Rookie Gary Sanchez sets Yankees record with eighth home run

— -- SEATTLE -- Lou Gehrig didn't do it. Joe DiMaggio didn't do it. Mickey Mantle didn't do it.

New York Yankees rookie catcher Gary Sanchez has hit eight home runs in his first 19 games, becoming the first player in the franchise's history to hit so many long balls so quickly.

Sanchez added two more home runs on Monday night in a 7-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Sanchez hit a solo shot in the first inning and a two-run job in the sixth.

"I feel really good out there in the box, and the work I've been doing is having good results, and I'm feeling really comfortable," Sanchez said through a translator.

Earlier on Monday, Sanchez, 23, was named the American League Player of the Week, becoming the first Yankees catcher to win the honor since Thurman Munson in 1976. Sanchez has unseated seven-time All-Star Brian McCann as the Yankees' everyday catcher.

With six homers in his first 18 games before Monday, Sanchez already had tied Kevin Maas and Shelley Duncan as the only ever to accomplish the feat.

The Yankees signed Sanchez out of the Dominican Republic for a $3 million signing bonus when he was 16.