Mariners fall to Yankees

NEW YORK — Domingo German pitched two-hit ball over a career-high seven innings and Giancarlo Stanton hit one of New York’s four home runs Tuesday night in the Yankees’ 7-2 victory against the Seattle Mariners.

Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks each belted a two-run shot off Marco Gonzales in the fifth. Hicks homered for the third straight day and finished with three hits from the leadoff spot as the Yankees boosted baseball’s best record to 48-22, moving a season-best 26 games above .500.

Coming off a four-hit game, Stanton sent a solo drive to straightaway centre field in the first. Aaron Judge had an RBI single in the seventh, and rookie phenom Gleyber Torres added his 14th home run in the eighth.

The first two batters of the game reached against German (2-4) on a double and an error. The rookie right-hander then retired 19 in a row until Nelson Cruz homered in the seventh.

After beating Tampa Bay for his first major league win last week, German was impressive once again. Commanding a sharp breaking ball all night, he struck out nine and walked none while throwing 67 of 96 pitches for strikes. German has 28 strikeouts in his last three starts, a span of 19 innings.

One of baseball’s biggest surprises so far, the Mariners (46-27) lost for only the eighth time in 30 games as they opened a 10-game trip to the East Coast that should serve as a stiff test.