesday night over the Cleveland Indians before the smallest crowd in the history of Safeco Field.

Brandon League pitched the bottom of the ninth for his fifth straight save. Just 11,343 watched the game, setting a new record-low at Safeco Field, which was built in 1999. The previous low was 11,701 against Baltimore on May 31, 2011.

Derek Lowe (2-1) pitched 4 1-3 innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six _ one short of his career-high.

Chone Figgins and Ichiro Suzuki provided a brisk start for the Mariners. Figgins turned an eight-pitch at-bat into his eighth career leadoff home run and first of the season. It was Figgins’ first home run since ril 1, 2011.

Ichiro followed two batters later with his first home run of the year when he hit a drive to right-center field. That was his first home run batting third after hitting 94 batting leadoff, and one batting second, leaving him four shy of 100 career homers.

Meanwhile, Vargas zipped along. He struck out four consecutive batters, starting at the end of the third and extending through the fourth. It was part of seven consecutive retired by the left-hander.

Vargas teetered in the sixth when he loaded the bases after walking designated hitter Travis Hafner. But, he struck out Shelley Duncan with a changeup and got a groundout to shortstop from Jose Lopez.

He came back to throw a 1-2-3 seventh inning to finish a solid effort during which he allowed just four hits and a run. He struck out seven and walked three.

The Mariners tacked on a run in the bottom of the second when Jesus Montero was walked on four pitches, pushing Brendan Ryan across the plate. But Lowe was able to get Kyle Seager to fly out to left field with the bases loaded to avoid further damage.

Cleveland shortstop Jason Donald bunted Aaron Cunningham to third after Cunningham doubled to open the third inning. Jason Kipnis’ sacrifice fly to center field drove Cunningham in for Cleveland’s first run.

Dustin Ackley drove in Ryan with a single to center to expand the Mariners’ lead to 4-1. Lowe staved off a bigger inning by getting Montero to ground into a double play.

Lowe’s bumpy night ended in the fifth following a single by Miguel Olivo that put runners on first and third with one out. Lowe threw 4 ? innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six, just one short of his career-high. It was his shortest outing of the young season.

Jairo Asencio replaced Lowe and held off the Mariners in the fifth by getting Munenori Kawasaki to pop out and Brendan Ryan to ground out on a close play at first.

Ackley played first base for the first time in his Major League career. Regular first baseman Justin Smoak sat out Wednesday because of tightness in his right hamstring. He’s day-to-day after first feeling the tightness last Saturday.

NOTES: Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez was suspended five games Wednesday for throwing at Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas last weekend. Gomez will peal and make his normal turn in the rotation Saturday at Oakland. . Cleveland manager Manny Acta and third baseman Jack Hannahan were also fined. . Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager came into Wednesday 14 for 22 (.636) against Cleveland in his career. . Tuesday night’s rally from seven down was Cleveland’s largest comeback since an 11-10 win May 25, 2009 vs. Tampa Bay when the Indians entered the bottom of the fourth trailing 10-0. . Mariners catcher Adam Moore tore the medial meniscus in his right knee while playing for Triple-A Tacoma. He will have surgery Thursday.

The Oakland Athletics started out their series against the Seattle Mariners on a high note after coming off a successful series against the tough Kansas City Royals, winning two of their three games. On Friday night, ril 13 at Safeco Field it seemed the outlook for the 2012 season looked just a little bit brighter with their defeat over the Mariners, 4-0.

It was Bartolo Colon on the mound that night, and the right-handed pitcher shut out Seattle and gave up just three hits, walked one and was able to retire all ten of his final batters. It seemed that Colon’s calm and confident demeanor was rubbing off on the young team in a good way.

On offense, Cliff Pennington started the night off right by hitting a double in the third inning sending Daric Barton home after he started things off with a single into right field. Coco Crisp came up to bat and Pennington was able to score. It took five more innings, but catcher Kurt Suzuki, who’s off to a great start on defense, hit a sacrifice fly to center, sending Josh Reddick to home plate.

For the first time in eight games up until that point, the A’s budding star Yoenis Cespedes didn’t reach base, but fans can’t expect him to put numbers up on the scoreboard every time. Unfortunately, in Saturday’s game the only time he made it to first base was when Seattle’s pitcher, Hector Noesi, sent him there in a walk in the seventh inning.

Things started heading south for the green and gold on ril 14 in a reverse of Friday night’s game, and they were shut out by Seattle 4-0. Surprisingly, A’s starting pitcher Tom Milone, didn’t live up to my high expectations. After shutting out the Royals on ril 9, he fizzled out Saturday in their defeat.

At least the A’s weren’t shut out on Sunday afternoon, but a loss is a loss no matter how you look at it. Cespedes hit a single in the fourth inning, but was struck out twice. The only time Oakland scored was on Eric Sogard’s three-run homer in the fifth inning.

I have a feeling we’ll see the A’s go through some struggles before they become the consistent team fans want them to be. As expected, there will be a number of highlights, but there will probably be at least as many lows. Cespedes started out as the bright rookie star, but he’ll have his ups and downs before he lives up to his great potential.

The Athletics head back south, this time all the way to Los Angeles to face the L.A. Angels on Monday night. With the Angels at the bottom of the American League West, a half game behind the A’s, it’ll be important to win this series and gain back a little of the confidence that’s been lost.

K.C. Dermody grew up in the Bay Area of California, following the Oakland Athletics since the days of Billy Ball, and attending hundreds of games over the past three decades. Follow her at www.facebook.com/KCDermodyWriter, Twitter @kcdermody, or www.kcdermodywriter.com.

More from this contributor:

Oakland Athletics’ Tom Milone Pitches 8-inning Shutout Against Kansas City: Fan Reaction

Oakland Athletics’ Yoenis Cespedes Steals the Show in the Series Against the Mariners: an Reaction

Yoenis Cespedes Helps Oakland A’s Get First Win of the Season: Fan’s Take

Jose Canseco Still Waiting or that Call from Billy Beane