NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto homered twice, Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo also went deep and the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Wednesday night to stop their first two-game losing streak in three weeks.
Nelson Cortes (3-4) gritted through five scoreless innings for the AL-best Yankees (34-17), who improved to 3-0 when Judge and Soto both homer. The three homers by Soto and Judge were opposite-field drives off Bryce Miller (3-5).
“These homers were really exciting for me because I’m going to the opposite way,” Soto said.
Soto had three RBIs with his second multihomer game of the homestand and 19th of his career. He has 13 homers and 40 RBIs, while Judge has 14 homers — 11 since late April — and 34 RBIs.
After the Yankees built a 5-0 lead, Cal Raleigh hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Luke Weaver, ending the reliever’s 18-inning scoreless streak. Verdugo hit a two-run drive against Austin Voth in the bottom half.
In a matchup of division leaders, Judge hit a first-pitch slider into the right-field seats after Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single in the first. Fifteen of the Yankees’ 73 homers have been hit in the first inning, including seven by Judge, all major league highs.
Soto drove a full-count sinker into the visitors’ bullpen in left in the third, also following a single by Volpe, then connected on another sinker on Miller’s first pitch of the sixth inning. He stood at the plate admiring his first homer, then watched the second while starting his trot.
Entertaining the crowd, Judge, Soto and Verdugo urged on different sections of the bleachers in a cheering competition during an eighth-inning pitching change.
“It’s just a good way to get the crowd into it,” Judge said. “Get them a little rowdy, man, they just want to cheer.”
Cortes allowed three hits and three walks with six strikeouts as Seattle ran up his pitch count with 22 foul balls in the first three innings. He needed 27 pitches in both the first and third innings and 20 in the second.
“A 2-0 start going back out for the second inning feels good,” Cortes said.
Mitch Garver’s third-inning drive hit about a foot from the top of the left-field wall and would have been a home run in 11 big league ballparks, but Garver wound up with just a single that put runners at the corners. Raleigh followed with an inning-ending groundout.
Cortes is 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA at home and 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA on the road. The Yankees have had 10 straight starts of at least five innings allowing two runs or fewer for the third time in team history after 1968 and 1997.
Right-hander Tommy Kahnle made his season debut after recovering from shoulder inflammation, sprinting from the bullpen to the mound and pitching a perfect sixth.
Miller gave up five runs and five hits in six innings. He was 3-2 with a 2.04 ERA in six starts through April but is 0-3 with a 5.87 ERA in four May outings.
Seattle obtained right-hander Mike Baumann and minor league catcher Michael Pérez from Baltimore for catcher Blake Hunt. The Mariners also selected the contract of left-hander Jhonathan Díaz from Tacoma and optioned him to the Triple-A farm team. Díaz could have opted out of his minor league deal, agreed to on Feb. 7. He was 6-1 with a 3.18 ERA in eight starts and one relief appearance for the Rainiers.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Jorge Polanco was back at second base after missing seven games because of a sore right hamstring and went 0 for 4.
Yankees: 3B DJ LeMahieu (broken right foot) will play for Class A Brooklyn on Thursday, report to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre over the weekend and likely rejoin the Yankees next week at the Los Angeles Angels. ... RHP Ian Hamilton (COVID-19 IL) could be activated during this weekend’s series at San Diego. ... RHP JT Brubaker, acquired from Pittsburgh on the second day of the season, is on a timetable to be available at midseason, manager Aaron Boone said. Brubaker is recovering from Tommy John surgery on April 12, 2023. ... RHP Scott Effross, recovering from Tommy John surgery on Oct. 13, 2022, required back surgery in December and had a knee injury, has been throwing bullpens “and is moving in a good direction,” according to Boone. Effross is on the verge of throwing batting practice.
UP NEXT
RHP Luis Gil (5-1, 2.39 ERA) starts Thursday’s series finale for New York and RHP Luis Castillo (4-5, 3.28) takes the mound for Seattle.
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