The opening salvo in this three-game battle between the Yankees and Mariners was as tight as you could have expected—and also true to expectations, pitching led the way. Neither staff so much as blinked throughout this game, but ultimately the Mariners found the big hit late as they prevailed, 2-1. Cal Raleigh’s walk-off single against Paul Blackburn sealed the deal following a tremendous start from Luis Castillo, but Ryan Weathers showed plenty of panache in his Yankee debut, and the bullpen turned in another strong effort until the dam finally burst.
The Mariners grabbed the initiative in the second inning when, following an early rally against Weathers, second baseman Cole Young grabbed a two-out ribbie on a shattered-bat single to right. It was the first time the Yankees trailed this season—the Giants had rarely threatened them in the previous series.
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The Yankees failed to respond in the top of the third inning, but José Caballero showed off his umpire skills by reversing two called strikes against him. Those successful challenges produced a walk which ultimately allowed Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger to take two-out plate appearances. Judge walked, but Bellinger punched out to end the rally.
Then in the fourth, Ben Rice, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all won challenges of their own on low strike calls. This led to a rather tense dialogue between home plate ump Mike Estabrook and the Yankee dugout. You can never fully foresee all the implications from implementing something like the ABS challenge system; one thing I didn’t expect was this kind of spat. It feels like a foregone conclusion that Aaron Boone will find a way to get himself tossed for this at some point this season.
Unfortunately, the Yankees’ prowess in catching Estabrook’s mistakes could not get them on the board against Castillo, who made them flail all night against his sharp fastball. La Piedra piloted smoothly through six scoreless innings, striking out seven Bombers—including a punchout of Judge in the sixth which marked the 1,500th in his excellent career. Overall he racked up 17 whiffs, 13 of which came on his four-seam fastball.
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Weathers, for his part, fought through some early turbulence to put together a solid first start with the Yankees. After throwing around 40 pitches through the first two innings, he was far more economical in the third and fourth before running into another jam in the fifth which ended his night. The M’s got two in scoring position with one out, compelling Boone to make a call to the bullpen with lefty-killer Rob Refsnyder looming on deck.
Fernando Cruz came in for Weathers, and Dan Wilson countered by pinch-hitting Dominic Canzone. But the lefty outfielder swung over the top of a filthy splitter for out number two. Then the notoriously slow-starting Julio Rodríguez proved unable to lay off the split-finger either, allowing Cruz to preserve a solid final line for his starter: 4.1 innings, one run, four hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
That kept the Yankees solidly in the Mariners’ rear-view mirror. In the seventh, they crept closer thanks to a leadoff knock from Rice and a patented Giancarlo Stanton Infield Single. Jazz moved the tying run to third on a fielder’s choice before Amed Rosario came off the bench to hit for Ryan McMahon. Wilson opted to switch from lefty Jose A. Ferrer to righty Eduard Bazardo. Rosario got the job done, lofting a fly ball to deep right center to score Rice and knot the score at 1-1.
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The Mariners got a dream scenario to take the lead back in the home seventh, but their two superstars’ struggles continued to get in their way. Brent Headrick got himself cornered before facing Cal Raleigh, pinch-hitting for Canzone. Raleigh had earned himself a rest day to start this series thanks to his 10 strikeouts in four games against Cleveland to start the year, and Headrick allowed him to continue his sabbatical with yet another strikeout. After that, Camilo Doval entered to retire Rodríguez on a chopper to second base, stranding the pair on M’s.
Both offenses went quietly in the eighth before Stanton continued his excellent start to the year in the ninth. Facing fireballer Matt Brash, he slashed a blistering line drive into the left-center gap and cruised easily into second for a double thanks to a poor route from Randy Arozarena. That marked his fourth consecutive multi-hit game to begin the season. A productive out from Chisholm moved pinch-runner Randal Grichuk to third for Rosario with two outs, but Brash’s slider wiped him out and compelled the Yanks to force extra innings.
But it wasn’t to be. Blackburn, who pitched the eighth for New York, soldiered on into the ninth and quickly found trouble. The Mariners got runners on the corners with just one out for the scuffling Raleigh—the big moments always seem to find you when you’re struggling, don’t they? But this time, the AL MVP runner-up lined a Blackburn cutter just fair down the line to hand the Yankees their first loss of 2026.
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Boone probably considered closer David Bednar off the table for this situation (even with the MVP runner-up at the plate), but regardless, it was curious not to see at least Tim Hill make an appearance, especially with the two tough lefties in Young and Brendan Donovan taking turns at the dish in the ninth. Blackburn was easier prey. The 162-0 dream vanishes in Game 4. Oh well.
For a series featuring these two stellar pitching staffs, the first game certainly delivered on the billing. We’ll see two aces take the hill tomorrow: Max Fried opposite Logan Gilbert. First pitch will come at the same 9:40 PM EST slot as tonight, with coverage on YES.
Box Score
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