Seattle Mariners Fall Prey to New York Yankees Two-Headed Monster in Blowout Loss

SEATTLE — Tuesday was a night that the Seattle Mariners would probably do best to forget.

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge enhanced his American League MVP case at the expense of Mariners starter Bryan Woo and had two hits with four RBIs en route to an 11-2 New York win on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park.

The loss dropped Seattle to 77-74 on the season. The team fell to 5.0 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West and got bumped down to 3.0 games behind the Minnesota Twins (1.5 behind the Detroit Tigers) for the final AL Wild Card spot.

“Tough one tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Tuesday. “They got some good hitters in that lineup and they were able to get on top of us early. We had some chances offensively early, just weren’t able to get enough runs across the plate to get back in that game. And they were able to open it up later on. So, a tough one tonight. One to move on from and come back tomorrow ready to play.”

By the end of the game, infielder Leo Rivas was pitching the ninth after seldom-used left-handed reliever Jhonathan Diaz went 2.1 innings before him. It was indicative of the kind of night Seattle had, which started at the very beginning of the game.

Woo, fresh off a start where he was 2.2 innings away from the second perfect game in franchise history, allowed three-straight hits to start the game to Gloyber Torres, Juan Soto and Judge.

Judge’s hit was a two-RBI double that put the Yankees up 2-0 in the first. And it didn’t get better from there for Woo or the Mariners.

Judge had another two-RBI hit one inning later, this time a single, to bolster New York’s lead to 4-0.

Jorge Polanco got one back for Seattle with a solo home run in the bottom of the third. But that did little, if anything, to discourage the Yankees.

Soto had two-run home run in the top of the fourth — his 40th of the season — and Jasson Dominguez had his first long ball of the year one inning later — a solo shot. Woo was pulled after Dominguez’s hit.

The Mariners’ second-year starter went 4.2 innings and allowed seven runs (all earned) off nine hits (two home runs), walked one batter and struck out seven. The Yankees led 7-1 when he was pulled.

“Not very good,” Woo said regarding his performance in a postgame interview Tuesday. “Just made some mistakes. Two-strike counts, I got a couple of kind of weaker hits and then (they) cashed in. Just got to be better, I think, with two strikes. … Just got to be better.”

New York catcher Austin Wells cleared the bases with a two-out, three-RBI double in the top of the sixth to give the Yankees double-digits on the scoreboard.

Luke Raley gave Seattle its last run of the game with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the eighth.

New York gave one last kick to the down Mariners after Oswaldo Cabrera hit an RBI single in the top of the ninth for the eventual final of 11-2.

Tuesday was a gut-punch. No question about it. The final score was disastrous, Seattle’s lead-off man Victor Robles exited the game with a right-hand contusion, it left 11 runners stranded and went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. And Robles could be out for at least Wednesday’s game, too.

“We’re kind of assessing (Robles’ health) right now,” Wilson said. “But I think it was hard for him to grip (the bat) coming out of (the hit by pitch). So we got him out of there and we’ll just kind of see how he is tomorrow.”

Even the Mariners’ good luck charm, the blue and yellow City Connect jerseys, didn’t seem to matter. The loss dropped Seattle to 15-2 while wearing them this season. And everyone the Mariners needed to lose (Astros, Twins, Tigers) all won. Detroit and Houston took the respective ‘Ws’ in extra innings.

This is a game where you put it in the back of your mind and move on. There’s 11 games left in the season — and Seattle still needs to clear at least one team (probably two) to make its postseason dreams a reality.

That starts with bouncing back during Game 2 of the series against New York at 6:40 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

Bryce Miller will get the start for the Mariners against Nestor Cortes for the Yankees.

MARINERS MANAGER SPEAKS ON STARTING ROTATION DECISION: Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson spoke before a game against the New York Yankees on Tuesday about the decision to switch up the starting pitching rotation with 12 games left in the season. CLICK HERE

MARINERS MANAGER DISCUSSES OUTFIELDER’S HEALTH: Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson clarified the injury status of outfielder Victor Robles before a game against the New York Yankees on Tuesday. CLICK HERE

MARINERS PITCHING MATCHUPS AGAINST YANKEES: The Seattle Mariners will close out their nine-game homestead with an important series against the New York Yankees. CLICK HERE

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