5/14/25

(Seattle, WA) With the nine-series win streak in the rearview mirror after being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, the Seattle Mariners looked to begin a new winning streak but this would have to come against one of the best teams in baseball. The defending American League champion New York Yankees entered Seattle for a three-game series with the Yankees coming off back-to-back series wins over the Padres and Athletics.

Yankees 11, Mariners 5 (Game One, May 12th)

For the first time since the start of the season, Seattle entered Monday night coming off of a series loss and the Mariners would not be able to ease back into things as they welcomed the New York Yankees to town. Emerson Hancock would need to be the stopper for Seattle as he battled Clarke Schmidt to begin the series between two division leaders.

Hancock began the game with a quick and clean 1-2-3 inning and then had the lead by the time he returned to the mound. That was because of Julio Rodríguez who got the better of Clarke Schmidt the first time around. J-Rod cashed in on a hanging sweeper right down the heart of the plate and smoked it out to center for a solo home run. Julio’s seventh homer of the season got Seattle on the board with the very early 1-0 lead.

Both teams squandered scoring opportunities in the 2nd and in the 3rd the game was brought back to even. Trent Grisham sent a fly ball deep to center field that Julio Rodríguez measured up at the wall. Julio would leap but the ball would bounce off his glove to clear the wall for a home run. Grisham’s 11th homer of the season evened the score up at 1-1. However, in the bottom half of the inning, Jorge Polanco would drive his 10th home run of the season out to right to put Seattle right back in front at 2-1.

Things fell apart for Hancock in the top of the 5th. Leading off the inning, Trent Grisham would hit his second home run of the game and 12th of the season to tie the game back up at 2-2 but that was just the tip of the iceberg in the inning. Aaron Judge would single before Ben Rice hit his 10th double of the season to put runners on second and third with still nobody out. Paul Goldschmidt lined a single to left to give the Yankees their first lead at 3-2 before Cody Bellinger made it 4-2 with an RBI single himself. After an Anthony Volpe lineout for the first out of the inning, Austin Wells landed a haymaker for the Yankees. A three-run blast to center was the eighth of the season for Wells and the six-run inning put the Yankees up 7-2.

With the score 8-2 in the bottom of the 7th, Seattle showed that they still had some fight. Randy Arozarena began the inning with his 10th double to chase Schmidt and bring in Mark Leiter Jr. from the bullpen. After he got two outs, Dylan Moore clutched up with an RBI single to right to make it 8-3. In the bottom of the 8th, Seattle cut in a bit more thanks to a two-run shot by Cal Raleigh for his 13th of the season. With an inning to play, the Mariners were in striking distance, trailing 8-5.

In the top of the 9th, Troy Taylor failed to keep things close. A single by Cody Bellinger was followed by Anthony Volpe’s sixth home run of the season to make it 10-5. A scary moment would occur later in the inning as Oswaldo Cabrera broke his ankle sliding into home on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Judge, forcing an ambulance to come on the field and take off the injured Yankee. Things then rolled along as New York would put the finishing touches on the Mariners as New York took the opener 11-5.

Notable Performances

Yankees

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Jorge Polanco- 1-3, HR, RBI, R
• Emerson Hancock (L, 1-2)- 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO

Mariners 2, Yankees 1 (11 Innings) (Game Two, May 13th)

One night after getting blown out by the powerful offense of the New York Yankees, the Seattle Mariners would attempt to end a season long four-game losing streak in game two of the series in the PNW. This time it would be a battle of the aces as undefeated Max Fried and his 1.06 ERA stepped onto the mound to take on Bryan Woo who had to battle through a tough outing in Sacramento his last time out.

Julio Rodríguez took a hit away from Aaron Judge to set the tone in the top of the 1st as Bryan Woo cruised through four innings. Max Fried needed a double play to escape a jam in the 2nd but in the 4th Seattle would strike first. J-Rod singled to lead off the inning before Cal Raleigh walked to the plate. Cal would smoke a line drive deep to center field that almost went through the wall. Julio scored from first as Raleigh reached second with his eighth double of the season. Great defense kept Seattle from adding on but the M’s had grabbed the initial 1-0 lead.

Woo and Fried really settled in and put on the show that both fan bases anticipated seeing. Fried would only last five innings, but gave up just the one run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Bryan Woo however went a little further into the game but was lifted after giving up a one-out double to Austin Wells in the 7th. Wells would be stranded to allow Woo to record a scoreless outing, going 6 1/3 innings and allowed only four hits without a walk and six strikeouts. Woo continued to prove that he is a Cy Young contender as he shutdown the highly powerful Yankees.

With the score 1-0 going into the 9th, Andrés Muñoz would attempt to close things out with the one-run lead. He would get off to a tough start by hitting Paul Goldschmidt before the former MVP stole second. Pablo Reyes would then run for Goldschmidt and moved up to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Anthony Volpe then shot a grounder to Dylan Moore at first and D-Mo would immediately make the throw home. That throw was offline for an error, allowing Reyes to score to tie the game at 1-1. Neither team would score again and the game was off to extra innings.

In the 10th, Carlos Vargas would deal with Oswald Peraza as the automatic runner. A couple of huge strikeouts of DJ LeMahieu and Trent Grisham allowed Vargas to intentionally walk Aaron Judge to go after Cody Bellinger. A fly out to right would end the inning and give Seattle a chance to walk it off against Devin Williams in the home half. Mitch Garver would move to third on a sacrifice bunt by Miles Mastrobuoni, but a shallow flyout by Rowdy Tellez and a groundout by Leody Taveras kept the game tied and sent it to the 11th.

Casey Legumina was the next man up for Seattle but Cody Bellinger would move up to third after starting the inning at second as the automatic runner. With one out, Legumina got Austin Wells to pop up to Rowdy Tellez for a big second out. After walking Anthony Volpe, Legumina got Jasson Domínguez to groundout to give the M’s another chance to walk it off.

Leody Taveras started the inning at second as Tim Hill took over on the mound. Ben Williamson smoked a grounder right back up the middle for a base hit, but the ball was hit too hard and didn’t allow Taveras to try to score. However, J.P. Crawford would just need to put the ball in play to give Taveras a chance to score the winning run. Crawford would flip the first pitch down the left field line and it stayed just fair for a base hit. Taveras came home as Crawford was mobbed at first base with a walkoff hit. Seattle would survive the pitchers duel to win game two against the Yankees, 2-1.

Notable Performances

Yankees

Mariners

• Bryan Woo (ND)- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO
• J.P. Crawford- 1-5, RBI, Walk-Off
• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, 2B, RBI

Yankees 3, Mariners 2 (Game Three, May 14th)

Wednesday afternoon’s rubber game of the series gave both the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees a chance to win a series against a fellow division leader in the American League. Will Warren would get the start for the Yankees in his second start of the road trip for the Bronx Bombers. For Seattle, veteran starter Luis Castillo would take the ball to try to make the most of a rough homestand for the M’s.

Right out of the gate, the Yankees looked to flex their muscles. Leading off the ball game, Trent Grisham sent a fly ball deep to center field that looked destined to get into The Pen. Unlike in game one when Julio Rodríguez couldn’t quite pull back a home run from Grisham, J-Rod timed his leap perfectly and brought back the would-be home run. Julio was just as fired up as the crowd as the M’s kept the Yankees off the board in the opening inning.

New York left two runners on base in two of the first three innings against Luis Castillo. Seattle could not get a runner on base however in the early going. In the bottom of the 3rd, that all changed. Leody Taveras reached on a leadoff single for the Mariners first hit of the game. After J.P. Crawford was a late scratch, Leo Rivas came through on short notice with a base hit to right to put another man on base. Miles Mastrobuoni moved the runners over with a groundout before Jorge Polanco walked to load the bases with two outs. After coming up big with the glove, J-Rod came through with the bat. A line drive down the right field line got down for extra bases and Taveras and Rivas both scored on Julio’s fifth double of the season. Seattle had grabbed the first runs of the game to take a 2-0 lead but that would be it as Trent Grisham took a base hit away from Cal Raleigh to end the inning.

Defense and pitching continued to lead the way for the Mariners as they maintained the 2-0 lead going into the 6th. Castillo went right at Aaron Judge and got him swinging before Cody Bellinger flew out to right for a quick two outs. Anthony Volpe then kept the inning alive with his 12th double of the season to bring the tying run to the plate. Jasson Domínguez would then come through with another double to drive in Volpe and get the Yankees on the board. Castillo would preserve that lead by getting DJ LeMahieu to groundout to end his outing. Castillo was fantastic as he went six innings and allowed just one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts in a big bounce back outing.

Two runners were left stranded by Seattle in the home half of the 6th and Gabe Speier was the first man out of the bullpen for Dan Wilson. He would face a pinch hitter in Paul Goldschmidt and the former MVP continued he resurgence in the Bronx. Goldschmidt jumped all over a first pitch fastball and sent it out to left field for a solo home run and his fifth homer of the season. Things had turned around quickly as the Yankees tied the game up at 2-2.

Seattle went quietly in the bottom of the 7th and Carlos Vargas would then enter to face the scary part of the Yankee order. First up, two-time MVP Aaron Judge who looks to be well on his way to his third MVP. He showed exactly why he is the favorite in the American League in this AB. A 1-1 slider hung a bit too much and Judge didn’t miss it as he crushed it 117.7-mph off the bat and sent it 444 feet. The bomb was Judge’s 15th home run of the season and put New York out in front, 3-2.

A double play killed the Mariners 8th inning rally and they entered the bottom of the 9th down by a run. Luke Weaver would enter and made extremely quick work of Seattle. Weaver struck out the side on 15 pitches to put an end to the series. Seattle struggled offensively all series and it ended with a 3-2 loss to drop two of three to New York.

Notable Performances

Yankees

Mariners

• Julio Rodríguez- 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, Robbed Home Run
• Cal Raleigh- 2-4
• Luis Castillo (ND)- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO

Roster Moves

• Mariners place RHP Bryce Miller on 15-day IL with right elbow inflammation. LHP Jhonathan Díaz recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

What’s Next

Seattle’s 1-5 homestand dealt a big blow to the Mariners momentum and their lead in the AL West. Seattle (23-19) now holds just a one game lead in the division over the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers and just 1 1/2 games over the Athletics. A long nine-game road trip now awaits the Mariners as they look to build some momentum back up and get the good vibes rolling again.

First up on the road trip will be during the very first MLB rivalry weekend where the Mariners will head down south to take on the San Diego Padres in a three-game set. San Diego (27-15) have been one of the best teams in baseball so far this season and will look to use their great balance between their lineup and pitching staff to continue the Mariners slide. In the all-time Vedder Cup series between Seattle and San Diego, Seattle holds a slight 68-63 edge over San Diego.

After a quiet few seasons, Fernando Tatis Jr. has reminded everyone why he is one of the best players in baseball to begin the 2025 season. Tatis has hit 11 homers and driven in 26 runs as he looks to make a run at his first career MVP. Mix in that he is also hitting .316 while continuing to adjust to his role as an outfielder and you will see that Tatis might be the current favorite to knock off Shohei Ohtani and take home the MVP award. With a seven-game hitting streak coming into the series, Tatis will look to add on as he has driven in eight runs and homered three times during that streak.

• Game 1, Friday 6:40pm (Apple TV+)- Logan Evans (1-1, 6.60 ERA) vs. Stephen Kolek (2-0, 0.00 ERA)
• Game 2, Saturday 5:40pm- TBD vs. Nick Pivetta (5-2, 3.05 ERA)
• Game 3, Sunday 1:10pm- Emerson Hancock (1-2, 6.91 ERA) vs. Michael King (4-1, 2.32 ERA)

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