T-Mobile Park is a home away from home for Aaron Judge. The Yankees’ captain has been tremendous in Seattle throughout his career, and continued to add to his personal highlight reel in the Emerald City this afternoon. After Paul Goldschmidt tied the game with a pinch-hit home run in the seventh, Judge put the Yankees on top for good an inning later with his league-leading 15th round-tripper. Will Warren also posted a new career high in strikeouts, and Luke Weaver struck out the side to put the finishing touches on a 3-2 win that secured both a series victory and a winning West Coast trip.

The game nearly began with a bang from the Bombers, but was instead a superb defensive highlight. Trent Grisham targeted the same spot in left-center field where he homered twice on Monday; one of those blasts barely eluded Julio Rodríguez’s outstretched glove. J-Rod finally got his revenge today, leaping to snare a would-be leadoff shot.

The Yankees would go on to put two in scoring position against Luis Castillo, before the Seattle righty struck out Anthony Volpe on a fastball in the heart of the zone. A double from Cody Bellinger was a good sign, though—he now has a 10-game hitting streak as his numbers continue to creep up in May.

Meanwhile, Warren continued his early season trend of coming out of the gate hot: the Yankees’ rookie righty fanned six Mariners during his first time through the order. That’s never been the issue for him, more so everything after that. In the third, Ben Rice was late to cover first on a routine grounder to second, and the resulting error (charged to DJ LeMahieu) sparked a rally. A two-out walk to Jorge Polanco loaded the bases for J-Rod, who barely kept his opposite-field liner fair to plate two and get Seattle on the board first. A sweet sliding catch by Grisham kept Cal Raleigh from adding on.

Castillo settled in nicely following the Yankees’ first-inning threat. He was adept at changing speeds and keeping hitters from dialing in on his fastball, which was zippier than it has been early this season. He threw the heater for strikes, then got them to chase the slider. The Yankees finally broke through against him with back-to-back two-out doubles from Volpe and Jasson Domínguez in the sixth, but he exited in line for the win. The latter double was New York’s first hit with runners in scoring position in 18 tries over the past two games. The tally went to 1-for-19 when LeMahieu grounded out to end the frame.

Warren was relieved by Tyler Matzek in a 2-1 game after five decent innings. Once again, Warren kept his offense in the game, limiting mistakes and picking up a career-best nine strikeouts. The infrequently-deployed curveball was especially prominent for him today; he got four Mariners to swing over the top of it.

Matzek and Ian Hamilton combined for three important outs in the sixth despite some poor outfield communication between Grisham and Bellinger nearly spelling disaster. The M’s then deployed a lefty of their own to protect the lead, but it went up in smoke with one pitch. Paul Goldschmidt announced his presence off the bench by slashing a Gabe Speier fastball down the left-field line for his fifth home run.

Goldschmidt’s first pinch-hit home run since his rookie campaign 14 years ago evened the ledger. The Yankees would not have to wait long to break the tie.

Once again, the leadoff man struck, and that leadoff man was the greatest hitter in the world. Aaron Judge greeted new reliever Carlos Vargas with a rifle blast into the left-center bullpen to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

It was weird to see a series in Seattle without a big fly from the Captain. Naturally he rectified that with a 117.7-mph blast—his hardest-hit ball of the season—for his 11th career homer in the Emerald City. The Yankees jumped on top for the first time today courtesy of their MVP.

Now, the Mariners are a tough lineup, and that showed in the eighth. Fernando Cruz entered and got three straight two-strike counts. He’s been money in those situations, but the M’s refused to go after the splitter. Following a Rodríguez groundout, Raleigh got a split he could hit for a long single, and then Randy Arozarena was hit on the arm after laying off two in the dirt. Unencumbered, Cruz started Dylan Moore with a sinker and got a weak grounder to short. Volpe and LeMahieu completed the turn for a crucial double play.

New York failed to add to their lead in the top of the ninth, so it was up to Luke Weaver to get the save in a one-run game. The Yankees came in with just a 4-9 record in one-run games, but that mark will improve if Weaver can keep pitching like he did today. The de facto closer struck out the side to send the Mariners down and clinch a third consecutive series victory.

The Yankees will indeed enjoy that happy cross-country flight home (and an offday tomorrow) before welcoming Juan Soto and the Mets to the Bronx for what should be a raucous Subway Series this weekend. Carlos Rodón will face Tylor Megill in the Friday night opener, which starts at 7:05 pm on YES — or PIX11, if your Mets fan friend is controlling the TV.

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