1. Blowout wins and close losses. That’s what the Aaron Boone Yankees do. That’s what they have always done, and that’s what they did on Tuesday night in Seattle, losing to the Mariners 2-1 in 11 innings.
It’s not a coincidence the Yankees are 7-12 in one- and two-run games this season and 15-5 in games decided by three or more runs. The Yankees win games with a large gap in the score because their offense is capable of going off and their pitching is sound enough to rarely be on the wrong end of a blowout. They lose close games because the closer the score, the more important managing, situational hitting and fundamentals are, and the Yankees suck at all three. It’s why the Yankees have the worst extra-inning road record (12-25) since the automatic runner was implemented (stat from Katie Sharp). It’s why they lost for the third time in three extra-inning road games this season.
2. Bryan Woo is a very good starter. Coming off a 22-start, 2.89 ERA season last year, Woo has been mostly good this year, though he was lit up in Sacramento in his previous start (6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR). Couple Woo going against Max Fried, who has been the best or second-best (to Tarik Skubal) starter in the league this year and runs were always going to be at a premium on Tuesday.
That’s why it hurt so much when Trent Grisham played a ball in center field like late-career Aaron Hicks would have. Grisham got turned around on a Cal Raleigh deep drive to center and played it into a run-scoring double. That one run is all that would come in the game until the ninth.
3. The Yankees had a couple of chances to get to Woo in the game, but only a couple. That’s because from the third out in the first inning until there were two outs in the sixth inning, Woo didn’t allow a baserunner, retiring 15 straight. The Yankees stranded Cody Bellinger at second in the first, and in the sixth, Bellinger left both Grisham and Aaron Judge on.
4. In the seventh, trailing by a run with one out, Austin Wells doubled on a ground ball inside first base. It wasn’t like Wells drilled one in the gap, but Dan Wilson still pulled Woo at 88 pitches. Even with Anthony Volpe (who hits lefties well) due up, Wilson went to a lefty in Gabe Speier, the way every manager has gone to lefties in the middle innings against the Yankees this season. Volpe drew a seven-pitch walk to set up first and second with one out. With Jasson Dominguez batting right-handed at the plate, Boone called for a double steal and both Wells and Volpe were safe. With runners now on second and third and one out, the Yankees had their best chance of the game to that point to score.
They didn’t. Dominguez continued his struggles against lefties with a couple of ugly hacks to go down swinging and Speier made quick work of Oswald Peraza with a three-pitch strikeout.
5. The Yankees went down again in the eighth and still trailed 1-0 in the ninth with Anthony Munoz and his 0.00 ERA taking the mound. The Yankees caught a break when Munoz hit Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch to put the leadoff man on, and Goldschmidt made him pay by immediately stealing second. The Yankees had the opportunity to score the tying run without a hit, and they did just that as Pablo Reyes (pinch running for Goldschmidt) scored after a couple of ground balls.
The Yankees failed to score Volpe from second with one out in the ninth, and the moment the game went to extra innings I knew the Yankees were doomed.
“When you don’t score in the extra innings, it puts the home team at a real advantage,” Boone said, “so we were kind of up against it there.”
6. The Yankees don’t score in extra innings on the road because their entire extra-inning road strategy seems to be to hope Judge is due up in the 10th and then hope he hits one in the gap or over the wall. The problem is Judge is never allowed to bat in extras because no opposing manager is dumb enough to let the one Yankee who will beat them, beat them.
DJ LeMahieu in his first plate appearance of 2025 led off the 10th with an unsurprising strikeout and Grisham followed with a strikeout as well. Grisham worked the count full before going down on a slider in the dirt. Had he taken that pitch, Judge would have had a chance to hit. Instead, the Mariners threw up four fingers and put Judge on before he even stepped foot in the batter’s box. Bellinger ended the inning with his patented lazy fly ball.
Devin Williams kept the game alive with a scoreless bottom of the 10th, but with the bottom of the order due up it wasn’t going to matter.
Reyes hit a ground ball to move the automatic runner to third with one out, Wells popped out for the second out, and after Volpe walked, Dominguez grounded out.
In the bottom of the 11th, Tim Hill took the mound. Hill is the last pitcher you want to see with the game-winning run on second and no outs, considering he pitches to contact and can’t get whiffs. In the span of three pitches, the Mariners singled twice and ended the game.
7. Max Fried had to grind through five innings and still only allowed a run: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. It was the first game the Yankees have lost this season Fried has started. He still leads the league in WAR, wins, ERA, innings pitched and ERA+.
8. I expect LeMahieu to be in the starting lineup on Wednesday and with the West Coast trip coming to an end, a scheduled day off on Thursday and the Mets waiting back in New York for Friday’s Subway Series opener, I think Boone could give us a lineup like this for the rubber game in Seattle:
1. Trent Grisham, CF
2. Aaron Judge, RF
3. Ben Rice, 1B
4. Cody Bellinger, LF
5. Anthony Volpe, SS
6. Jasson Dominguez, DH
7. J.C. Escarra, C
8. DJ LeMahieu, 2B
9. Jorbit Vivas, 3B
9. After scoring one run in 11 innings on Tuesday, things won’t get easier on Wednesday with Luis Castillo going for the Mariners. Castillo is coming off a brutal performance against the Blue Jays, but Dylan Cease and Woo were both coming off of clunkers recently and then dominated the Yankees. I doubt Castillo will suck for a second straight start, especially since he always pitches well against the Yankees.
Will Warren gave the best start of his career on Friday in Sacramento, and now for the first time in the majors, he’s going to try to give back-to-back good-enough-to-win efforts. For the Yankees to have a chance against Castillo, they’re going to need Warren to not ruin the game early, which he seems to have a knack for doing.
10. The Yankees’ first multi-series road trip of the season started out 2-1 and ended 3-3. Their second started out 3-1 and ended 4-3. Their third and current started out 3-1 and can either finish 4-2 or 3-3. If it’s the former, it will be an enjoyable cross-country flight home leading into Thursday’s day off. If it’s the latter, it will be an enormous disappointment after the way the first four games went.
Last modified: May 14, 2025
