Yankees offense stalls, bullpen struggles in 6-3 loss to Mariners

The Yankees‘ offense struggled early and the bullpen struggled late as New York lost 6-3 to the Mariners on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

It’s the first time the Yankees lost back-to-back games since April 29-30 against the Blue Jays.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Yankees lineup could not figure out young righty Bryan Woo on Tuesday night. The Bombers could only muster two hits and didn’t work a walk against him.

Woo went six innings (77 pitches/58 strikes) giving up two hits and struck out seven batters. It was the 24-year-old’s third start since returning from the IL.

The Yankees were victimized by some great defense by Seattle, especially from right fielder Dominic Canzone who made two diving grabs to rob Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera of hits.

-However, once the Mariners took Woo out the Yankees found their offense. In the seventh, an Aaron Judge walk and Anthony Rizzo hit by pitch gave Gleyber Torres a chance with two outs. The second baseman launched a 96 mph fastball 392 feet over the left-center field wall. The Yankees would get the tying run to the plate in the ninth after a Jose Trevino single and Torres walk for Cabrera. But the utility infielder struck out swinging to end the game.

–Clarke Schmidt was on the bump Tuesday after the best start of his young career. He wouldn’t duplicate that outing on this night.

A two-run shot to Dylan Moore, the No. 9 hitter, in the third inning put the Yankees down 2-0. It was the first home run Schmidt allowed since May 4 and that was the only mistake on the right-hander’s line but he struggled to get through five. After his eight-inning performance against the Twins last week, Schmidt pitched five innings (100 pitches/62 strikes) giving up two runs on four hits, and two walks while striking out six batters.

-The Yankees bullpen could not keep the Mariners down after Schmidt. After a scoreless inning from Victor Gonzalez, Dennis Santana gave up two hits including the first home run he’s given up this season.

Clayton Andrews, called up when Ian Hamilton was placed on the COVID IL and making his Yankees debut, gave up a solo shot on the first pitch he threw to give the Mariners a 5-3 lead. Nick Burdi gave up a solo shot in the ninth to Moore, his second of the game, to gift Seattle an insurance run.

The Yankees bullpen gave up four runs over four innings.

-In his final at-bat, Volpe hit a single and finished 1-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 14 games.

Alex Verdugo hit a double, and reached third on an error, to give the Yankees their first runner in scoring position but New York could not push him across. The left fielder is now 4-for-8 with two extra-base hits in this series. Juan Soto went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and Judge finished 0-for-3 with a walk and a run.

In total, the Yankees lineup picked up just five hits, walked once and were 1-for-5 with RISP.

Game MVP: Bryan Woo

The young right-hander was dominant. He kept the Yankees offense from getting going and they could only score when Woo was taken out after the sixth inning.

Honorable mention goes to Dylan Moore whose three RBI matched the entire Yankees team on Tuesday night.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees continue their four-game series with the Mariners on Wednesday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Nestor Cortes (2-4, 3.56 ERA) will be on the mound as Seattle will put Brad Miller (3-4, 3.08 ERA) on the bump.