Aaron Judge crushes 444-foot homer in eighth to lift Yankees over Mariners for series win

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.SEATTLE — Aaron Judge was in danger of turning into a human for a day.As he walked to the plate in the eighth inning, the Yankees star was in the midst of a measly 1-for-3 effort with two strikeouts, which had dropped his average.And then he got a slider over the heart of the plate.

And it ended like most do: beyond the field of play.Judge crushed his 15th home run of the year 444 feet, breaking a tie game and lifting the Yankees to a comeback 3-2 win over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.The reigning AL MVP smoked the pitch from right-hander Carlos Vargas at 117.7 mph off the bat, continuing his torrid start to the season and securing a third straight series victory before the Yankees (25-18) headed home for the Subway Series this weekend.Paul Goldschmidt had tied the game in the seventh inning, coming off the bench to drill a pinch hit home run on the first pitch he saw from lefty reliever Gabe Speier.The veteran first baseman has absolutely mashed lefties this season, now batting 20-for-35 (.571) with four home runs against them.An inning before that, the Yankees got on the board with back-to-back two-out doubles from Anthony Volpe and Jasson Domínguez off Luis Castillo, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Castillo otherwise kept the Yankees in check before the Mariners (23-19) turned to their bullpen.The late offense took Will Warren off the hook after another solid start from the young right-hander.He struck out five of the first six batters he faced and ended up punching out a career-high nine across five innings of two-run ball — both of the runs unearned.In relief of Warren, Tyler Matzek, Ian Hamilton and Fernando Cruz combined for three shutout innings before Luke Weaver — who threw 21 pitches across two innings Tuesday night — slammed the door shut in the ninth by striking out the side.Ben Ric...