SEATTLE — Manager Aaron Boone called what the Yankees have been going through over the last week “a rough patch.”
It’s starting to feel like more than that, especially after another series loss, which ended with a 4-3 loss to the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.
The Yankees got another good start from Nestor Cortes, and the offense, which had been held scoreless for a season-long 19 ¹/₃ innings over the past two games, finally woke up with three runs in the seventh inning, thanks to homers by Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Judge, to take a 3-1 lead.
But when Cortes was pulled in the bottom of the inning after allowing back-to-back singles, the Yankees made the decision to bring in the struggling Albert Abreu, who had pitched poorly in three consecutive appearances.
Abreu faltered again, giving up a go-ahead two-run homer to Carlos Santana, as the Yankees lost for the sixth time in seven games.
“We know we’re gonna be fine in the long run,’’ Higashioka said. “It gets more and more frustrating every day that we don’t come out and win. This is the time in the season you have to dig deep and pull together. It’s a long year and it only gets tougher as it goes on. … This is something we can pull ourselves out of.”
The Yankees came up on the short end of another pitchers’ duel. Cortes and Robbie Ray were dominant early, much as Gerrit Cole and Luis Castillo had been Tuesday.
The Yankees got a pair of two-out singles in the second inning from Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar before Isiah Kiner-Falefa popped out.
Cortes allowed a leadoff walk to Eugenio Suarez in the second, but was otherwise perfect through five no-hit innings.
That changed with one out in the sixth, when Sam Haggerty — a thorn in the Yankees’ side all series — drilled a solo shot down the left-field line for Seattle’s first hit and the game’s first run.
Ray kept the Yankees quiet until the seventh, pitching around a pair of two-out walks in the fifth.
But with one out in the seventh and Kiner-Falefa on via a walk, Higashioka drilled a 3-2 pitch out to left-center for a two-run homer that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead and ended their scoreless streak.
It was Higashioka’s second homer in three games and knocked Ray out of the game after a season-high 115 pitches.
Judge then hit his MLB-leading 45th homer of the year to make it 3-1.
Seattle rallied in the bottom of the inning. Ty France led off with a single, reached second on a passed ball by Higashioka and scored on Mitch Haniger’s single that cut the lead to 3-2 and ended Cortes’ outing.
Abreu, on the team mostly because he’s out of minor league options, came on and struggled for a fourth straight outing.
He gave up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Santana and now has allowed four runs on eight hits in his last four outings.
The right-hander said through an interpreter his location was off on the pitch to Santana and “it cost us the game.”
Higashioka said he believed Abreu’s confidence was shaken a bit, which the Yankees can hardly afford, given the state of their bullpen.
The Yankees’ offense didn’t score again after the seventh, with Diego Castillo pitching a scoreless eighth for Seattle and Paul Sewald closing it in the ninth.
“We’ve got to get it going offensively,’’ Boone said. “It’s been a tough week for us.”
The Yankees remain in command of the AL East, but any thoughts of a historic record have slipped away.
Of more immediate concern is getting back to their winning ways.
Cortes called the mood in the clubhouse “neutral.”
“We know we’re struggling,’’ the left-hander said. “We could probably play a little better. Guys understand that, but we’re still on top. It’s a little adversity.”
