Mariners open critical road trip with underwhelming loss to Yankees

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Aug 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — It’s not that Michael Rucker was in the game, though he hasn’t excelled in higher-leverage situations this season.

It’s that Rucker remained in the game as he struggled to find the strike zone and keep runners off base until it was too late. Seattle’s one-run lead turned into a three-run deficit and it eventually resulted in a 4-1 loss to the New York Yankees.

The Mariners fell to 56-64 on the season. It was a suboptimal start to a seminal road trip.

The Mariners squandered Bryan Woo’s best road start of the season. Woo grinded through five scoreless innings, allowing three hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

In a pillow fight between two of the worst offenses since the All-Star break, the Mariners’ bullpen helped the Yankees find some hits and runs.

Meanwhile, the Mariners offense remained rottener than a sublevel Bronx subway station, mustering just three hits on the night — infield singles from Brendan Donovan and Dom Canzone, and a solo homer from Randy Arozarena.

But the game changed in that seventh inning when Rucker was brought in to protect the 1-0 lead provided by Arozarena’s opposite-field blast in the top of the sixth.

A quick check of the scorecard revealed two left-handed batters — Luis Garcia Jr. and Jazz Chisholm Jr. — were scheduled to hit in the first two plate appearances. With Jose A. Ferrer having thrown a scoreless frame in the sixth inning, it seemed like a good spot for lefty Gabe Speier, who was coming off suspension. But Speier remained in the bullpen, apparently unavailable.

Rucker allowed a leadoff double to Garcia and Chisholm followed with a single to put the tying and go-ahead runs on base immediately. He came back to strike out George Lombard Jr. but walked Spencer Jones to load the bases.

After a meeting on the mound with catcher Cal Raleigh and the infielders, Rucker allowed a single to Ryan McMahon, who stayed on a 2-1 curveball below the zone to produce a ground ball through the left side of the infield that scored two runs.

Manager Dan Wilson finally lifted Rucker and brought in right-hander Eduard Bazardo, who has struggled of late.

The Mariners didn’t help Bazardo failing to catch Austin Wells’ pop-up to shallow right field. Taylor Ward got a late jump from his spot in deep right and Cole Young couldn’t quite make a play on the ball behind him.

With the bases loaded again, Trent Grisham sent a ground ball into left field past the shifted infield for a two-run single and a 4-1 lead.

Since scoring one run was difficult, score three runs to extend the game was an impossibility.

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