Mariners suffer hauntingly familiar script in 4-1 loss to Yankees

Bryan Woo pitched his best road start of the season, but the bullpen and lineup combined to make it five straight losses for the Mariners.

Through six innings there was hope for the Mariners, as they held onto a 1-0 lead over the Yankees. Hope that the losing streak would end, hope that they would inch closer to the top of the AL West, hope that this season could still be salvaged.

Then it all went wrong in crushingly familiar style, as the Yankees stormed back in the seventh inning and ultimately won 4-1. Once again and far too often in 2026, the bullpen suffered a collapse and couldn’t be lifted up by an underperforming lineup. As a result the Mariners made it five straight losses, falling to a season-high eight games under .500 as the nightmare continues.

The Mariners remain in third place in the AL West and now 4.5 games off the division summit, while sitting 4.0 games back of the final wild card spot. Statistically speaking these obstacles seem surmountable with 42 games still remaining, but realistically speaking it’s getting harder to envision them making the playoffs.

On paper this remains a tremendously talented roster, which seemingly only improved with the trade deadline acquisition of Taylor Ward. A roster which was quite rightly lauded preseason by many media analysts as favorites to win the AL Pennant. However, as is often stated, you win games on the field rather than based off a piece of paper.

Bryan Woo rediscovers some of his road mojo

Bryan Woo was chiefly responsible for giving the Mariners their hope, with his best road start of the season. He looked more like the pitcher who produced a 3.29 and 3.40 ERA on his travels in the last two years respectively, rather than his awful 6.71 ERA in 2026. He allowed just three hits and one walk over 5.0 innings of scoreless ball, while also striking out five.

However, the fact Woo only went 5.0 innings was in part due to throwing 71 pitches in the first three. Ideally you would have liked to see him go at least one more inning, but it was still tough to be critical after a performance which was better than many anticipated. Unfortunately for the Mariners, it ended up being all for nothing.

Jose A. Ferrer did his job by pitching a perfect sixth, but Mariners fans could be forgiven for becoming nervous when Michael Rucker came in for the seventh. Memories of his recent outing in the 3-2 loss versus the Rays were still fresh in the mind, and just generally speaking he hasn’t fared well in higher-leverage situations this year.

However, even this setup couldn’t have prepared anyone for just how bad it would be, as Rucker suffered arguably his worst outing of the season. By the time he was finished after only managing one out in the seventh, the righty had allowed three hits, a walk and four earned runs. It was clear he was struggling almost immediately and it’s fair to question why he wasn’t pulled earlier?

Mariners lineup continues to be the worst in the majors

Not that this loss is solely on the shoulders of Rucker, as the lineup only managed to muster three hits on the night. Randy Arozarena’s solo blast in the top of the sixth gave the Mariners their short-lived 1-0 advantage, but outside of this they only produced singles by Brendan Donovan and Dominic Canzone. The inexplicable result is that the M’s remain last in the majors in runs per game, despite the talent in the lineup.

In many ways Cal Raleigh is the poster boy for the offensive struggles, following his record-breaking, AL MVP-worthy 2025 campaign with the worst season of his career. His struggles continued on Tuesday evening as he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and afterwards gave an impromptu interview where he took the blame for the M’s issues. Asked about the pressure Raleigh puts on himself to do better, Woo said:

“Yeah, he takes it as hard as anybody. We all do, but you’ve got to just kind of continue to remind him that he doesn’t have to carry the whole ship by himself. You’ve got 25 other guys trying to pull the rope and try to figure this thing out. I think when you’re high performing people, sometimes they want to take all of that and try to put it on themselves, figure it out for themselves. But you’ve got to remind them that it’s a team game regardless. You win as a team, you lose as a team. He’s not the only one that has been struggling this year, hasn’t gone the way that he wants it to go. So just remember that we’re all in it together.”

Mariners determined to keep fighting and not give up

Certainly, the team’s collective struggles are reflected in their 56-64 record through 120 games, but where are they mentally at this stage? How do they continue to maintain belief that they can turn things around, even with just one quarter of the season remaining? Woo said:

“Yeah, it’s been tough. You never want to be not playing your best baseball at this time of year. But I think it’s the right mentality (to remain positive). You know you have an opportunity. You have games in front of you, you just can’t give up. You’ve got to keep fighting and you’ve got to keep believing in the possibility and believe in the guys next to you. Believe in the locker room, believe in the group, because we’ve got the people. We’ve got the players, we’ve got the character in that room (which) is really high. So just continue to believe and keep fighting.”

Woo’s mentality is commendable and perhaps his outing versus the Yankees will represent a turning point in him pitching better on the road moving forward. Whether this permeates through the rest of the team remains to be seen, but we can only remain as hopeful as the 2025 All-Star. More than ever, the Mariners now need to take it just one game at a time, beginning with finding a way to get a win on Wednesday evening in The Bronx.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rogers Photography

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