Yankees 5, Mariners 1: Aaron Judge pardons himself in case of murdered baseball

Things went pretty perfectly for the Yankees in their second game at Safeco Field on Friday night. Birthday Boy CC Sabathia pitched well and Aaron Judge absolutely clobbered a baseball that nearly left the confines of the Mariners’ spacious ballpark.

Seattle got on the board first when Kyle Seager reached on an infield single in the bottom of the opening frame. Robinson Cano came home to score on the play, but that ended up being the only run the Yankees allowed all night. Sabathia scattered four hits across five innings with three walks. It was the second solid start in a row for the big lefty coming out of the All-Star break.

The Yankees got their scoring started in the third inning when Clint Frazier came just a couple feet shy of a home run on a double to the wall. Chase Headley scored to make it 1-1. Aaron Judge hit a long fly ball that brought Frazier home to give the Yankees the lead. It was all the runs the Yankees would need for the win, but they weren’t done.

With Brett Gardner and Gary Sanchez on base, Judge demolished a baseball that nearly left SAFECO Field. The swing, sound off the bat, and trajectory of the baseball were pretty perfect. The result was a ball that landed in just about the last row of the upper deck.

Statcast was unable to perform enough math to tell us exactly how far the baseball traveled. The Mariners gave two very poor estimates of the distance at 415 and 440 feet. Neither of those seems accurate when actually looking at where that ball landed, but it is something worthy of total admiration either way.

The dinger completed the four-RBI night for Judge, who has been slumping by his own mammoth standards. He hasn’t been missing pitches by much, and he definitely didn’t miss his chance tonight. Joining Judge with a big night was Didi Gregorius, who is presently on a tear. He added three hits as part of the Yankees’ 11 in the game.

Frazier is also playing like a guy who doesn’t want to be sent down. In addition to his RBI double, he made an impressive catch on a diving play in the outfield. The team is very clearly better with Frazier and Judge in the lineup, and that should remain the priority if the team truly wants to make a playoff run.

New additions Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson also got in on the fun, each pitching a scoreless inning in relief of Sabathia. Robertson struck out the side in his first action back in a Yankees uniform with five swinging strikes. Dellin Betances allowed two hits in his inning of work before ultimately working out of it. Adam Warren was used to close it out in a non-save situation.

The Yankees will try for their first series victory since Moses was a baby tomorrow with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound. Ariel Miranda gets the start for Seattle opposite Tanaka. The game begins at 9:10 pm ET.