SEATTLE — One night after their bullpen cracked in the ninth inning and handed Seattle a walk-off victory, the New York Yankees needed a response. Max Fried provided one that left little room for debate.
Fried threw seven scoreless innings, Giancarlo Stanton delivered his fifth straight multi-hit game, and the Yankees shut out the Mariners 5-0 Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park to even the series at one game apiece.
Fried dominates from the first pitch
Max Fried had been sharp in his 2026 season debut at San Francisco, and he was better Tuesday. The left-hander held the Mariners to two hits over seven innings, walked one, hit a batter, and struck out six. At 90 pitches through seven, Aaron Boone pulled him with the game well in hand.
Fried worked through contact the way elite pitchers are supposed to. He induced a double-play grounder from Josh Naylor in the seventh, fielded his position cleanly throughout, and got soft contact when Seattle made any contact at all.
It was the kind of outing that reminds you why the Yankees made Fried their rotation centerpiece. Gold Gloves get earned, not handed out, and Tuesday night showed why his are legitimate.
A first-inning statement from the offense
The Yankees did not wait long to make clear Monday’s shutout was an outlier. They sent Logan Gilbert into trouble in the first inning and came out with two runs.
Cody Bellinger drew a two-out walk, and Ben Rice followed with a double just inside the first-base line. The ball took an odd carom away from right fielder Victor Robles, who was still positioned toward center on the shift, and third-base coach Luis Rojas waved Bellinger home from first. He scored easily. Giancarlo Stanton then lofted a pop fly into shallow right that fell in for an RBI hit, also a result of Robles’ positioning. Just like that, it was 2-0 before the Mariners could settle in.
Stanton keeps making history at the plate
The first-inning pop fly was the kind of hit Stanton usually sneers at. He does not need the defense to hand him anything. But it extended his remarkable streak to begin the year.
In the sixth, he made sure no one could call his production lucky. With Bellinger on second after stealing the bag, Stanton drilled an RBI double that chased Gilbert from the game. That made it 4-0 and pushed Stanton’s hit total to multiple in each of his first five games.
No Yankee had done that since Alfonso Soriano opened the 2003 season with a six-game multi-hit streak. Stanton is now at five. He has been on base three times in Tuesday’s game alone.
For a player who spent most of last season on the injured list dealing with tennis elbow in both arms, the start has been nothing short of remarkable. The Yankees went 53-7 in games where Stanton and Aaron Judge both hit home runs last season. Keeping Stanton healthy and in the lineup is the biggest individual variable in how far this team can go in 2026.
The sixth inning broke the game open
After Stanton’s double cleared Gilbert, the Yankees piled on. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with an RBI single off reliever Cole Wilcox to push the lead to 5-0. That was all the offense the Yankees would need, given how Fried was pitching.
Earlier in the sixth, Bellinger had started the sequence with a single, then stolen second base, allowing Trent Grisham to come home when Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh threw the ball away. It was an aggressive play from the Yankees’ third-base coaching staff, and it paid off.
The Yankees scored three times in the sixth on a stolen base, a throwing error, a double, and a single. Gilbert allowed four earned runs over 5 2/3 innings and took the loss.
Bullpen finishes the job, Boone provides ABS context
With Fried done after seven, Brent Headrick handled a clean eighth and Tim Hill closed out the ninth. Seattle’s 3-4-5 hitters went quietly. The combined shutout was the Yankees’ second of the young season.
Before the game, Boone weighed in on the ABS challenge tension that had defined Monday’s night. Home plate umpire Mike Estabrook had five of his calls overturned by the Yankees on Monday, leading to a visible exchange with Boone from the dugout.
“Sometimes in-game stuff happens,” Boone said. “It’s a little bit of a different landscape now. They have a tough job to do, and this is a whole new arena for them, especially some of the veteran umpires. They’ll continue to evolve with it, too.”
Tuesday’s challenge activity was far less dramatic. Trent Grisham had one successful challenge overturned early in the game. Jazz Chisholm Jr. lost a challenge on a third strike that was upheld by ABS. The Yankees’ streak of eight consecutive successful challenges came to an end.
Rodon update adds a note of caution
The positive result on the field Tuesday was tempered by a pregame update on Carlos Rodon. Boone revealed the left-hander is dealing with right hamstring tightness following a running session earlier in the day.
Rodon had been working back from an offseason elbow procedure and was targeting a return to the rotation in late April. His next scheduled outing was set for Class AA Somerset, following three simulated innings on Sunday.
Boone said the club’s initial read is that the hamstring issue is not a major concern, but acknowledged it could affect the timeline. “We’ll see what we have there” in the coming days, he said.
The Yankees improve to 4-1. The rubber match of the Seattle series is Wednesday, with Cam Schlittler scheduled to start.
Box score: Yankees at Mariners, March 31, 2026
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| New York Yankees | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Seattle Mariners | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Pitching lines
| Pitcher | Team | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | Decision |
| Max Fried | NYY | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | W (1-0) |
| Brent Headrick | NYY | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
| Tim Hill | NYY | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | — |
| Logan Gilbert | SEA | 5.2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | L (0-1) |
| Cole Wilcox | SEA | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — |
What do you think about this win?
