Mariners finally show the fight that’s been missing as they pound Yankees

NEW YORK – Less than 24 hours earlier, in the aftermath of a frustrating and familiar loss and fresh off voicing his displeasure with the results to his team, Mariners manager Scott Servais lamented his team’s lack of fight – a budding trend that he didn’t want to become a habit.

“You’ve got to be ready to fight from the first inning on,” he said.

For at least one game, the Mariners did just that and more, scoring four runs in the first inning off Yankees starter Domingo German. They didn’t let up until they knocked him out of the game in the fourth inning, rolling to a 10-2 victory.

The Mariners avoided a sweep and will travel to Baltimore for a weekend series in what are expected to be rainy conditions.

For at least one game, the Mariners assuaged the criticism of their manager and the growing discontent in the fan base with an offensive showing that wasn’t as much about what they could be in the future, but what they should have been for the first two months of the season.

With one out, German gave up a single to Julio Rodriguez and hit Ty France with a pitch. Teoscar Hernandez singled into left-center to score Rodriguez, who was running on the pitch. A single to right field by Cal Raleigh loaded the bases for Eugenio Suarez.

He dumped a soft line drive just inside the left-field foul line for a two-run double. Mike Ford made it 4-0 with a sac fly to left field.

It drew a large amount of boos from the fans at Yankee Stadium.

The Mariners scored more runs in that first inning than they had in the first two games of the series. In five of their previous six games, they had failed to score more than three runs.

When Kolten Wong led off the second inning by launching a fly ball into the right-field seats off German to make it 5-0, it was clear that it was the Mariners’ night, and German was going to have to “wear it” and pitch as long as possible to save his bullpen.

Two batters later, France clubbed a solo homer into the Mariners bullpen that made it 6-0. The booing went next level.

The Mariners added two more runs in the third inning when Suarez managed to score from first on fielding error by third baseman Josh Donaldson on a ground ball off the bat of Ford.

When Donaldson bobbled the ball on the infield grass, Suarez saw no one covering third base, so he never stopped running once he hit second. German tried to retreat to third and would’ve had Suarez out, but he missed the easy throw and the ball rolled into the Mariners dugout. Suarez was allowed to score on the play, and Ford was allowed to advance to third base after a lengthy replay review. He scored moments later on Jose Caballero’s sac fly.

The Mariners added two runs in the fourth on back-to-back solo homers from Hernandez and Raleigh, which finally brought German’s outing to an end. It elicited a Bronx cheer when manager Aaron Boone appeared from the dugout and turned into vicious booing as German left the field.

It’s the first time the Mariners have scored two runs or more in each of the first four innings of a game since Sept. 9, 2007, in Detroit.

All that run support was more than enough cushion for rookie Bryan Woo, who delivered a brilliant performance, tossing 5⅓ scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

Relying mostly on his riding four-seam fastball and sinking two-seam fastball, Woo didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning. With one out, Gleyber Torres singled to right field. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single off the top of the wall in right field that missed being a homer by inches. It ended Woo’s outing.

German never made it out of the fourth inning.

His final line: 3 1/3 innings, giving up 10 runs – eight of them earned – on eight hits, including the four homers allowed, with two walks and four strikeouts.