Victor Robles’ blunder proves costly as Yankees hammer Mariners, Bryan Woo

SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners were trailing by two runs when Victor Robles stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning Tuesday night.

The first pitch from Yankees right-hander Luis Gil, a 92-mph fastball, whizzed by Robles’ face and hit the Mariners’ leadoff hitter in the right hand.

Robles danced around in front of the plate, shaking his hand in pain as he bounced his way toward the pitcher’s mound. There, still grimacing, still shaking his right hand, Robles exchanged a brief pleasantry with Gil, a fellow Dominican, before making his way to first base.

Then the real adventure began.

The Mariners’ 11-2 loss to the Yankees was not a direct result of the first-inning foolishness that followed Robles’ hit by pitch. It would be a stretch to say that.

But Robles’ base-loaded baserunning blunder was so egregious – his botched steal of home so confounding – that it appeared to leave the Mariners deflated and disoriented for the rest of this opening game to a pivotal series at T-Mobile Park.

To be clear: The Mariners lost for a number of reasons.

They lost because of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

They lost because Bryan Woo picked the worst time to post his worst start of the season.

They lost because they couldn’t take advantage of an erratic Gil early on.

And because of all that, they lost considerable ground the playoff chase.

All in all, a disastrous Tuesday night for the Mariners (77-74).

The Twins (80-71) won in Cleveland.

The Tigers (79-73) won in Kansas City.

That means, with 11 games remaining, the Mariners fell three games back of the Twins in the AL wild-card chase. And they fell 1.5 games back of the Tigers in the wild card.

Rewind to the fateful first inning:

After plunking Robles, Gil issued back-to-back walks to Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena to load the bases with one out.

Luke Raley popped up for the second out.

That brought up Justin Turner, who took three consecutive pitches from Gil, all of which were well out of the zone. With a 3-0 count, two outs, and the bases loaded, Turner would have no doubt been taking the next pitch from Gil.

Except there was no next pitch .

Robles, dancing off third base, took off for home when Gil walked behind the mound and bent over to pick up the rosin bag. Gil, though, recovered just in time to make a snap throw – his most important strike of the night – to catch Austin Wells.

Wells got the tag down just before Robles, diving head first, touched the plate.

Three outs. Inning over. Threat over.

Turner, a 16-year big-league veteran, stood for a long time near home plate, appearing stunned.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson came out to the plate to talk to umpire Jeremy Rehak – perhaps trying make a case that Wells was blocking the plate? (He wasn’t … and the Mariners didn’t bother to challenge the play.)

It was the most bizarre play of a rather bizarre season for the Mariners.

Robles has been the catalyst for so much of the Mariners’ offensive turnaround over the past few weeks. He’s been exactly what the Mariners needed, and his .444 average and 224 wRC+ (100 is average) over the past month both lead all MLB hitters.

Robles had been 25 for 25 in stolen-base attempts with the Mariners. But an attempted steal of home with two outs and a 3-0 count?

Yikes.

The Mariners never recovered.

Judge hit a two-run double off Woo in the first inning and added a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the second to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead.

Judge, vying for the AL Triple Crown, has an MLB-best 136 runs driven in this season.

In the fourth inning, Soto ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Woo for a 410-foot home run to left-center field. That pushed the Yankees’ lead to 6-1.

It was Soto’s 40th homer of the season and 200th for his career. It was also his first home run at T-Mobile Park; he’s now homered in all 30 MLB parks.

Woo, the Mariners’ most dominant starter in the season’s second half, didn’t make it out of the fifth inning.

Woo’s final line: 4.2 innings, nine hits, seven runs, one walk, seven strikeouts.

Jorge Polanco hit a solo homer in the second inning for the Mariners’ only run off Gil.

Luke Raley added a solo homer in the eighth.