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Haggerty, Santana homer as Mariners top Yankees, 4-3, to win series

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Robbie Ray (38) pitches the ball in first inning of the game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash. on August 10, 2022.

The Mariners did something Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park the club hasn’t done in two decades.

No, not end the postseason drought. Whether or not the Mariners will still be playing past the first week of October won’t be decided for several weeks yet.

What Seattle (61-52) did here Wednesday was wrap up back-to-back wins against the team that entered the day tied for the best record in the American League.

After edging the visiting Yankees, 1-0, in an intense 13-inning pitching duel Tuesday night, the Mariners broke through again hours later, closing out another close 4-3 win to end this seven-game homestand.

This series win, combined with the series win in New York last week, gave the club its first season series win over the Yankees in 20 years at 4-2.

“I think I heard earlier we hadn’t won a season series against the Yankees since 2002,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said postgame. “So times are a changin’. Great way to end a homestand, get a day off and we’ll get after them on the road trip.”

The first six innings Wednesday played out similar to Tuesday — shutdown performances by two starting pitchers.

The Mariners were without a hit until the sixth, when Sam Haggerty put the afternoon’s first run on the board with a one-out home run to left off of Yankees starter Nestor Cortes that bounced off the foul pole.

“We were getting no-hit until that homer,” Servais said. “This guy has had some kind of impact on our team. Credit to him. It’s been fun to watch.

“He is locked in, he’s made some adjustments and he’s riding the wave right now and we’re going to ride with him as long as we can.”

Mitch Haniger later ended Cortes’ outing — he allowed three runs on three hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in six-plus frames — with a single in the seventh that scored Ty France.

Carlos Santana hit the game’s decisive two-run home run — his 11th of the season — to right center two at-bats later off Albert Abreu to make it 4-3.

“It seems like there’s been for or five of those since we acquired him,” Servais said of Santana’s clutch home runs this season. “They’re all big. It’s the two- or three-run homers late in games. He gets a pitch, he doesn’t miss it.”

Mariners ace Robbie Ray allowed only a pair of hits and a pair of walks through the first six frames before the Yankees eventually scratched across three runs in the seventh.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a one-out walk and Kyle Higashioka hit a go-ahead two-run homer to left center seven pitches later.

Ray’s afternoon ended there — he allowed the two runs on three hits while walking five and striking out seven across 6 1/3 — but the Yankees weren’t done.

After reliever Penn Murfee recorded the second out of the inning, Aaron Judge jumped on a first-pitch slider and blasted his major league-leading 45th home run of the season 412 feet to left center to give New York a 3-1 lead.

The Mariners responded with their three-run rally in the bottom half of the inning minutes later, and Diego Castillo and Paul Sewald — who collected his team-leading 15th save — each tossed 1-2-3 innings to close out the win.

The announced crowd of 43,280 that packed into the ballpark for the midweek day game waited in anticipation as a high pop fly in foul territory from Higashioka seemed to fall back toward the field in slow motion.

When France secured it for the game’s final out, the cheers cascaded across the park.

“The fans have made it feel like a playoff atmosphere,” Sewald said of the thrilling wins the past two days.

Seattle now departs for a nine-game road trip to Arlington, Anaheim and Oakland, still in the league’s second wild-card spot after finishing this homestand 4-3.

“Anybody that’s been following the Mariners for a while certainly should have had fun this week,” Servais said. “Great series. Can’t say enough about the effort from our players. Everybody on our roster contributing.”

ROSTER MOVES

Both reliever Diego Castillo and utility player Dylan Moore returned to the roster ahead of Wednesday’s game following stints on the injured list.

Castillo was placed on the 15-day IL the final week of July with right shoulder inflammation, and rejoins a bullpen in need of arms following Tuesday night’s extra-innings contest.

The right-hander pitched a scoreless eighth in his return Wednesday, and is now 7-1 with a 3.82 ERA in 40 relief appearances with Seattle this season.

Moore returns from a stay on the 10-day IL after making an early exit against the Astros in Houston on July 30 with back spasms.

He has played in 76 games this season, hitting .193/.344/.360 with 25 runs scored, six doubles, two triples, five home runs, 16 RBI, 12 stolen bases and 26 walks to 58 strikeouts.

Moore started at shortstop Wednesday, giving J.P. Crawford his first game off since before the All-Star break. Seattle’s everyday shortstop had appeared in 21 consecutive contests.

“J.P. has been grinding through this little stint we’ve been in, and he has not been at 100 percent,” Servais told reporters pregame.

“But, hopefully a day off today and then off tomorrow, we’ll get back to closer to a full go for J.P. when we get back to Texas.”

To make room for the additions, Seattle optioned outfielder Kyle Lewis and reliever Brennan Bernardino to Triple-A Tacoma.

Lewis, the AL Rookie of the Year in 2020, opened the season on the IL following a season-ending meniscus tear the previous spring, and returned to the Mariners’ lineup in late May, but was placed on the IL again four games later with a concussion.

He rejoined the club in late July, and has appeared in 14 games since, hitting 4-for-41 (.098) with one home run, two RBI, five walks and 18 strikeouts in that stretch.

“It comes down to the bat,” Servais said pregame. “He needs more at-bats. He needs timing. This guy hasn’t played a lot. So hopefully he can get it going and hopefully he can get back to help us out.”

SHORT HOPS

Servais said pregame Wednesday starter Chris Flexen will move into a bullpen role for the time being.

“It’s a really valuable role for us and our team,” Servais said pregame. “We have six starters on our team. Flex is still one of them, but he will not be in the rotation as of right now. We’ll wait and see how it plays out.”

Flexen is 7-9 with a 3.92 ERA in 21 starts this season, and has struck out 81 while walking 43 across 117 innings.

He has not yet pitched in relief for the Mariners, but has previous bullpen experience in the majors, having appeared in 16 games in relief for the Mets from 2017-19.

“I think his stuff works pretty good out of the bullpen,” Servais said. “I think we’ll see maybe a tick up even in his stuff out of the ‘pen, and he’ll be used in different roles.”

Seattle’s five-man rotation moving forward will include recently acquired ace Luis Castillo as well as Ray, George Kirby, Marco Gonzales and Logan Gilbert.

The Mariners are now 27-14 in one-run games this season, which leads the majors.

“To win close games you need really good bullpen pitching,” Servais said. “You’ve got to play defense. What happens is you don’t beat yourself. You stay in the game, stay in the game, stay in the game and then something big happens.”