Today in 1996 - Seattle Mariners vs. New York Yankees

Today in 1996, the Seattle Mariners visited the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The Mariners took an 8-0 lead to the bottom of the fourth with home runs from Ken Griffey, Jr. and Paul Sorrento.  Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Mark Whiten had RBI singles through the first four innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees fought back.  They scored seven runs on RBIs from ground rule doubles by Mariano Duncan and Tim Raines, and a two run home run by Joe Girardi.  The score was now 8-7.

Seattle increased the margin in the sixth inning.  Paul Sorrento hit an RBI single in the sixth and the score was 10-7, but the Yankees answered.  They scored in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Derek Jeter and an RBI single by Cecil Fielder.  The score was now tied 10-10.

The game went into extra innings and in the top of the 12^th, Seattle came alive. Jay Buhner hit a sacrifice fly and Alex Rodriguez scored.  Paul Sorrento hit a two run home run and the score was 13-10.

Trailing the Mariners by three, the Yankees refused to give up.  Relief pitcher Bobby Ayala was on the mound and Derek Jeter got on base with a double.  Wade Boggs hit a long single into left field and Jeter scored.  The score was now 13-11.  Bernie Williams grounded out and Boggs advanced to second base.  Paul O’Neil struck out and Ayala faced Tino Martinez, who hit a single into left field.  Boggs scored and Darryl Strawberry was up.  Strawberry hit a grounder to shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who threw Martinez out at second.  The Mariners hung on to win 13-12.

The Mariners went to 64-58, second in the AL West and six games behind the Texas Rangers.  The Yankees fell to 70-53, but still led the AL East by 5.5 games over the Baltimore Orioles.

Notables

• Seattle manager Lou Piniella once played for and managed the Yankees.
  
• Yankee catcher Joe Girardi succeeded Joe Torre as manager of the Yankees and led them to a World Series Championship in 2009.  Girardi is still the Yankees’ manager. 

Other 1990’s games on this day:

• In 1993, Danny Darwin of the Boston Red Sox pitched a 1 hitter against the Chicago White Sox and Boston won 5-0.
  
• Also in 1993, the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers went twelve innings and the Braves won on a sacrifice fly by Ron Gant 5-4.  Newly inducted NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders hit a solo homerun in the third inning.
  
• In 1995, it was a bad day to be a pitcher at Coors Field.  The Chicago Cubs spanked the Colorado Rockies with a football score of 26-7.  Chicago’s Luis Gonzales batted 3-6, 6 RBI’s, also hitting a homerun and a double.
  
• Also in 1995, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets took a 2-2 tie to the bottom of the ninth, with the Mets batting.  Ryan Thompson was on third with one out. Bill Spiers pulled off a suicide squeeze bunt and the Mets won 3-2.

Game stats and other data were from Baseball-Reference.com at 1996 Seattle Mariners vs New York Yankees