Aaron Judge home run lifts Yankees to series win over Mariners

SEATTLE – The afternoon started with Julio Rodríguez robbing a home run with a leaping catch at the wall just five pitches into the game.

It ended with Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena standing and watching – and neither really moving – as Aaron Judge provided another reminder that ultimately he is inevitable.

“Just what he’s doing, like I do that (on) the PlayStation, maybe,” Rodríguez said of Judge. “It’s just the truth. You have to acknowledge the fact that he’s doing so good. And just being able to watch him play and what he’s doing is very special.”

Relatively quiet for most of the series, Judge loudly delivered the New York Yankees a 3-2 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, thanks to his 15th homer of the season in the eighth inning that snapped a 2-all tie.

It wasn’t a majestic, towering shot off the bat of Judge that handed the Yankees a series win and the Mariners their fifth loss in six games. Rather, the line drive seemed to never arc. It was a rope that arrived from the hand of Carlos Vargas at nearly 89 mph, left Judge’s bat at 117.7 mph and didn’t stop until it hit the back of the Mariners’ bullpen 444 feet away.

It was the hardest-hit home run at T-Mobile Park since MLB Statcast started tracking exit velocities in 2015.

Rodríguez was if that was one of the hardest balls he’s seen hit.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, yeah,” he said.

Judge’s homer came an inning after Paul Goldschmidt’s pinch-hit homer leading off the seventh inning against reliever Gabe Speier and provided a deflating conclusion to what was an ugly homestand by the Mariners.

The M’s went 1-5 over the six games. They scored more than three runs only once. Strikeouts were up. Walks were down. Hits were a bit scarcer than they had been over the previous month.

In the six games, the Mariners hit .190 with an on-base percentage of .243.

And now a 10-game road trip to San Diego, Chicago (vs. the White Sox) and Houston awaits starting Friday with three-fifths of the projected starting rotation from before the season on the injured list after Bryce Miller was placed on the IL before Wednesday’s game.

There is the chance George Kirby returns later in the road trip, likely in Houston.

“We feel pretty good each time we go to battle with this group that we have in the clubhouse,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “Whoever we have on the mound, we’re excited. We think we got a good chance to win.

“So not concerned about it. We’ll be ready to play.”

For most of the day it looked like the combo of Rodríguez and starting pitcher Luis Castillo would be the story for the Mariners. Rodríguez started the day by getting a measure of redemption, robbing Trent Grisham of a home run with a leaping catch at the wall in left-center field for the first out of the day. Grisham homered twice in the series opener Monday, with one of those tipping off Rodríguez’s glove and clearing the fence.

Rodríguez later provided the M’s all their offense with a two-out, two-run double in the third inning for a 2-0 lead, a line shot on the first pitch from Yankees starter Will Warren that barely stayed fair as it sliced down the right-field line.

But the M’s managed only three hits after Rodríguez’s double, and no base runner advanced beyond second. The M’s also played without shortstop and leadoff hitter J.P. Crawford after he was unexpectedly scratched about an hour before first pitch due to some shoulder soreness.

Wilson felt the quality of the at-bats across the homestand were fine, just the results weren’t always there. Wednesday included some more examples of what Wilson was referencing.

Right after Rodríguez’s double, Cal Raleigh ripped a 105.8 mph shot to center field, but Grisham made a tumbling catch to end the inning and save two more runs from scoring.

Rodríguez also flirted with a homer in the seventh, but got under the pitch slightly and watched it get caught on the warning track.

“We had opportunities today with guys on base, and we hit some balls hard and didn’t have a lot to show for it,” Wilson said. “That’s what you’re looking for and today just weren’t able to get them to fall.”

The scuffling offense again put immense pressure on the pitching staff to be nearly perfect.

Castillo wasn’t flawless, but he was twirling a shutout into the sixth inning despite giving up some loud, hard contact.

Five of the first seven balls put in play by New York off Castillo topped 100-mph exit velocity. Yet only two of those swings fell for hits, and Castillo was able to counter some of the loud contact by getting the Yankees to swing through a number of pitches early in the game.

Castillo finished with 16 whiffs in his 93 pitches, but 12 came in the first three innings. He struck out Judge twice, including a 3-2 fastball in the third inning after 10 consecutive off-speed pitches across his first two plate appearances. He also got Judge waving at a slider in the sixth – two of Castillo’s six strikeouts on the day.

“I think all the merit goes to the work the pitching coach and I did since the last start correcting any little things that needed to be corrected,” Castillo said via interpreter Freddy Llanos. “And I think based off that work we were able to get the outing that we did today.”

But the shutout disappeared in the span of two batters with two outs in the sixth when Anthony Volpe and Jasson Domínguez ripped consecutive doubles to cut the New York deficit to one run at 2-1.

Goldschmidt struck in the seventh with just the second pinch-hit homer of his career. And Judge reminded everyone of his powerful presence in the eighth as Wilson stayed steadfast to his trend all season that closer Andrés Muñoz is almost exclusively used only in save or end-of-game situations.

In previous seasons, it likely would have been Muñoz in there to face the slugger.

“I think everybody uses their closer a little bit differently,” Wilson said. “I think a situation like that, it was (Vargas’) pocket. We talked about that and that’s what we were going with.”

Miller placed on injured list with elbow inflammation

Bryce Miller was placed on the 15-day injured list Wednesday because of right elbow inflammation, joining George Kirby and Logan Gilbert as Seattle’s third starting pitcher to land on the IL with arm troubles this season.

Medical imaging on Miller’s elbow, conducted Monday, showed no structural damage. He had a cortisone shot in his elbow Tuesday to reduce the inflammation, and he hopes he will need just a minimum two-week stint on the injured list.

Miller was roughed up for seven runs over five innings in the Mariners’ 9-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, a continuation of his early-season struggles.

The right-hander is 2-4 with 5.22 ERA in eight starts, with 21 walks and 35 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings.

His 12.1% walk rate this season is more than double his career average.