1. A day after doing the improbable by scoring four runs in an inning, the Yankees’ offense achieved what was thought to be impossible and scored 10 runs in a game in their 10-5 win over the Mariners. It was the first time since July 9 that the Yankees scored double-digit runs in a game, and the second time since June 17.
2. Trent Grisham went 3-for-5 with a double and two home runs. Grisham struck out to begin the game and has now made an out as the leadoff hitter in the first inning in 52 of 67 games. None of his three hits came as the leadoff hitter in any inning on Wednesday.
3. Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon each went 2-for-4 with a double, Spencer Jones went 2-for-4 with two doubles and George Lombard Jr. also went 2-for-4. Jazz Chisholm and Austin Wells both had hits. The only two starters to not get hits were … you guessed it … the two deadline acquisitions in Luis Garcia and Heliot Ramos. Garcia is hitting .222/.276/.407 as a Yankee and Ramos is hitting .083/.241/.167. The Yankees went 13-for-35 with eight extra-base hits, three walks and eight strikeouts.
4. The Yankees needed a big, unexpected night from their offense because Will Warren was awful once again: 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 3 HR. The Mariners had scored nine runs over their last seven games and Warren allowed five runs, 10 baserunners and three home runs in just four innings.
5. Warren put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole before they had an opportunity to bat and when they got one of the runs back in the second, Warren gave up another run in the third. After Warren threw a scoreless fourth, the offense pulled the Yankees to within 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Aaron Boone figured he would give Warren a fifth inning to figure it out even though it was evident he wasn’t going to figure it out and Warren walked the leadoff hitter in the fifth. That was enough for Boone as he put an end to trying to steal another inning from Warren. At least Boone didn’t mess around by going to Ryan Yarbrough to eat some middle innings and immediately went to his real relievers.
6. Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick combined for four scoreless innings and by the time the ninth inning came, the Yankees had a five-run lead and could give David Bednar the night off. Yerry De los Santos nearly forced Bednar into the game when he put two on in the ninth, but worked around the jam to end the game.
7. The win was the Yankees’ fourth in their last five games and fifth in their last seven. The problem is that going 5-2 in their last seven has lost them two games in the standings to the Rays, who won their ninth straight game on Wednesday. As I have written the last few days, the division race is over unless the Rays suddenly play something like .333 baseball. Because right now, if the Rays play just .500 baseball for the rest of the season, they win 95 games, and the Yankees would have to go 28-14 to win the division.
8. The first wild card is where the focus is now and the Red Sox lost their fifth straight game on Wednesday, so the Yankees’ lead on the first wild card is back up to four games. If we use the same .500 projection from above for the Yankees, they will finish with 89 wins if they play .500 baseball for the rest of the season. The Red Sox would have to go 25-17 to tie them. I don’t see the Yankees playing just .500 for the remainder of the season even if they have been close to a .500 team for three months now. With the schedule softening up and reinforcements on the way, the Yankees should be able to stack wins more easily, especially in September.
9. But first they have to get to September. And between now and the all-important four-game series against the Red Sox in the final weekend of August, the Yankees have one more game with the Mariners, six with the Blue Jays, three with the Orioles and three with the Astros. It would be great if the Yankees had at least a three-game lead over the Red Sox going into that series, so that winning just one game would ensure they leave that weekend with the first wild card spot.
10. On Wednesday, the Yankees have the opportunity to do something they haven’t done since July 10-12 in the final games before the All-Star break: sweep a series. That sweep of the Nationals is the Yankees’ only sweep since June 8-10 (against the Guardians). Max Fried gets the ball, which is an important ingredient in attempting a sweep, but the offense will need to show up and give him some semblance of support.
Last modified: Aug 14, 2026
