SEATTLE — The New York Yankees’ perfect start to the 2026 season came to an end Monday night at T-Mobile Park. Cal Raleigh delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 2-1 victory, dropping the Bonx Bombers to 3-1 on the young campaign.
It was a game defined by dominant pitching on both sides, a historic night for MLB’s new ABS challenge system and a Yankees offense that could not break through when it mattered most. New York managed just five hits on the evening and left runners in scoring position multiple times.
Weathers impressive in Yankees debut
Left-hander Ryan Weathers made his first regular-season start in pinstripes and gave the Yankees exactly what they needed from a pitcher filling in while Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt remain on the injured list. Weathers lasted 4.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts on 77 pitches.
The lone blemish came in the second inning. After Randy Arozarena singled and Mitch Garver walked, No. 9 hitter Cole Young punched a broken-bat RBI single through the right side to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. It was the first time the Yankees had trailed all season, ending a streak of 29 consecutive innings with a lead or tie dating to Opening Day.
Weathers, the 26-year-old son of former Yankees reliever David Weathers, leaned on advice from his father before the start.
“My dad told me, ‘Have fun. There’s no place like playing in New York,'” Weathers said before the game. “You’ve got to be yourself and do what you do. My focus is on strike one and getting ahead of batters.”
Raleigh’s walk-off single breaks the tie
After the Yankees clawed back to tie the game 1-1 in the top of the seventh on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Amed Rosario, the Mariners bullpen and the Bombers relievers matched zeroes deep into the night. Fernando Cruz was dominant for the Yankees in the fifth, striking out pinch-hitter Dominic Canzone and Julio Rodriguez on splitters to strand runners at second and third.
Brent Headrick and Camilo Doval continued the strong relief work through the eighth. But in the bottom of the ninth, Seattle’s offense finally broke through against Yankees reliever Paul Blackburn. Cole Young, who finished with three of the Mariners’ six hits, ripped a double to help set the table. Raleigh then lined an RBI single to end it.
It was a bitter pill for a Yankees bullpen that had been nearly flawless through the first four games of the season.
Castillo shuts down Yankees bats
Mariners starter Luis Castillo was the story on the other side. The veteran right-hander carved through the Yankees lineup for six shutout innings, striking out seven and allowing just three hits. His career record against the Yankees now includes a sharp 2.74 ERA across eight starts.
Castillo’s 1,500th career strikeout came on a checked-swing slider against Aaron Judge, a moment that underlined his command of the zone all night. The Yankees did not record an extra-base hit until Giancarlo Stanton’s one-out double in the ninth, but it went to waste when Bellinger and the following batters could not bring him home.
ABS challenges expose a rough night behind the plate
Monday’s game will also be remembered for a remarkable stretch involving the ABS challenge system and plate umpire Mike Estabrook. The Yankees challenged five of Estabrook’s ball-and-strike calls and won every single one.
The drama started in the third inning. Shortstop Jose Caballero successfully overturned two called strikes in the same at-bat against Castillo, turning what would have been a strikeout into a walk. Caballero was so confident in one challenge that he began removing his shin guard before the ruling was announced.
Stanton also saved an at-bat in the fourth by challenging a called third strike that ABS confirmed was low. He singled on the very next pitch. After Jazz Chisholm Jr. won a challenge of his own, Yankees manager Aaron Boone and Estabrook exchanged words from the dugout.
“I don’t want to hear another word,” Estabrook told Boone. “Not another word.”
Despite the tension, the technology worked exactly as intended. All five overturned calls were confirmed by the Hawk-Eye camera system, making it one of the most lopsided ABS nights in the young history of the rule.
Yankees drop to 3-1 as series continues
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Yankees that began with their season-opening sweep of the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. The Mariners, last season’s AL West champions who fell one game short of the World Series, improved to 3-2.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park, with Max Fried taking the mound for the Yankees against Seattle’s Logan Gilbert. It will air on TBS with a 9:40 p.m. ET first pitch.
What do you think about the Yankees’ offensive failure?
