SEATTLE – Aaron Judge scored four runs in his first two at-bats, Juan Soto hit his 40th home run of the season and 200th of his career and the New York Yankees moved close to securing a playoff spot with their 11-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
The Yankees can clinch a wild-card spot in the American League with a win over Seattle on Wednesday, at worst. With the win in the opener of New York’s six-game road trip, the Yankees extended their lead in the AL East to four games over Baltimore, their largest lead since they had a 4 1/2-game lead when play began on June 7.
“We know we’re going to face another strong pitcher and hopefully we can get through it and accomplish our first goal,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’s not done yet. We just have to keep going.”
Judge struck out three batters and hit a two-run double, and when he was back on top an inning later, he added a two-out, two-run single. Judge now has 136 RBIs, a league-leading total.
Soto joined the offense with a two-out, two-run hit against Seattle starter Bryan Woo in the third inning. Soto reached the 40-home run mark for the first time in his career and has now hit a home run in all 30 ballparks.
“Achieving another goal in my career is just a great feeling. All the work I put in and getting the results is really cool,” Soto said.
Soto and Judge are the third pair of Yankees teammates to hit 40 home runs in a season, alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (1927, 1930, 1931) and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (1961).
“It’s an honor. It’s hard to put into words. We’re talking about baseball legends here,” Judge said.
New York’s top three hitters – Judge, Soto and Gleyber Torres – combined to go 7-for-8 with four extra-base hits and six RBIs against Woo.
In two previous outings against the Yankees, Woo had not allowed a single run. This time, he scored a season-high seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings and was shut out after allowing Jasson Dominguez’s first home run since his Tommy John surgery last September.
Woo (8-3) had seven strikeouts and a walk. Austin Wells added a bases-clearing double in the sixth inning as New York scored double digits for the 14th time. Seattle had gone 107 consecutive home games without scoring 10 or more runs – the longest active streak in the major leagues.
“Not very good. Just made a few mistakes,” Woo said.
Yankees starter Luis Gil struggled with control early on, but escaped trouble in the first inning thanks to a questionable decision by Victor Robles to steal a home run from Justin Turner with the bases loaded, two outs and a 3-0 score.
“Vic is undoubtedly an aggressive player. That’s part of his game. In a situation like that, you have to know you can do it,” said Seattle manager Dan Wilson.
Robles was out and Gil (14-6) finished five innings, allowing one run and striking out five. Jorge Polanco and Luke Raley hit solo home runs and Julio Rodriguez – in crystal-embellished shoes – had four hits for Seattle.
The Mariners lost for only the second time this season in their “City Connect” jerseys, falling to 15-2.
Marcus Stroman played three innings as a relief pitcher for the Yankees as part of his move to the bullpen for this road trip. It was the ninth relief pitch of his career. He allowed five hits, including Raley’s home run.
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Yankees: LHP Nester Cores (9-10, 3.90 ERA) threw five innings in his last start and allowed one run with nine strikeouts against Boston.
Mariners: RHP Bryce Miller (11-8, 3.12) has allowed one earned run and recorded 11 strikeouts in his last two starts.
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