Taking 2 of 3 In Seattle a Good Warmup for Citi Series

Ordinarily, winning 2 out of 3 on the road, especially against the 1st place team in one of the other Divisions, is a good thing.

But the American League Eastern Division-leading Yankees had the chance to sweep the AL Western Division-leading Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park (formerly Safeco Field) in Seattle this week, and couldn't close the deal.

Clarke Schmidt gave the Yankees 6 solid innings on Monday night, and they gave him a 6-run 5th inning. Trent Grisham hit 2 home runs, and Anthony Volpe hit 1. The Yankees won, 11-5.

But on Tuesday night, Max Fried, the new ace in place of the out-for-the-season Gerrit Cole, got matched by Bryan Woo. Cody Bellinger doubled with 2 out in the 1st inning, and he was the last Yankee baserunner until the 6th. With 2 out, Grisham and Aaron Judge singled, but were stranded. 

It looked like the Yankees might break through in the 7th. With 1 out, Austin Wells doubled. Woo was replaced by Gabe Speier, who walked Volpe. But Speier struck out Jasson Domínguez and Oswald Peraza to end the threat. Grisham singled with 1 out in the 8th, but was stranded.

The Yankees entered the 9th inning trailing, 1-0. But Paul Goldschmidt was hit with a pitch. He stole 2nd -- and was then pinch-run for, with the newly-acquired Pablo Reyes. Austin Wells grounded him over to 3rd, and Volpe got him home with another grounder. But the winning run did not come. Nor did it come in the 10th, even with the "ghost runner" rule.

Despite his early struggles this season, Devin Williams pitched a 1-2-3 10th. Reyes' grounder got Bellinger to 3rd with 1 out in the top of the 11th, but Wells popped up. Volpe walked, but Domínguez could only ground to 2nd, and the inning was over. In the bottom of the 11th, Tim Hill gave up back-to-back singles to Ben Williamson and J.P. Crawford, and the Mariners had won, 2-1.

Will Warren started on Wednesday afternoon, and he went 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 9. But he would not be the winning pitcher, because, again, the Yankees found runs hard to come by.

Back-to-back doubles by Volpe and Domínguez brought the Yankees to within 2-1 in the 6th. Goldschmidt tied it with a home run in the 7th. Judge won it with a home run in the 8th. The Yankees won, 3-2, with Ian Hamilton as the winning pitcher.

*

We're a little past a quarter of the way through the regular season. Judge is batting .412. He's on a pace to hit 57 home runs and have 154 RBIs. As Phil Rizzuto would have said, "I tell ya, this Judge is unbelievable. Holy cow."

The Yankees are 25-18. The are the only team in the AL East that is .500 or over. They lead it by 4 games each over the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, 5 over the Tampa Bay Rays, and 9 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles.

Today, they begin a Citi Series against the Mets at Yankee Stadium II. Remember: It's not a Subway Series. That term is proper only for a World Series between the teams. Here are the pitching matchups, as currently set:

* Tonight, 7:05, on YES: Carlos Rodón vs. Tylor Megill. ("Tyler" would be bad enough, but who names their kid "Tylor"?)

* Tomorrow, 1:05, on YES: Clarke Schmidt vs. Griffin Canning.

* Sunday, 7:10, on ESPN: Max Fried vs. David Peterson.