Juan Soto homers twice, Aaron Judge once as Yankees beat Mariners, 7-3
The Yankees scored all their runs off four home runs, including two from Juan Soto, to snap a mini two-game losing skid, beating the Seattle Mariners, 7-3, on Wednesday night in The Bronx.
New York improved to 34-17 on the season and pushed their lead in the AL East to 3.0 games over Baltimore. Seattle fell to 27-23.
Here are the takeaways...
- Anthony Volpe pushed his hitting streak to 15 games with a little Baltimore chop to lead off the bottom half of the first. He came around to score when Aaron Judge smacked a first-pitch hanging slider for a two-run home run (374 feet, 103.5 mph off the bat) to right field off Mariners starter Bryce Miller.
With one down in the third, after Volpe got his second hit of the night, Soto launched an opposite-field two-run home run (414 feet, 107.6 mph off the bat) to the left-center power alley to double New York’s advantage.
Soto got the Mariners right-hander again to start the sixth driving one 369 feet down the line in left (107.2 mph) for his second opposite-field round-tripper of the night.
With two down in the seventh Soto got the chance to do more damage with the bases loaded, but we went down swinging on three pitches.
- Nestor Cortes got the start and had swing-and-miss stuff early – getting eight whiffs on his first 16 swings – but needed 27 pitches to get through a scoreless first inning against a very patient Seattle lineup.
Dylan Moore continued his good series by rocketing a leadoff double down the left-field line for a double. After Ty France worked a walk Seattle appeared to have something cooking, but Cortes got Jorge Polanco looking and Austin Wells gunned down France at second for an inning-ending strike-'em out throw-'em out double play.
Cortes' struggles with command continued in the third, going deep in the count to every batter and allowing a pair of singles – the second one rocketed 107.9 mph off Mitch Garver's bat went 368 feet and would’ve been a homer in 11 parks (including Seattle). But Cortes kept the Mariners off the board, but he was at 74 pitches (48 strikes) after nine outs.
An 11-pitch fourth and 12-pitch fifth, allowed the lefty to get through five scoreless innings and put him in line for a win and Cortes moved into first in the AL in innings pitched with 65.2.
His final line: 5.0 innings, no runs on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts on 97 pitches (62 strikes) lowering his ERA to 3.29 as his WHIP ticked up slightly to 1.066.
This was the 10th straight start of five innings and two runs or fewer for the Yanks, the third time they've done that in franchise history. New York's starters have a 1.01 ERA in that span.
- Tommy Kahnle, activated off the IL earlier on Wednesday, made his 2024 debut in the sixth retiring the Mariners 1-2-3, with a nice running grab from Judge and a fine barehanded play from Volpe.
- Seattle got two on with two out off Michael Tonkin in the seventh, but the right-hander got pinch-hitter Luke Raley to bounce out to second.
Tonkin got one out in the eighth, but his second walk of the inning ended his night with Luke Weaver entering. Cal Raleigh then hooked an 0-2 changeup (108.8 mph) over the short porch in right for a three-run jack to get the Mariners back in the game.
- Alex Verdugo responded by launching a 420-foot two-run shot deep to right field after Judge walked to start the home half of the eighth to restore a more comfortable 7-3 margin for Weaver to cruise to a 1-2-3 ninth.
Who was the MVP? Juan Soto
On a day when owner Hal Steinbrenner said that the payroll level the Yankees are at right now is "simply not sustainable for us financially," Soto showed why it is going to be so hard to stick to those words when it comes to this offseason and his impending free agency.
Highlights
What's next
The Yanks look to grab a split of the four-game set with a Thursday, 12:35 p.m. first pitch before starting a 10-day, nine-game West Coast road trip.
RHP Luis Gil (5-1, 2.39 ERA) gets things underway and will face off against the Mariners' own Luis, RHP Luis Castillo (4-5, 3.28 ERA).
