Mariners starter Taijuan Walker put together a quality start, but was outdueled by Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees on Wednesday, dropping to 2-6 on the year.
"He was outstanding," manager Lloyd McClendon said of Walker, per MLB.com. "It was a tremendous outing and it's nice to see him turning the corner."
Walker permitted a solo home run to Mark Teixeira in second inning and a two-run home run to Garrett Jones in the fourth, which proved to be the difference. He was charged with three earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven over eight innings of 3-1 defeat. Of his 108 pitches, 76 were strikes.
"The last couple starts, he's had a plus fastball and had great command with it," catcher Mike Zunino said. "It's had great life at the end and he's throwing a great changeup and a good curveball to keep them off balance. That's the key. We know he's going to throw his fastball quite a bit and he's throwing his offspeed for strikes and just below the zone where he needs to, for the most part."
Walker has allowed seven earned runs over his last three starts (21 2/3 innings). His next start will come Tuesday at Cleveland.