One pitch, a hanging slider to Richie Sexson, ruined what would have been a sparkling Yankee debut.
Sidney Ponson worked into the seventh inning last night and earned a nice cheer from the Yankee Stadium crowd when he departed with the Mariners leading, 4-2. However, a rain-soaked rally in the ninth got him off the hook, and Melky Cabrera’s solo shot in the 11th gave the Yanks a 5-4 victory, a comeback Ponson was pleased to see.
“I saw it a lot in the other [dugout],” said Ponson, who previously had pitched the Orioles and two other teams. “I’ve been in a lot of games I left winning and I came out with no decision. These guys fight a lot, and that’s a good thing.”
The 29-year-old righty served up a three-run gopher ball to Sexson after issuing two walks in the first, throwing a first-pitch slider that Sexson launched over the left-field fence. Cabrera jumped onto the fence and hung there in an effort to grab it, but Sexson’s 22nd homer of the season cleared Cabrera’s reach by about 10 feet.
“It was a slider, but it was a bad one,” Ponson said. “That’s why they get paid over there. Get those pitches to hit out of the park, and he did.
“After the next two at-bats, he didn’t see a slider from there. He saw straight fastballs. If he was going to beat me, he was going to beat me with my best pitch.”
Ponson uttered an expletive on the mound but didn’t lose his composure. He ended the second inning with a nifty pickoff at first of Adam Jones and didn’t allow a hit after Sexson’s bomb until the fifth. He said Jason Giambi and Randy Johnson told him he was rushing his delivery and encouraged him to stay back and shake off his nerves.
“To throw after 12 days into a game, I’m satisfied with it,” Ponson said. “But it can get better from there.”
His fastball reached 92 mph, but his slider seemed especially sharp later. Moreover, Ponson, at 258 pounds, wasn’t affected by the stifling heat (91 degrees at first pitch). He allowed five hits and three walks, whiffing five over 61/3 innings.
“There’s still a ways to go, but I’m happy about it,” he said.