Aaron Judge led off the eighth inning with a tie-breaking home run as the New York Yankees rallied to defeat the host Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Paul Goldschmidt also homered for New York, which took two of three games in the series between division leaders. Yankees leadoff hitter Trent Grisham was robbed of a homer by Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez with a leaping catch at the wall in the first inning.
Judge went deep off Mariners reliever Carlos Vargas (1-3), lining a 444-foot shot to left-center field. It was the MLB-leading 15th homer of the season for Judge, who also tops the majors in batting average (.412) and RBIs (41).
Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton (1-0) got the victory and Luke Weaver struck out the side in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Leody Taveras reached first on a throwing error by second baseman DJ LeMahieu and Leo Rivas grounded a one-out single to right. Both runners advanced on Miles Mastrobuoni’s soft grounder back to the mound. After a walk to Jorge Polanco, Rodriguez lined a two-run double down the right field line.
The Yankees cut their deficit in half in the sixth inning when Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez hit back-to-back two-out doubles to right.
New York tied it in the seventh as pinch hitter Goldschmidt led off the inning with a liner down the left field line on reliever Gabe Speier’s first pitch.
The Mariners threatened in the bottom of the eighth against Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz as Cal Raleigh lined a one-out single to right and Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch. But Cruz got Dylan Moore to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Neither starter factored into the decision.
New York’s Will Warren allowed two unearned runs on three hits over five innings, with one walk and a career-high nine strikeouts. Seattle’s Luis Castillo gave up one run on six hits in six innings, with two walks and six strikeouts.
The Mariners’ J.P. Crawford was a late scratch from the lineup, with Mastrobuoni replacing him both at shortstop and atop the lineup. There was no immediate word from team officials why Crawford was out.
–Field Level Media
