Juan Soto hit two home runs, while Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo also hit homers as the New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Wednesday night, halting their first two-game losing streak in three weeks.
Nelson Cortes pitched through five scoreless innings for the AL-best Yankees (34-17), who are now 3-0 when both Judge and Soto homer in a game.
Soto and Judge both hit their homers to the opposite field off Bryce Miller (3-5). “I was really excited about hitting homers the opposite way,” said Soto.
Soto had three RBIs with his second multihomer game of the homestand and 19th of his career. He now has 13 homers and 40 RBIs, while Judge has 14 homers — 11 since late April — and 34 RBIs.
After building a 5-0 lead, the Yankees saw Cal Raleigh hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Luke Weaver, ending the reliever’s 18-inning scoreless streak. Verdugo then hit a two-run homer against Austin Voth in the bottom half.
In a matchup between division leaders, Judge hit a first-pitch slider into the right-field seats after Anthony Volpe reached on an infield single in the first inning. Fifteen of the Yankees’ 73 homers have been hit in the first inning, including seven by Judge, which are all major league highs.
Soto hit a full-count sinker into the visitors’ bullpen in left field in the third inning, right after Volpe’s single. Then, in the sixth inning, he hit another sinker from Miller’s first pitch. He took a moment to admire his first home run and then watched the second one while starting his trot.
During the eighth-inning pitching change, Judge, Soto, and Verdugo engaged in a cheering competition with different sections of the bleachers to entertain the crowd. “It’s a fun way to get the crowd involved,” Judge said. “They just want to cheer and get rowdy.”
Cortes allowed three hits and three walks while striking out six as Seattle made him throw a lot of pitches with 22 foul balls in the first three innings. He threw 27 pitches in both the first and third innings and 20 in the second.
“It feels good to start 2-0 and go back out for the second inning,” Cortes said.
