Former Rocky Mountain News writer Jack Etkin has this unusual headline for us today on the InsideTheRockies blog:
Cousin’s death gives Tulowitzki added incentive for 2010
I’m going to assume this is Etkin’s own doing. Newspaper writers are rarely responsible for the headlines to their articles, but we bloggers tend to have to deal with those things ourselves. And I don’t think a professional headline writer would have gone with the above.
Because, yikes, this just isn’t a good headline. Added perspective? Maybe. Added incentive? I’d hate to think this is the next big market inefficiency. I’d rather not have to scan the obits before starting my projections each winter. And how long before Jeffrey Loria hires a hitman to start knocking off Marlins players’ cousins each spring?
And if losing a cousin provides added incentive, how about a sibling or a parent? Let’s hope it never materializes, but I can see Etkin’s breaking story already:
Tulo’s mom dies; MVP campaign on the way
Aaron Judge hits 18th homer of season, Yankees beat Mariners 10-2
Getty Images
SEATTLE (AP) Aaron Judge homered for the third time in two games, Anthony Volpe and Greg Allen also went deep and the New York Yankees stretched their winning streak to four with a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Judge hit a towering fly ball on the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Darren McCaughan that carried just enough to clear the fence in left-center field, even if it would not have been a homer at Yankee Stadium.
It was the 18th of the season for Judge, who hit a pair of homers in the series opener on Monday night.
While Judge hitting another homer will get the headlines, it was Volpe’s long ball that broke open the game. With two outs in the third inning, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert caught too much of the plate with a 1-2 slider and Volpe drove the pitch 413 feet for a three-run shot and a 6-0 lead. It was Volpe’s eighth homer of the season and snapped a 2-for-22 slide for the rookie.
Allen, filling in for injured center fielder Harrison Bader, hit his first of the season leading off the fourth inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also had a key two-run single in the first inning as the Yankees took advantage of an error to give starter Nestor Cortes a 3-0 advantage before he took the mound.
Kiner-Falefa had another two-run single in the ninth. New York has scored at least 10 runs in three straight games for the first time since Sept. 15-17, 2020.
Cortes (5-2) mostly cruised through five innings, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts. Ty France and Teoscar Hernández had RBI doubles in the fifth inning. Judge nearly stole another hit from Hernández after robbing him of a homer on Monday, but his diving attempt at Hernández’s liner fell for a double.
Gilbert (3-3) lasted just four innings for the second time this season. The five earned runs allowed were a season-high and the four strikeouts matched a season-low.
SEE YA LATER
Seattle catcher Tom Murphy and manager Scott Servais were both ejected by plate umpire Brian Walsh in the sixth inning. Murphy was ejected after yelling toward first base umpire C.B. Bucknor following a check-swing that was called a strike. Servais argued the decision to eject Murphy and was quickly tossed by Walsh. It was the second ejection this season for Servais.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Bader (hamstring) was placed on the 10-day IL after leaving Monday’s game in the third inning injuring his right hamstring running out an infield single. OF Franchy Cordero was recalled.
Mariners: McCaughan was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to add a long reliever to the bullpen. RHP Juan Then was optioned to Tacoma. It was Seattle’s first roster move in 24 days.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-5, 5.58) took the loss despite allowing only one earned run over five innings in his last start against Baltimore. Schmidt has gone at least five inning in five of his last seven starts.
Mariners: RHP George Kirby (5-4, 3.43) was knocked around for seven earned runs and four home runs allowed in his last start against Pittsburgh. Both matched career highs.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports