Yankees' offense comes up short in loss to Mariners

So often this season, teams have needed to be nearly perfect to beat the Yankees. On Tuesday, though, the Yankees learned what it was like to be on the other end of that equation.

Clarke Schmidt was capable, but not untouchable, the bullpen buckled, and the Yankees’ vaunted offense couldn’t touch starter Bryan Woo, as they fell to the Mariners, 6-3 at Yankee Stadium.

It was their second straight loss after Clay Holmes’ blown save Monday snapped a seven-game win streak. The bullpen, which came into the day with the second-best ERA in baseball, has now allowed eight runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Woo pitched six scoreless innings as the Yankees managed to get just one batter in scoring position against the 24-year-old righty, whose ERA improved to 0.57 in his sophomore season.

The Yankees brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in the eighth, but Ryne Stanek got Soto to ground out and Judge to fly out to center. Andres Munoz allowed a single to Jose Trevino and walked Gleyber Torres with two outs in the ninth, but Oswaldo Cabrera struck out swinging.

The Mariners scored two runs against Schmidt, two against Dennis Santana, and led 4-0 before Torres’ three-run seventh inning homer put the Yankees in spitting distance. The bullpen, though, caved again in the eighth and ninth: Clayton Andrews allowed a first-pitch homer to Luke Raley in the former, and Nick Burdi let up another solo homer to Dylan Moore in the latter. Moore was 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs.

After, Aaron Boone acknowledged that it was fair to question why he went to Andrews — a lefty facing a lefty, but also a player who has a 6.60 ERA in Triple-A this season — instead of Caleb Ferguson, who ended up pitching a perfect inning later in the game.

“I liked the [role] for him,” Boone said of Andrews. “Obviously, he gets ambushed there right away . Lefty [matchup] but also turning [switch hitter Cal] Raleigh around — prefer him on the right side. But the case there is to bring in Fergy there, which, in hindsight, I probably should have done.”

Schmidt allowed both runs in the third, when he let up a one-out double to Josh Rojas and a two-run homer to Dylan Moore off a cutter on the outside edge of the strike zone. The pitch to Moore was where he wanted it, Schmidt said, adding that he believes he was tipping — something he quickly rectified.

“It was a quality pitch for sure,” he said. “Obviously, tipping is a part of this game and it’s a factor that’s always in the back of our heads . I was able to make adjustments after we saw the video.”

It was the first homer Schmidt had given up since May 4, and the first earned run he’d allowed in the last 18 innings. Working without his best stuff, Schmidt was still (mostly) effective — allowing those two runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts over five.

The Mariners added two more in the seventh, when Santana let up a leadoff homer to Ty France and an RBI single to Moore.

The Yankees offense, meanwhile, wilted against Woo — a Cal Poly product who pitched just 101 professional innings before being called up to patch up the Mariners last year. Woo, making his third start of the season, allowed no runs on just two hits over six innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

They did, though, stir awake against the Mariners bullpen in the seventh — Gabe Speier walked Judge and plunked Anthony Rizzo. One batter later, Torres homered off Trent Thornton to make it 4-3.

After a slow start, Torres is 10-for-34 with eight runs, three doubles, two homers, seven RBIs, three walks and a stolen base in his last nine games.

It feels good, especially in that situation,” he said. “It’s one day at a time [and] mentally, it feels good . It’s still a long season.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.