Mariners snap Yankees’ 7-game winning streak, 8-4
MIKE FITZPATRICK,AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan homered, leading the Seattle Mariners past CC Sabathia and the Yankees 8-4 on Thursday night to snap New York’s seven-game winning streak.

Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-run double that was misplayed by center fielder Melky Cabrera, and Chris Woodward added two RBIs as the Mariners handed Sabathia (7-5) his second loss in 11 starts.

Seattle won in the Bronx for the first time since Sept. 3, 2007, ending a 10-game road losing streak against the Yankees.

Gutierrez had three hits and Branyan launched his 20th homer in the ninth inning, a two-run drive off right-hander Alfredo Aceves that made it 8-4. It ended a frustrating string for Branyan, who struck out seven straight times in two nights – all against lefties – before drawing a walk from Sabathia in the sixth.

Miguel Batista (5-2) pitched two hitless innings to win in relief of ill starter Jason Vargas, who lasted four innings with flu symptoms. Mark Lowe worked two scoreless innings before David Aardsma finished.

Hideki Matsui homered and drove in three runs for New York, while Robinson Cano had three hits.

The first pitch was delayed 36 minutes due to threatening storms, though they never brought rain. Sabathia entered 6-1 with a 2.82 ERA in his previous 10 outings, but he struggled right from the start.

Suzuki opened the game with a line-drive double off Mark Teixeira’s glove at first base. He stole third and scored on Jose Lopez’s soft groundout between the mound and first.

It marked the first time the Yankees trailed since the top of the sixth inning June 24 in Atlanta.

Seattle began the second with three well-struck hits off Sabathia, including Gutierrez’s leadoff homer. Woodward, subbing for injured third baseman Adrian Beltre, had a sacrifice fly.

Nick Swisher and Matsui hit sacrifice flies in the bottom half, cutting it to 3-2. Suzuki dropped Matsui’s waist-high liner toward the right-field line, the third error this season for a player who has won eight consecutive Gold Gloves since arriving from Japan.

Moments later, as Suzuki lined up an inning-ending flyout, screaming fans tried to rattle him. After making the catch, Suzuki faked flipping the ball into the stands, drawing boos from the crowd of 46,142.

Woodward hit an RBI single in the fourth and Suzuki’s double over Cabrera’s head made it 6-2. Cabrera got a bad jump on the ball and read it poorly – it appeared he didn’t realize how deep it was hit until it was too late.

Matsui’s two-run homer in the bottom half off Vargas trimmed it to 6-4.

Sabathia was pulled with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. He allowed six runs and 10 hits, striking out eight.

NOTES: Yankees C Jorge Posada has a sore left thumb after being hit by a foul ball Wednesday night. He was rested before the team plays four straight day games. Posada struck out as a pinch-hitter with two on to end it. … The Mariners rested DH-OF Ken Griffey Jr. Ryan Langerhans, acquired Sunday from Washington and called up from the minors two days later, started in left field and singled in his first major league at-bat this season. … New York C Jose Molina (strained left quadriceps) was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He is slated to catch 24 innings over four games in a five-day span. Then, if all goes well, he could be activated from the DL. … Actor Jack Nicholson sat in a front-row seat behind home plate.