SEATTLE — The Yankees came to T-Mobile Park on Monday night riding one of the most dominant starts any pitching staff had put together in years. Three games in, the Yankees bullpen had not allowed a single run. The starters were sharp. The defense was clean.
Then came Luis Castillo, a 48-degree night, and a Yankees lineup that could not string two good at-bats together.
The Yankees fell 2-1 on a Cal Raleigh walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth, dropping to 3-1 on the young 2026 season. The loss was their first. And despite another strong collective pitching effort, the Yankees offense gave the staff next to nothing to work with.
Five hits. Zero for six with runners in scoring position. Six men left on base.
Castillo shuts down New York’s lineup
The Yankees never found an answer for Castillo. The Seattle veteran carried a 2.74 ERA in seven career starts against New York entering Monday’s game. He was as sharp as ever on a cold night in Seattle.
Castillo worked six scoreless innings, surrendered just two hits, walked two and struck out seven. He generated 17 swings and misses, 13 coming on his four-seam fastball. The only Yankees hits off him were a bloop and a dribbler.
“We were having a hard time with his fastball, it was playing up tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That low slot, he’s able to generate some swings and misses at the top. With his fastball, he was getting us to swing through some pitches.”
Yankees catcher Austin Wells, who struck out twice in two at-bats against Castillo, was candid when asked what made the pitcher so difficult.
“I didn’t touch anything from him so ask somebody else,” Wells said with a slight grin.
Weathers solid in his Yankees debut
Left-hander Ryan Weathers made his first start in a Yankees uniform and largely delivered. He admitted to first-inning nerves with a new club but settled in quickly, retiring seven straight batters at one stretch.
Weathers pitched four and one-third innings for the Yankees, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. The lone damage came on a broken-bat, two-out RBI single by Cole Young in the second.
Ryan Weathers has settled in nicely as he finishes a 1-2-3 fourth inning with his seventh strikeout pic.twitter.com/6D7GZcYSFQ
“I think definitely nerves in the first [inning],” said Weathers, whose father David also pitched for the Yankees. “Just a new team, just really excited to throw, and I got a little bit out of myself in the first. Bounced back well in the first and felt I threw the ball well from there on out.”
Weathers acknowledged he wants more from himself going forward in the Yankees rotation.
“I definitely want to be more efficient, want to be in the zone a little bit more,” he said. “I don’t want to hang my hat on 4 and one-third innings. I want to get deeper in the ballgame.”
Yankees bullpen’s scoreless run ends in the ninth
Coming into Monday, the Yankees bullpen had thrown 11 straight scoreless innings to open 2026. Fernando Cruz, Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and Camilo Doval pushed that total to 14 and two-thirds before Paul Blackburn took over.
Boone had already deployed most of his Yankees relief corps. David Bednar was held back for a save situation. With the game tied 1-1, Blackburn went back out for the ninth after a clean eighth inning.
Leo Rivas opened with a single past a diving Ben Rice. Cole Young flied out. Brendan Donovan followed with a single to right-center, putting runners on the corners with one out.
That set up Raleigh. He had struck out on a Headrick splitter in an identical situation in the seventh. This time, he lined a 2-and-1 cutter from Blackburn down the right-field line. The Mariners stormed the field. The Yankees’ streak was over.
“They found holes with a couple of balls, they hit ’em sharp on the ground, but I thought he managed contact well getting them on the ground,” Boone said. “I thought he threw the ball well. They found a couple of holes and beat us.”
Raleigh ends a rough personal stretch at the right moment
The walk-off hero had been one of baseball’s most talked-about struggling hitters to open the season. Raleigh began Monday having gone just 2-for-15 with 10 strikeouts in the first four games.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson held him from the starting lineup, describing it as a mental and physical reset for his catcher.
“Yeah, I think a day off for a catcher is always a mental reset,” Wilson said. “Not having to partake in the grind back there pitch-to-pitch and then take your ABs. In a lot of ways it’s a mental and physical off day.”
Raleigh set an MLB record for catchers with 60 home runs last season, then finished second in AL MVP voting to Aaron Judge. Judge won the award for the second straight year and third time in four seasons, collecting 17 of 30 first-place votes to Raleigh’s 13.
Counting spring training, the World Baseball Classic and the season’s first five games, Raleigh had hit below .200 with one homer and 28 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances. He kept it in perspective.
“It’ll be OK,” Raleigh said. “I know a lot of guys across the league are fighting the same thing. They’re trying to find timing and it’s under a microscope more so now just because it’s the start of the season. Everybody’s excited.”
Boone offered measured words when asked about Raleigh’s situation.
“Hitting is hard,” Boone said. “It’s hard for all of them, even the best of the best. Everyone goes through different little pockets in their career, even the really good ones who are going to play a long time. There are weeks where they’re a little bit off.”
Yankees tie it in the seventh but strand runners in the ninth
The best New York rally came in the seventh inning after Castillo exited. Ben Rice singled to center off left-hander Jose Ferrer. Giancarlo Stanton, who entered the game hitting a sizzling 8-for-16 on the season, reached on a Donovan error at third.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded into a force play, loading the corners. Boone called on Yankees pinch-hitter Amed Rosario against Seattle righty Eduard Bazardo. Rosario lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Rice to tie it 1-1.
The Yankees had one more shot in the ninth. Stanton doubled off closer Matt Brash with one out. Pinch runner Randal Grichuk moved to third on Chisholm’s groundout. But Brash struck out Rosario to kill the rally. Blackburn could not hold the tie one half-inning later.
ABS challenges a bright spot for the Yankees on a rough night
The Yankees went 5-for-5 in automated ball-strike challenges on Monday, with Rice, Stanton and Chisholm going 3-for-3 in consecutive at-bats in the fourth inning. That pushed the Yankees’ 2026 ABS success total to 10-for-11 on the season.
“Good on the guys for just hammering the strike zone right now,” Boone said.
Wells offered strong praise for the pitching staff despite the loss.
“Unbelievable,” Wells said. “Those guys came in ready. Had a great spring and have carried it on to the first few games here. They’re all pitching really, really well.”
The Yankees and Mariners meet again Tuesday night in Seattle. New York enters the rematch needing the offense to show up the way its pitching staff already has.
