New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners: Series Preview

The Yankees’ recent stint on the road did not go ideally. After splitting a two-game set against the Mets, they went up to Boston where they were swept after a particularly anemic offensive series. This week, they’re set to return home, starting with a series against the Mariners tonight.

The two teams met a couple weeks ago in Seattle, where the Yankees took two out of three. In the two wins, the Yankees cracked double digits, but since then, they’ve lost Aaron Judge to injury and gone into a slump at the plate. Meanwhile, the Mariners have been fairly meh since that series themselves, going 6-8 as they’re now exactly .500 on the season.

Before things get going tonight, let’s take a look at the expecting pitching matchups for the next couple days.

Tuesday: Gerrit Cole vs. George Kirby (7:05 pm ET)

Cole continued his good June so far with a six inning, one run, eight strikeout outing against the Mets last Wednesday. He missed the Mariners in the series earlier this season, and his meetings against them last year were very different. In the one at Yankee Stadium, he allowed three first inning home runs on route to arguably his worst outing of 2022. He immediately followed that up with seven scoreless innings against the Mariners in Seattle in his next start.

The Yankees’ first ever matchup against Kirby did not go great. A couple weeks ago in Seattle, he allowed just three hits in eight shutout innings. It was far from the first time that the Yankees were held in check in their first game against a pitcher, but it is worrying because that particular game was one before Judge went on the injured list.

Wednesday: Jhony Brito vs. Luis Castillo (7:05 pm ET)

At time of writing, the Yankees haven’t revealed who is set to go on Wednesday. Thanks to the two off days last week, the Yankees were able to work around the fact that they only have four expected starting regulars currently healthy, but they’re going to have to figure something out for this week. They’re not quite at the time needed to recall Randy Vásquez, who was the last guy to get a spot start. Unless a injury arises that leads to them bringing him back, you’re making looking at most likely a Jhony Brito call up or some kind of bullpen game, although maybe they look somewhere else. [Update: Brito will indeed get the ball, per Aaron Boone.]

The Yankees missed Castillo in the Seattle series earlier this year, but this time they’ll be matched up against the Mariners’ ace. Across two starts last year against the Yankees, Castillo allowed three runs in 14.2 innings, all in that start where Seattle crushed Cole.

Thursday: Domingo Germán vs. Bryan Woo (7:05 pm ET)

Germán was absolutely crushed in his most recent start on Friday in Boston. He gave up seven runs in just two innings as the Red Sox tagged him for his worst start of the season. He faced the Mariners a couple weeks ago and allowed four runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings. It wasn’t his finest start of the season, but he at least managed to eat some innings after allowing four runs through the first five frames.

This is set to be the fourth career start for the rookie Woo. He struggled in his debut, but has been better in the two starts after that. In his most recent outing, he allowed two runs in 5.2 innings, striking out nine. He was a sixth round pick in the 2021 draft, so he’s certainly got talent. We’ll see if the Yankees again struggle in their first time seeing a pitcher or if they figure Woo out quickly.