Meltdown in N.Y.: Bullpen Wastes Bryan Woo Gem, Mariners Swept By Yankees
NEW YORK, N. Y. – A mob of pinstripes surrounded near-certain American League MVP Aaron Judge after he completed a come-from-behind walk-off win, and brought another Seattle Mariners classic to completion. If there’s any game that we will remember about 2025, it might well be this one, and not for good reasons.
Wasting the best start of the season for All-Star starter Bryan Woo, who was working a no-hitter through seven innings and left the game while it was still 5-1, the normally reliable duo of Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz couldn’t seal the deal for the Mariners down the stretch.
Dealing with a massive, massive case of Kirk Cousins’ Syndrome under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium, both Brash and Muñoz had major control issues – and pitch-tipping problems as well – on their way to blowing a four-run lead. A bullet of a throw from Julio Rodriguez nearly sent the game to the 11th inning on a miracle, but a missed tag from Cal Raleigh meant that the winning run crossed home plate to clinch a 6-5 comeback win for New York, ensuring a sweep in the Bronx.
M’s Scratch Across Two Against Stroman
Looking to avoid the sweep, Seattle managed to take an early lead in the final game of the series. Unlike yesterday, where all the runs came on the longball, it was some old-school base hit rallies that got one across each in the second and fourth against pitch-to-contact Yankee starter in Marcus Stroman.
Stroman was on his ground ball-inducing ways to start off the game, getting rollers from his first two batters in the top of the first and a groundout to end the second. But he had control issues during the early frames, walking Raleigh in the first and Raley in the second while falling behind a good amount of his opponents.
Seattle scratched one across in the second, with Raley’s one-out walk followed by a grounder through the hole by Dominic Canzone to set up runners on the corners for Cole Young. The rookie second baseman slapped an 0-1 sinker on a line to the left field grass, easily scoring Raley to put the Mariners up 1-0, Seattle’s first lead of the series.
After a relatively quiet third, Stroman again had difficulties in the fourth. He fell behind Canzone 2-0 with one out and then left a sinker out over the plate. Canzone drilled a slicing liner to deep left center that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double. After Young grounded him over to third, Miles Mastrobuoni got a hanging breaking ball and cracked it into right field for a run-scoring single to make it a 2-0 lead for the M’s.
Stroman went through the fifth with ease, helped by Raleigh and Arozarena each popping up mistake pitches over the middle. But after 90 pitches – and considering some apparent knee discomfort in the fourth – Yankees manager Aaron Boone took him out for the sixth.
Beeter Breaks Down in Seventh Inning, Polanco Tacks On Three
Clayton Beeter came on in relief and worked a pretty easy sixth for New York. But the seventh inning was much worse for him and the Yankees. First, the reliever followed up a first pitch strike to J.P. Crawford with four deliveries that weren’t in the same area code as the plate. Rodriguez and Raleigh sent weak flyouts, but Randy Arozarena fouled off three two-strike pitches to work a nine-pitch walk.
Then Jorge Polanco came to bat. He has been on fire in July, with an OPS of 1.060 for the month coming into today’s game. Seattle’s DH started off with two strikes in the at-bat, but then Beeter left a slider out over the middle of the zone.
Polanco whacked a high line drive to right. All Judge did was look up and walk over a couple steps as the ball soared over his head and into a crowd of outstretched hands about five rows back. All of a sudden, the Mariner lead had more than doubled, going from a close 2-0 to a sizable five-run advantage.
Bryan Woo Spins Absolute Gem
On the other side of the ball, it was so, so good for seven full innings for the Mariners. Woo threw a total of 103 pitches in 7 1/3 innings of work, striking out five, walking two, giving up two hits, and ceding two earned runs.
It seemed like luck was on his side as well, as even though Woo left a fair amount of fastballs in the middle of the zone, the Yankees missed them completely on the first time through the lineup and on later at-bats hit hard shots right to Mariners fielders. By the end of the seventh, no Yankee had a hit.
The Mariner starter worked around two uncharacteristic walks in the first inning to keep a goose egg on the Yankee scoreboard through the first couple frames. He started off by pelting the Yanks with fastballs – nine out his first 11 pitches – but enough of his deliveries missed for Dominguez and Grisham to walk.
Woo’s strikeout of Judge was both beautiful and badly needed. He delivered him mostly sliders, getting a swing and miss on the first one, and then struck him out swinging on a fastball. Then Cody Bellinger grounded into a 4-6-3 to end the inning. He struck out two in the second as he breezed through the Yanks in that frame.
Seattle’s newest All-Star was hitting good velocity on his fastball at times, reaching a high of 98 miles an hour. But he was playing a dangerous game, with some shaky control on the fastball – either missing the plate or leaving it out over the zone – against a Yankee lineup that loves the heater.
But still, Woo got through the third with little trouble and racked up another K, freezing Jorbit Vivas on a 3-2 fastball painted on the lower edge of the zone. His fourth inning went by on 12 pitches as he induced weak contact from all three hitters. His fifth was also one-two-three, but a little tougher as the last two batters hit sizzling grounders that happened to find Mariner gloves.
His sixth inning was punctuated by a beautiful top-of-the-zone sinker to nab Dominguez looking with two away. His seventh was kept clean by an excellent play from Luke Raley on a hard grounder down the first base line. As he went to the eighth – looking to get the first eighth inning out of his career – all eyes were on the “H” column. After his first two walks, no Yankee batter had reached first base. The Yankees had zero runs on zero hits at that point.
Jazz Chisholm led off the bottom of the inning and swung on a first pitch changeup a bit off the corner for strike one . He then took a close ball before fouling off the next one. Woo tossed another changeup on the outside corner, but it was a bit higher than before, and Chisholm whacked it into the hole between first and second. Young dove but it was well out of his reach as the no hitter was no more.
Then Ben Rice cracked Woo’s first pitch fastball right back up the middle for another hit. Chisholm reached third on the single. Austin Wells got to a 2-2 count and Woo threw him a changeup on the edge of the plate. Wells made contact to do his job, sending a sacrifice fly to left.
With Woo at 103 pitches, Dan Wilson came up to the mound and called for Matt Brash in relief.
And then it all fell apart.
Welcome Back, Bobby Ayala: Bullpen Blows Lead
Matt Brash came on and got Volpe out on a high fastball for the second out of the inning. Aaron Boone went to his bench, bringing out Giancarlo Stanton to pinch-hit for third baseman Jorbit Vivas.
Now, the playbook for this situation was clear. Pepper him with sliders down and away off the plate. Only problem: Brash was missing his spots pretty heavily with that pitch. Now, he managed to get one on the lower away corner, but clearly the battery didn’t trust the pitcher to get strikes in the 2-1 count to Stanton. And so Brash threw another fastball.
Right down the middle, Stanton crushed it to deep center. Yankee Stadium came to life as a critical mass of people realized what was in progress: the Bryan Woo Show had ended and the Big Comeback Show was on.
Brash went back to the slider and got Jasson Dominguez to fly out to center field to end the inning. After a quick Mariner ninth, it was the two-three-four hitters up for New York.
Andrés Muñoz came on for the ninth. The Seattle closer worked Trent Grisham to 1-2 count, but then gave up two balls on pitches well outside the plate. Then he threw a fastball middle-in and Grisham cracked it into right field for the leadoff hit.
Aaron Judge was up next and the ever-so-deadly slugger got a slider on the inside corner. He swung and gave it a tremendous wallop, but he was just under it and the ball flew harmlessly into Rodriguez’ glove. One away.
Then Muñoz fell behind Cody Bellinger 3-1. He threw him a sinker at the bottom of the zone and Bellinger crushed a grounder through the right side hole to set up first and second with one out.
Seattle’s closer fell behind another man, this time to Chisholm, but his 2-1 swing flew out harmlessly to right for the second out.
Ben Rice was now the batter with the game hanging in the balance. Muñoz got him to foul off the first pitch and was given a gift of a second strike by Home Plate umpire Nic Lentz, leaving him one strike away from putting the game away. But his next four deliveries were not even close to the strike zone and up came Wells with the bases loaded and two outs.
Muñoz fell behind 2-0 but was given another gift of a strike and got a foul ball on a high heater. Once again, the M’s were one strike away. Then Muñoz threw a changeup on the lowest hairs of the lower edge of the plate – only for it to be called a ball.
His next delivery was a fastball right down the middle with a relatively low velocity by his standards. Wells whacked a liner to the right side of the field. Young couldn’t get his glove on it and it zoomed into right field. Grisham and Bellinger scored easily to tie the game.
By that point, the momentum was clear. Although Volpe flew out to end the inning, the Mariners had no life in the top of the 10th and it was right back to the Yankees. Gabe Speier, the unsung hero of the bullpen this year, came on for the inning with Volpe on second as the automatic runner. Oswald Peraza popped out and then Speier intentionally walked Paul Goldschmidt, who pinch-hit for Jasson Dominguez.
Then Speier fell behind Grisham and walked him., setting up a bases loaded opportunity for Aaron Judge. The first pitch was a ball, the second one fouled off. Then Judge sent a fly ball to center field.
As Volpe tagged up and ran, Rodriguez caught it and sent a missile to Cal Raleigh. The Mariner catcher caught the ball with time to tag Volpe out and sent it to the 11th. But Raleigh was slow to stick his glove out and Volpe slid around the tag to touch home plate.
For what it’s worth, Muñoz was tipping his slider in the ninth, given that the Yankee runner on second would pretty obviously motion to his batter whenever he threw it. Raleigh commented on this after the game, saying that “they weren’t making it very discreet.”
But Wilson claimed Muñoz wasn’t tipping when he got asked about it afterward, so there may have been some interesting conversations behind closed doors after this brutal loss.
Cal’s MVP Push Took a Hit
After three games under the big lights, I think it’s fair to say that Aaron Judge is the undisputed front-runner for MVP honors in the American League.
First, a little crash course in Kirk Cousins Syndrome. For those unfamiliar with the NFL, there was no way Kirk Cousins was ever going to win awards during his prime, no matter how many stats he racked up in 1 PM games against the Jacksonville Jaguars or whoever. Whenever he played in prime time against a big opponent, he just looked above average.
For most of MLB’s players, writers, and fans, that’s what they just saw from the Yankee Stadium battle between Cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge.
First, the obvious. Judge just walked his team off of a massive five-run comeback in extra innings, while Raleigh missed the tag that could have made that fly moot.
But let’s also do a little batting comparison for the series:
Aaron Judge: 3-12, HR, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K (.250/.312/.583), 4 RBI
Cal Raleigh: 1-11, HR, 2 BB, 4 K (.091/.231/.363), 2 RBI
Raleigh’s only hit – a mammoth home run, to be sure – was while the first game had long been over with a 10-1 deficit for his team. Judge’s hits and RBIs all came in key moments for the Yankees’ victories.
This comes with the caveat, of course, that this is only one series in one year. Raleigh came up massively clutch for the Mariners in 2022, first to get the Mariners to the playoffs and second to power the team’s legendary comeback in the second Wild Card game against the Blue Jays.
But season awards, more than anything else in sports, are a “what have you done for me lately” endeavor.
Of course, the key element of Raleigh’s MVP campaign is his defense. And he did throw out three players at second base in the second game of the series, along with some frame jobs that stole some key strikes.
But it was plain for the entire world to see on the very last play, especially if you witnessed Bobby Witt’s almost identical shimmy-slide during the series against Kansas City: Cal Raleigh’s defensive weakness is tagging people out at the plate. He didn’t swing his body around fast enough to push his glove into Anthony Volpe for the inning-ending tag, and that was the ballgame. Of course, it wasn’t the main reason the M’s lost – that was the bullpen collapse – but it’s the reason the team didn’t cling on to a chance in the 11th.
It’s not just a weakness in the clutch for Raleigh, it’s that he finally appears to finally be coming down to earth. He’s currently slashing .262/.377/.631 for the year, but his career slash (including this year’s monster season!) is .226/.311/.477. There’s good reason to believe he’s made legitimate year-over-year improvements mechanically and otherwise, but his season pace is insane compared to what we’ve previously seen.
And through eight games in July, he’s slashing .107/.235/.429 – certainly lower than his rest-of-season production, but perhaps an indication that he’s not going to be 2001 Barry Bonds for much longer.
Compare that to Judge. His season slash is .356/.463/.729, which is incredible, but his career slash is similarly unreal at .294/.411/.615. Judge is having a ridiculous season, but it’s basically in line with his ridiculous career.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that Raleigh will fall back down to earth – and Judge, far less so. We could already be seeing that.
I want to stress that players like Raleigh form the bedrock of any team they are on. A good-hitting, great-framing catcher with a tremendous arm is something that any team would pay a lot of money for. In just his fourth full year, Raleigh is far and away the best catcher in Mariner history and is looking like the best hitter the Mariners have developed in a long time.
And in a lot of seasons, his 2025 campaign would easily be enough for the MVP. But in today’s world of Aaron Judge, a world where Juan Soto misses the All-Star Game, it almost certainly won’t be enough.
Yet Another Midseason Funeral?
It’s official: The Mariners are on the outside looking in for the American League playoff picture. The Red Sox beat the Rays 4-3 and leapfrogged the Mariners into the third wild card spot, where they are now a game up on Seattle.
There’s a temptation to declare it here: The M’s have already gone from being up on the Astros 3.5 games for the AL West on May 21 to being 0.5 games back on June 3 to being seven games back today. As recently as July 6, the Mariners were 2.5 games ahead of the Red Sox, who appeared to be on the brink of their own collapse following a baffling trade of Rafael Devers.
The Sox are rumored to be sellers at the deadline, but if they piece together a couple more wins combined with a few more Mariner losses, that could change.
Still, an organization that traded Rafael Devers on June 15 – when they were a half game back of the Mariners and tied with the Twins, two organizations known for collapsing – might not end up making the wisest decisions down the stretch. I trust the Sox’ players to be able to put Seattle’s playoff ambitions to rest, I just don’t trust Sox general management to keep those players on the team.
The good news for the Mariners is that the Red Sox and Rays play each other each of the next three days and those two teams are separated by just a half game – meaning that if the M’s can win the upcoming series, they will almost certainly be ahead of one of those teams by the beginning of the All-Star Break.
But the bad news is that they will be facing the Detroit Tigers, who currently possess the best record in MLB at 59-35.
