Judge gives CC a huge b-day bash in Seattle

SEATTLE -- CC Sabathia celebrated his 37th birthday with a victory over the Mariners on Friday, with Aaron Judge delivering the biggest present -- a towering three-run home run that nearly exited Safeco Field -- as the Yankees won their second straight, 5-1. Sabathia threw five-plus innings of one-run ball as he improved to 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA. It's the first time in six tries that Sabathia has won on his birthday, but it's no surprise that success finally came at Safeco, where he's 10-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 14 starts. Full Game Coverage "He had to battle tonight, because he didn't have his great stuff," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It actually was probably best the last couple of innings. … But he battled out of the first inning, and he's always had a lot of heart, and that's what we're getting." Judge supplied the fireworks with his fifth-inning blast into the last rows of the upper deck in left field off Mariners rookie Andrew Moore, his Major League-leading 31st home run of the year. Judge also had a sacrifice fly in the third as he hiked his season RBI total to 72, two behind American League leader Nelson Cruz of the Mariners. "Tonight's ballgame was about a couple big hits that they got and we didn't," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "Andrew Moore obviously made the mistake to Judge and Judge is having a phenomenal season and is a very talented young guy. Bad pitch in a bad spot and a bad result, and that got us behind the eight-ball a little there." Kyle Seager reached base three times, on a single, walk and hit by pitch, and he drove in Seattle's lone run with a first-inning infield hit, but the Mariners fell to 48-50 and 3 1/2 games back of the Yankees (50-45) in the chase for the second AL Wild Card spot. "He hit it pretty good," Seager said of Judge's blast. "It was definitely a big swing in the game. It was a real tight game, and that kind of opens it up. The way CC was throwing and their bullpen, that's a pretty tough hill to climb." • Moore bitten by Judge's moonshot David Robertson made his first relief appearance for the Yankees since being acquired from the White Sox and struck out the side in the seventh. Tommy Kahnle, obtained in the same deal, set the Mariners down in order in the sixth after replacing Sabathia following a leadoff walk to Seager. "We just have to get a few runs for our starter, then after five innings we can just hand it off to our bullpen," Judge said. "With the guys we got now, and the ones we already had, we've got one of the best bullpens in the game right now."

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