Mariners win first walk-off of the season, 2-1 over Yankees
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 30: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates his walk-off single during the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park on March 30, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images Even though the Mariners were winning most of the game, it still felt like they were going to have to win on a comeback, which they eventually did. The Yankees were dominating the ABS challenge system, and the Mariners had a few defensive miscues, driving all the focus to the Yankees’ half-innings.
Meanwhile, despite putting up a run in the second inning, the Mariners bats had mostly gone down quickly and quietly. So as we reached the midpoint, this was one of those games where it was easy to forget that the Mariners were winning. But winning they were because that second-inning run was enough to hold the lead throughout Luis Castillo’s six innings of work.
La Piedra came out firing for his first start of the season, hitting 96. 5 mph with his fastball, something he only topped four times before May last year. He left one a little too close to middle-middle against Aaron Judge for my comfort, but he got away with it and eventually jammed him on a sinker running all the way in on his hands.
You might chalk the velo spike up to first-game adrenaline, but he held it for most of his outing. With his fastball unhittable, why would he go to anything else? Well, because his slider was as about as sharp as it gets.
So the first time through the order, he only threw one pitch that was anything but a four-seamer or slider—the sinker that finished off Judge. Of course, Yankees were still reaching base. Twice, a can of corn dropped in shallow left: the first time due to an early-season miscommunication, and the second time because both Donovan and Rivas lost the ball in the lights.
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