Yankees 2, Mariners 3: Offense can’t overcome shaky start in finale in Seattle

Between clinching a playoff spot on Wednesday night, the general recent winning run, and the Orioles struggling of late, it's been a solid little stretch for the Yankees . In addition to assuring their place in the playoffs, the Yankees have been able to build up a nice lead ahead of a big series against Baltimore.

However, it's still baseball and not everything is going to go perfectly every day. Today was one such day.

After a bad first inning for Clarke Schmidt, aided by a bad Jasson Domínguez error, the Mariners quickly opened up a lead on the Yankees and never relinquished it. The Bombers had their chances, but they couldn't come up with enough timely hits against Logan Gilbert and the Seattle bullpen. Add in some injury scares, and it wasn't the ideal afternoon for the Yankees as they dropped the series finale 3-2 to the Mariners.

The theme for the day was quickly established in the first, as the Yankees couldn't do anything with the two runners who reached base. The Mariners took advantage in the bottom half of the inning. Julio Rodríguez led off with a single with Randy Arozarena drawing a walk two batters later. Luke Raley then laid down a bunt that was perfectly placed so that Schmidt only managed to bobble it after getting to it.

With the bases now loaded, Justin Turner hit a ball to the warning track. Continuing on his weird struggles in the field, Domínguez got a glove on the ball but couldn't make the catch, allowing it to drop in and score a run. The fly ball was deep enough that a run would've scored on that particular play anyway, but the error helped keep the inning going for Seattle to plate a couple more. Jorge Polanco followed it with a fly ball to Juan Soto that was good enough to be a sacrifice fly, and J.P. Crawford then singled home another run after that. The Mariners wouldn't score again, but they wouldn't need to.

In the second, third-base coach Luis Rojas waved Domínguez home on an Oswaldo Cabrera single, but Raley nailed him at the plate with a pinpoint throw. Still, the Yankees struck back in the third. With two outs in the inning, Aaron Judge kept it alive with a single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then came through with a 389-foot homer, getting the Yankees back within a run.

Schmidt ended up settling down after that and battled through five innings to put in an okay but not great start. The three runs — only one of which went down as earned — ended up being all he allowed on the day, as he finished with six hits and three walks, while striking out seven.

Jake Cousins came in for the sixth inning and after hitting Josh Rojas with a pitch, he struck out Rodríguez. However in the process of doing that, Yankees coaches and trainers noticed something up with him (perhaps relating to his lower velocity), and came out to remove him from the game. Cousins has been a bright spot in the Yankees' bullpen, as other have struggled, so hopefully nothing too serious comes of what was later announced as right pec tightness .

In the seventh, the Yankees then had an even bigger injury scare. On a fly ball down the right field line, Juan Soto ranged over before sliding to try and make a catch near the wall in the right-field foul territory. He did so, but then collided with the ball, leaving him in some pain and grabbing at his leg. After the trainers came out to look at him, Soto remained in the game, and didn't appear to show any lingering effects from the incident.

Throughout the day, the Yankees had plenty of chances at the plate, but the just couldn't do anything with them other than the Chisholm home run. As a team, they went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base in total. Sure, Schmidt's bad first inning and Domínguez's error cost the Yankees plenty, it was the ugly day at the plate that cost them more than anything. Annoyingly, the Orioles won in walk-off fashion to escape a sweep at the hands of the Giants, trimming the AL East lead down to four games. The magic number for the division title remains six.

With their series in Seattle wrapped up, the Yankees will now head to Oakland for what will likely be their swan song at the Coliseum against the Athletics. Gerrit Cole and J.T. Ginn are scheduled to get the start in the opener, with a scheduled 9:40 pm ET first pitch time.