As the lights dimmed and began to flash, Clay Holmes jogged toward a jubilant crowd that saw a fairly new closer entrance designed to liven up the stadium.
Minutes later, jubilant fans booed the closer as he touched up for the first time this season.
Holmes gave up four runs in a nightmarish nine innings on Monday in front of 37,590 stunned fans, ultimately defeating the Mariners 5-4 in the series opener.
The Yankees’ winning streak ended at seven, due to a rally with no end in sight and not much hard contact.
In the 9th inning, he allowed one run on an infield hit, a walk, and an infield hit including a throwing error by Gleyber Torres.
Mitch Haniger’s RBI hit narrowed the lead, and Holmes walked Dylan Moore to load the bases.
Dominic Canzone tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right field, and then Ty France smashed a soft single into right field for his fourth run of the inning and his fourth unearned run of the year off the previously dominant Holmes.
The Yankees had one last chance, but Juan Soto’s ninth inning single was wasted against Seattle’s Andres Munoz.
In the 9th inning, the Yankees had a chance they had not taken advantage of before. Giancarlo Stanton was 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, including an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh and fifth innings.
The Yankees (33-16) lost for just the second time in their last 10 games, wasting yet another impressive effort from their starting pitchers.
Marcus Stroman pitched 7¹/₃ innings, giving up one run on three hits and one walk.
Over the last eight games, Yankees starting pitchers have allowed five earned runs in 52¹/₃ innings, posting a barely understandable 0.85 ERA. Carlos Rodon’s two-run sixth inning on Sunday was the Yankees’ worst performance in a week.
Strowman was in a pinch once. He allowed a single to Luke Lally in the second inning and a walk to Dylan Moore with one out.
And Strowman only needed to escape once. He used a first-pitch splitter to induce a grounder double play from Dominick Canzone, which was the only pitch the Mariners put a runner in scoring position.
Stroman struck out 15 Seattle batters in a row by repeatedly throwing weakly batted pitches, starting with Canzone in the second inning and ending with a single by Reilly with two outs in the seventh inning.
He only had six strikeouts, but he was unable to get any hits back. By the end of the ninth inning, six of the seven hardest-hit pitches of the night had come from Yankees hitters.
The only exception was Stroman’s 96th and final pitch, which Canzone sent over the centerfield wall to give the Mariners the lead.
Stroman handed the ball to Boone, walked toward the dugout, and threw his hands in the air as he heard a standing ovation and returned the appreciative clap as the decibel level rose to 37,590.
Those same fans stopped clapping after a few innings.
