NEW YORK -- The gunky underside of Yusei Kikuchi's cap, spotted with the assistance of high-definition cameras, prompted conversation during the Yankees' television broadcast on Tuesday. That chatter reached the home dugout by the eighth, according to manager Aaron Boone, who said he would review the video and "see what we make of it."
Though the presence of what appeared to be a foreign substance made for an interesting talking point, the Yankees had other explanations to offer following their 10-1 loss to the Mariners -- namely, that Kikuchi had their number for most of the night, holding them hitless into the sixth inning as the Yanks' three-game winning streak was snapped.
"He was doing a lot; hats off to him," catcher Austin Romine said. "He put together a good start and went deep in the game. He didn’t give us too much to hit. He was pounding balls in, throwing back-door sliders to righties. When you’ve got a guy commanding all the pitches he’s got all over the place, it’s tough to scrap hits together off of him."
Mike Tauchman connected for the first Yankees hit off Kikuchi in the sixth inning, a bloop double that found turf in shallow left field and led to New York's only run of the evening, on Luke Voit's sacrifice fly. Romine said that he hadn’t heard any talk about Kikuchi’s cap, and Cameron Maybin said it couldn’t have been as much of a factor as the lefty's fastball, curve and slider mix.
"I could care less," Maybin said. "Nobody noticed it, nobody said anything. We've got a lot bigger worries, trying to manufacture runs, trying to get on base. I don’t think that had anything to do with it."
Generally speaking, that is the opinion shared by most big league hitters, who'd prefer hurlers control their pitches rather than send one up and in toward their earflaps. The Yankees have had recent experience in this department -- the Michael Pineda incident in 2014, when the hurler took the Fenway Park mound with a slather of pine tar across the right side of his neck.
That game was nationally televised on ESPN, and Boone, studying Pineda from the press box, was the one to announce the development. His credentials having been swapped for pinstripes, Boone may not have had as crystal clear a view on Wednesday as he surveyed the action from the top step of the dugout.
“I was aware of it very late," Boone said. "I heard they were talking about it. I was made aware of it sometime in the eighth inning there, so I’ll take a look at it and we’ll kind of see what we make of it."
Whatever the eventual outcome, it will make little difference for Jonathan Loaisiga, who struggled in his first start after being plugged into the rotation as he takes the place of the injured James Paxton.
After Loaisiga labored in a 27-pitch first inning, Mitch Haniger hit a third-inning homer as Seattle tagged the righty for four runs and six hits. Edwin Encarnacion, Dylan Moore and Dee Gordon also drove in runs against Loaisiga, who needed 86 pitches to record four outs.
"I would definitely say [I had trouble] putting away guys when I had the opportunity," Loaisiga said through a translator. "This is something I've been working on. It's continuous work. I felt that I had a couple of opportunities where I got ahead and I had a good chance to put them away, but they took some good pitches and they adjusted to the way I was attacking them. I'm going to keep working on it."
The contest was also a painful one for New York. Gio Urshela's excellent month was interrupted in the seventh inning, when the infielder was hobbled after fouling a ball off his left knee. He exited the game after his at-bat for X-rays, which were negative; the club announced that he had sustained a contusion and is day to day.
As Kikuchi continued to stifle the Yanks' bats in a sharp 7 2/3-inning effort, Seattle tacked on against the Yankees' bullpen. Encarnacion homered off Luis Cessa in the fifth inning and Ryon Healy belted a two-run shot in the eighth off Jake Barrett, who allowed five runs in two innings and was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game.
"Credit where credit is due," Maybin said. "Those guys did a good job of coming out, swinging the bats, scoring early. It’s always tough playing from behind."