A 'learning experience' for Seattle in NY loss

NEW YORK -- In the end, the lack of breathing room came back to bite the Mariners. Seattle pitching walked a tightrope in a game neither team led by more than one run, with 43,180 roaring Yankees fans on a Friday night that -- despite the mid-80s temperatures -- had the closest feel to October that the Mariners have tasted all year.

At the least, the Mariners will take that valuable experience away from a tough 3-2 loss to the team they are chasing in the postseason hunt. With the loss, Seattle fell to three games back of New York, which trails Oakland by 1 1/2 games for the second American League Wild Card spot. The Blue Jays, who also won Friday and come to Seattle next weekend, are in between the Yanks and Mariners in the standings.

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Seattle right-hander Keynan Middleton gave up a two-out walk-off single to Brett Gardner in the 11th inning that plated automatic runner Joey Gallo and sent Frank Sinatra over the loudspeakers, Yankees fans into a frenzy and the Mariners back to a clubhouse with a sour taste of defeat on a night they couldn’t quite shut the door.

After all, the stakes played into the Mariners’ specialty. They entered the night 23-11 in one-run games and 10-2 in extras. But the Yankees, one of the Majors’ hottest teams and winners of 18 of their past 26, served Seattle a taste of its own medicine.

“We've been so good in closing out these extra-inning games,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “You need some things to go your way. It didn't happen tonight. You have to give them credit. It's tough to beat them here in this ballpark and close them out, and when you're down to your final out like that, it's a tough one to swallow. But a heck of an effort by our guys again tonight.”

As was the case in Thursday’s loss in the Bronx, the Mariners' bullpen alignment was shaping up perfectly. But again, a lack of wiggle room, coupled with a few hiccups by righty Diego Castillo, spoiled any shot of seeing Marco Gonzales’ scoreless gem to the finish line. Coming on in the eighth, Castillo led off with walks to Gardner and DJ LeMahieu, then loaded the bases by hitting Anthony Rizzo.

It was a tough jam, but the Mariners’ newest reliever escaped with only one run allowed -- coming on a sacrifice fly from Aaron Judge -- by inducing an inning-ending double play from Giancarlo Stanton. That left things tied, but it also put the onus back on a Seattle offense that couldn’t capitalize on a bullpen game deployed by New York in the scheduled rotation spot of Jordan Montgomery, who recently tested positive for COVID-19.

The Yanks used nine relievers, all but one of whom flashed high-90s velocity, and offered different looks throughout their 11 combined innings, making it a tough collective cocktail to overcome.

“They’ve got very talented guys in their bullpen, and maybe some names you haven't heard of,” Servais said. “They kept bringing guys in. One guy is throwing 96 [mph], another guy is 97, 98 with a good slider. They have multiple guys down there. We made them all work tonight, there's no question. I don’t think we had too many easy innings for them. But getting those big hits to try to create a little bit of separation … not enough offensively, but the at-bats were good.”

The Mariners pulled ahead, 2-1, in the 10th thanks to an RBI single from J.P. Crawford, but again, the Yanks bounced back with an RBI single from Stanton in the bottom of the inning.

That sent it to the 11th with Middleton becoming the Mariners’ fifth reliever of the night. Given the way Gonzales dealt, that would have seemed wild midway through the seventh inning. Gonzales pitched a brilliant 6 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing only three hits.

Just as impressive was that Gonzales did so with no cushion until the sixth. But therein lied the biggest pitfall for the Mariners -- they had nine hits, but they left nine runners on base, including four in scoring position with two outs.

“That’s exactly where I want to be, right?” Gonzales said. “I mean, that’s the type of atmosphere that we need to go through. And it's a great learning experience for us to be able to come in here on the road and really play well. I honestly thought it was hard-fought on both sides. We’ve given these guys a good run, and then doing it in front of that crowd, they get on you. They're ruthless. And you’ve got to love it, because that's what we've earned.”

There are eight weeks left after this four-game series in New York wraps Sunday, but the Mariners find themselves in a critical stretch with five of their next eight games against the two teams directly in front of them in the standings.