The Yankees overcame seven hitless innings from Bryan Woo on Thursday, walking the Mariners off for a 6-5, 10-inning, series-sweeping win in the Bronx.
The Bombers’ comeback began in the eighth when Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice finally got their club in the hit column while down 5-0. Austin Wells added a sac fly to get Woo out of the game and the Yankees on the board before Giancarlo Stanton crushed the first pinch-hit homer of his career, a two-run shot off Matt Brash.
Stanton had previously been 5-for-48 (.104) as a pinch-hitter.
“I haven’t pinch-hit too much, and I haven’t been the greatest at it either,” Stanton acknowledged. But with the 35-year-old now getting more off days with lingering tennis elbow injuries, he knows he needs to step up when summoned off the bench.
“No lead is safe,” Stanton continued. “So I had to make sure I was ready to go.”
With Stanton coming up clutch and the Yankees down two in the ninth, Wells then smoked a bases-loaded single off Mariners All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz to tie the game. Afterward, Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh confirmed that Muñoz was tipping his slider and that the Yankees had caught on, per The Athletic.
The Yankees were able to read when Andres Munoz was throwing a slider in the ninth inning.
The runner on second would wave his hands to signify when a slider was coming.
Someone on the Mariners were tipping the pitch
pic.twitter.com/WYeJRqJed5
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) July 11, 2025
With Muñoz showing his cards, Aaron Judge was set up for a game-winning sac fly with the bases loaded and one away in the 10th.
Hit only 274 feet off Gabe Speier following a walk to Trent Grisham, Judge’s ball scored Anthony Volpe, who used an evasive slide to end the game. Volpe, booed earlier in the night and facing criticism for weeks, was confirmed safe following an on-the-money throw from Julio Rodríguez and a quick replay review.
“What a great slide by Volpe,” Aaron Boone said. “I had the best seat in the house for it. I saw his hand go right in there. I saw the throw was on target. I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ but I saw his hand in there, and Volp jumped up safe.”
Added Marcus Stroman: “Definitely thinking game over for sure. That’s cap. That’s kind of what he does. Incredible slide by Volpe. I don’t think that gets enough love. That was an incredible throw by J-Rod out there, and then a sick, sick, sick slide by Volpe.”
Aaron Judge on his walk-off sac fly, which scored Anthony Volpe:
“I knew who was at third. So that’s the whole thought going into it, just get the ball somewhere in the air and let 11 take care of the rest.”
A few #Yankees called it a “sick” slide by Volpe. pic.twitter.com/piZwhcKM8W
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) July 11, 2025
Wells also called Volpe’s head-first slide “sick.” Judge, meanwhile, said he wasn’t worried about how far he needed to hit the ball with the speedster tagging up.
“I knew who was at third,” Judge said. “So that’s the whole thought going into it, just get the ball somewhere in the air and let 11 take care of the rest.
“Nobody else I want at third in a situation like that.”
Long before that, Woo’s no-hit bid got off to a tough start, as he walked the first two batters he faced. However, the All-Star totaled 7.1 innings, two earned runs, two hits, two walks and five strikeouts over 103 pitches.
“It felt like we were kind of getting dominated, frankly,” Boone said.
Thursday wasn’t the first time the Yankees were victimized by Woo, as he entered the game with a 2.82 ERA over four career starts and 22.1 innings against the pinstripers. On May 13, he blanked them for 6.1 innings in Seattle.
“He’s been giving us fits for quite a few years,” Judge said, “so we’re happy to steal that one there.”
While Woo wowed, Stroman allowed two earned runs over five innings. He also totaled six hits, two walks and three strikeouts over 90 pitches. Boone called it a “gritty performance” from the veteran.
A Cole Young RBI single netted the Mariners their first run off Stroman in the second inning.
The fourth frame, meanwhile, saw Boone and the Yankees’ training staff check on Stroman after he ran to cover first base. Stroman, momentarily bothered by his quad, took a warm-up pitch before remaining in the game. He proceeded to allow a ground-rule double to Dominic Canzone and an RBI single to Miles Mastrobuoni.
Canzone’s double had a 60% catch probability for Grisham, who is still dealing with a hamstring injury. Prior to the game, Boone said the center fielder is “not 100 percent” but “good enough to play.”
While far from dominant, Stroman has been solid in three starts since coming off the injured list. The righty, who was sidelined with left knee inflammation, has completed five innings in each of those outings and hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a game. He’s tallied six over that stretch after allowing 12 earned runs over three starts prior to his IL stint.
“I’m just pitching confident, just really allowing myself to be myself,” Stroman said. “Not shying away from who I am as a pitcher. I think the pitch-calling [from] Wellsy, [J.C.] Escarra and [Ben] Rice behind the dish has been incredible, and I think the defense has been awesome. So just being me.”
While Stroman did his part on Thursday, the Mariners tacked on three more runs when Jorge Polanco drilled a homer off Clayton Beeter in the seventh inning. Yet again, an expendable or optionable reliever failed to stake claim in a bullpen that’s been decimated by injuries, as Beeter walked two batters before hanging a slider to Polanco.
Still, the Yankees were able to claw their way back late after going silent for seven innings against Woo.
“It was a lot of fun. It was probably one of the better wins we’ve had,” Wells said of the Yankees’ fourth straight victory. “It just shows the versatility that we have. I think we’ve shown that we can go big early in games and that we can come back late. So I think it’s a total team effort just to be able to be in that situation at the end to make it close.”
With the Mariners series now over, the Yankees will wrap up the first half with a weekend matchup against the first-place Cubs.
Carlos Rodón, Max Fried and Will Warren are scheduled to start for the Yankees. Chicago had yet to announce a Friday starter, but Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga will take the last two games of the series.