SEATTLE – The Yankees won’t have a chance to secure a playoff spot until Wednesday night, which is expected to be the first of two clinchers this month.
Tuesday night felt like a pregame for a party.
Facing a tough test from right-hander Bryan Woo, the Yankees went to town and knocked him out of the game by the fifth inning en route to an 11-2 win over the Mariners in front of 31,668 at T-Mobile Park.
Buoyed by a big night from the top of the order – Gleyber Torres, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge combined to go 7-for-10 with three walks, six RBI and seven runs scored – the Yankees (88-63) won for the eighth time. time in the past 11 games and trimmed the magic number to one to clinch a playoff spot.
With a win Wednesday, they could become the first team in the American League to clinch a playoff berth.
With the Orioles’ loss on Tuesday night, the Yankees also extended their lead in the AL East to four games — their largest since June 6 (when they were a season-high 4 ½) — with 11 games to play.
“Blinders on,” manager Aaron Boone said before the game. “We know we are not close to where we want to be. The work is not done.”
But the Yankees got closer to their first goal by putting together an offensive attack against the Mariners (77-74), who have won eight of 11 in the series as they fight for playoff survival.
It also helped take some of the pressure off Luis Gil, who struggled with command but managed to get through five innings of one-run ball before Marcus Stroman — in his first relief appearance of the season after bouncing from the rotation — threw the final out. three innings, allowing a solo home run and recording a save.
Torres had a strong night on both sides of the ball, going 3-for-4 with a double and turning in three defensive plays.
On one swing in the fourth inning, Soto (2-for-2, two walks) hit his 40th home run of the season and 200th of his career, making it the 30th and last MLB park he hasn’t gone deep. at.
And Judge cleared the traffic in front of him, going 2-for-4 with a walk and four RBIs to give him 136 on the season.
Jasson Dominguez also went deep for the first time this season, putting the Yankees up 7-1 in the fifth inning and knocking Woo out of the game, while Austin Wells added a three-run double in the sixth to blow the game open.
Meanwhile, the Mariners – especially Victor Robles – played a big hand in helping Gil overcome some early obstacles.
Staked for a 2-0 lead, Gil hit Robles in the hand with the first pitch of the night and then issued a pair of 3-1 runs to load the bases with one out.
He got Luke Raley for the second out but then fell 3-0 to Justin Turner and clearly didn’t feel the strike zone as he walked to the back of the mound to grab a bag of rosin.
Robles had a big lead from third, but suddenly broke to the front as Gil tossing the bag of rosin back down on the ground.
Realizing just fast enough that Robles had taken off, Gil fired home the throw in time for Wells to slap the tag down and somehow end the inning without allowing a run.
From there, the Yankees kept piling on, including Soto taking Woo deep for a two-run shot in the fourth inning to make it 6-1.
With Soto reaching the milestone, he and Aaron Judge became just the third set of Yankees teammates to hit 40 home runs in the same season — the first since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1961.
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig previously did it in three different seasons.