NEW YORK — Randy Arozarena continued his recent hot streak of homers, Cole Young hit the first long ball of his career, and J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco both added solo shots that somehow meant the Mariners only lost by three runs on Wednesday night.
Such is the case when shaky pitching also includes one bad defensive play from someone that’s been at the top of their game most of the season.
While the Mariners scored all their runs via four homers, New York did its own bit of mashing on the way to a 9-6 win at Yankee Stadium and taking the first two games of the series.
The Mariners had won 13 straight games when hitting at least four home runs dating an extra-inning loss to Baltimore on June 24, 2023. That streak ended, along with their run of having won or split the previous five series over the past few weeks.
“They hit home runs too and just they got the early lead,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “We tried to jump back into it, like I mentioned, but they continued to kind of work that lead and expand it a little bit, and just weren’t able to get them in the end.”
Rookie Logan Evans didn’t enjoy his first time pitching at Yankee Stadium, getting tagged for six earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. New York had a 2-0 lead before Evans recorded his first out of the game, a grounder that also plated a run for a 3-0 Yankees lead.
It was just the start. The Yankees collected nine hits off the young righty, including a pair of home runs from Jazz Chisholm Jr. Chisholm’s solo shot in the third inning came on a 3-2 pitch, but his two-run shot in the fifth was more damaging.
“I just think I needed to execute my two-strike pitches a little bit better. I felt like I was getting ahead a little bit. I just felt like when it was time to put them away, I just wasn’t making the pitch that I needed to,” Evans said.
The second homer by Chisholm was a perfect example. Evans was one pitch away from getting out of the inning with the Mariners down just two runs. But Evans hung a curveball a little higher than he wanted and Chisholm pulled it down the right-field line to extend the Yankees lead to 6-2.
“It was a little tough. I definitely wish it was a little bit under the zone with a 2-2 count there,” Evans said. “Not going to say it was the worst pitch ever. I mean, he just put a good swing on it. He’s a good hitter. Sometimes they get you.”
That was the shaky pitching. The shaky defensive play came from the M’s All-Star center fielder, who committed an error for the second straight game.
For all the runs he’s saved this season via either the eye test or the advanced statistics, Julio Rodríguez simply botched a sinking line drive in the sixth inning and the Yankees eventually scored three runs in the inning. Rodríguez was charged with a two-base error after misplaying the liner off the bat of Oswald Peraza.
“It’s one of those that knuckled, and I’ve been a catcher on knuckleballs and that’s a hard pitch to catch. Same kind of thing. That ball was hit hard and knuckled on him at the last minute. It’s a tough play,” Wilson said.
Instead of two outs and a runner on second, there was one-out, two runners on and the Yankees capitalized. Jasson Dominguez lined a single with the infield playing in that likely was an out if playing at normal depth. Aaron Judge then satisfied the fans in right field chanting “MVP,” by pulling a two-run double down the left field line to give the Yankees a 9-4 lead.
Only one of the three runs was unearned, but Judge likely doesn’t get to the plate — or doesn’t have to be pitched to — if Rodríguez makes the play.
While the Mariners rookie starter was knocked around, Yankees starter Cam Schlittler walked off to a standing ovation after throwing 5 1/3 innings in his major league debut. The M’s struggled to pick up his upper 90s mph fastball and a slider that checked in around 92 or 93 mph.
Schlittler struck out seven and the homer was the only damage he allowed. Crawford visited the lower bleachers in right field with his seventh homer of the season and first since hitting a grand slam against Cleveland on June 15, and Polanco found the second deck with his 13th homer, but just his fourth since the start of May.
Schlittler was pulled in the sixth, but Arozarena ambushed the first pitch from reliever Jonathan Loaisiga into the right-field seats for his 15th homer and his seventh in the past nine games.
Then it was Young’s turn for a lifetime memory even if it came in defeat. Young’s first career homer was a line drive over the head of Judge in right field that just cleared the fence and came an on 0-2 pitch after fouling off a pair of pitches to stay alive in the at-bat.
“That’s not a huge part of my game, but obviously it’s nice to get the first one out of the way, for sure,” Young said.
Young’s first long ball would have been a home run in only two ballparks in baseball, per MLB Statcast. Just so happened Yankee Stadium was one of them.
And he ended up with the ball, thanks to a small trade.
“I didn’t have to trade anything. I think Cal might sign a ball,” Young said.
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Tim Booth: Tim Booth covers the Kraken and other sports for The Seattle Times. Email him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @ByTimBooth.