Yankees 1, Mariners 2: Pitchers dazzle, hitters squander chances in 11

Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

We were predicting a dynamite starting pitching matchup tonight, and that’s exactly what we got. Max Fried and Bryan Woo dealt zero after zero, and even after they left, just two of the ten combined relief pitchers allowed runs — single scores apiece. The Yankees simply couldn’t get the one hit they needed, and fell to the Mariners in 11 innings, 2-1.

Y’know, if that’s what “bad” Max Fried looks like, I’m very OK with it. The southpaw struggled to find his breaking pitches, and like Clarke Schmidt

last night seemed to throw an extra pitch or two to each hitter he faced. He was stung by Cal Raleigh’s RBI double in the fourth, but if five innings and one run allowed is a little disappointing, boy Max has lived up to the hype so far. His 1.11 ERA through nine starts is the lowest of any Yankees pitcher in history, per Katie Sharp.

I also don’t think you can discount how tough the strike zone was that Fried was dealing with:

I don’t think this is sour grapes; I think this affected Fried’s approach. If you can’t go north you go south, if you can’t go south you go north, but if you can’t go anywhere you lose a lot of the advantage that Fried’s breaking pitches offer. You then start to try and take break off so the ball stays in the called zone, which may have related to the struggle for feel that we saw.

It wasn’t like the Mariners knocked Fried around, they managed just four hits, but tonight was a labour of love for the Yankee ace. Look at this third-inning AB, one that ended in a strikeout:

Here we have two extra pitches Fried had to throw. He still gets the out, but everything had a sales tax today.

It’s a good thing the Yankee pitching was so good — Fried struck out the last three men he faced, then Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. sat down the next five batters they were assigned. The offense was quiet as a church mouse for most of the game.

Seattle’s Bryan Woo was as good as advertised, retiring 14 Yankees in a row at one stretch. Cody Bellinger managed a double in the first while Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge had two-out singles in the fifth, but that was pretty much it. Belli popped out to end the fifth inning threat.

They got another chance in the seventh, with an Austin Wells double, an Anthony Volpe walk, and a double steal putting two men in scoring position with one out. The Yanks couldn’t cash, and it looked like that would be their last kick at the can.

And then, the ninth.

The normally pristine Andrés Muñoz plunked Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch. Then the noble and ancient Goldy stole second. Wells’ productive out moved pinch-runner Pablo Reyes to third, and then we got a rather interesting display of Mariners’ defense:

The contact play worked, it didn’t necessarily work because of anything the Yankees did, but hey, we’re tied up. Of course, umpire Mark Wegner had to remind us who we all tuned in to see, taking the bat right out of Jasson Domínguez’s hands:

Aaron Boone getting his moneys worth after being ejected arguing a low strike three call on Jasson Dominguez.

pic.twitter.com/tK2YBT8Zpo— MLB Digest (@TheMLBDigest) May 14, 2025

Can’t call a 5x5 zone all night and then do that.

Luke Weaver was perfect in two innings of work, but the Yankees couldn’t manage a thing in extras. Zombie runner Oswald Peraza was frozen in the 10th due to strikeouts from DJ LeMahieu (in his season debut) and Grisham, and Bellinger flew out. Devin Williams did a nice job of keeping Seattle off the board in the home half, and the Yankees put the resurrected Bellinger on third with one out in the 11th. Wells softly popped up the second pitch he saw from Casey Legumina to pin Bellinger to the bag, and after a Volpe walk, Domínguez grounded out.

The Mariners, meanwhile, got their chance in the bottom of the 11th, and J.P. Crawford made short work of Tim Hill.

You’re not gonna win many games when you only score one. Maybe you can be worried about Hill’s propensity to give up so much contact spells trouble since so many groundballs will just eventually find holes, but the Yankees had plenty of chances to get themselves ahead today and couldn’t do it. They ended the night 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 men on base.

That said, the Yankees are in this pattern of close losses and blowout wins, which is a really good sign. We’ve seen in a quarter of the season so far that these kinds of games, one or two runs scored, are few and far between. If that continues through the next three-quarters of a season, the Yankees will be just fine, and nights like tonight will be annoying footnotes. As for me, I’m taking a well-earned week’s break from this team, but the Yankees have one more game before they’re off. A rubber match, with Will Warren on the mound against Luis Castillo, looms tomorrow afternoon and first pitch comes at 4:10pm ET.

Box Score

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