Major League Baseball
NY Yankees 5, Seattle 1
When: 10:10 PM ET, Friday, July 21, 2017
Where: Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington
Temperature: 72°
Umpires: Home - Rob Drake, 1B - Pat Hoberg, 2B - Tom Woodring, 3B - Gerry Davis
Attendance: 34073

SEATTLE -- Aaron Judge broke out of his post-Home Run Derby funk in a big way Friday night.

And, apparently, Major League Baseball's Statcast.

Judge hit a three-run homer that nearly left Safeco Field and drove in four runs as the New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-1.

Judge's fifth-inning blast, his major league-leading 31st homer of the season and his first since winning the Home Run Derby, landed in the third-to-last row of the second deck in left field. It came on a 2-1 hanging curveball from Mariners rookie right-hander Andrew Moore and traveled an estimated 450 feet.

"We were wondering if it was going to get out of the stadium," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "That's the farthest ball I've seen hit here in a game or BP.

"It was just, 'Wow.' We've seen him hit a couple like that before."

Yankees starter CC Sabathia (9-3) could be seen pointing out to Judge where the ball landed when the slugger returned to the dugout.

"That was amazing," said Sabathia, who added the longest previous homer he had seen at Safeco Field was by Cleveland teammate Ellis Burks in the 2001 playoffs that landed halfway up the second deck. "That ball just about went out of the place."

Statcast, which tracks the distance, exit velocity and launch angle of home runs, had no measurement for Judge.

The Yankees' Twitter account called it "the home run that broke Statcast."

Yankees rookie left fielder Clint Frazier, who was called up July 1, was awed by Judge's power.

"That was awesome. I hadn't seen it done in person," Frazier said. "You'd think people would get bored when you hit it that far, but every time everyone is surprised."

Judge downplayed his homer, which he said he hadn't yet seen by the time he met with reporters after the game.

"I was just glad to get in that position, with guys getting on base. I was just trying to get something in the air," he said.

Judge had gone 4-for-29 since the All-Star Game before his three-run shot.

"It's baseball," Judge said. "You're going to have your 0-for-4s and 1-for-20s, then you'll be 10-for-11 and can't miss. It's just part of the process."

The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on a misstep by Yankees first baseman Chase Headley, who was making just his second start this season at the position after being moved over from third base when the team acquired two-time All-Star Todd Frazier earlier in the week.

With two outs and runners at first and third, Seattle's Kyle Seager hit a hard one-hopper off Headley's glove. The ball ricocheted to second baseman Starlin Castro, who threw back to Headley for what could have been an inning-ending out. But Headley couldn't find the bag, twice stepping around it. Seager was credited with a run-scoring single.

The Yankees took the lead in the third, as Headley and Frazier led off with back-to-back doubles. Frazier tagged and advanced to third on a flyout to center field by Brett Gardner and, after Gary Sanchez walked, Judge hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-1.

New York added to its advantage in the fifth, as Gardner and Sanchez singled with one out before Judge launched his homer to left, giving the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

Sabathia allowed just one run on four hits in five-plus innings to get the win. He walked three and struck out five.

"I was just trying to make pitches. They've got a tough lineup over there," Sabathia said. "It was a battle. It wasn't my best stuff."

The Mariners' Moore (1-2) struggled, giving up five runs on nine hits in six innings.

"He made a mistake to Judge," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "Bad pitch in a bad spot and a bad result."

NOTES: RHP David Phelps, acquired by the Mariners on Thursday from Miami, joined the team and was available out of the bullpen but didn't pitch. ... The Yankees are 12-1 in their past 13 games at Safeco Field. ... The Mariners are 2-11 over their past 13 home games after starting the season 25-12 at home. ... Seattle made two more trades Friday. First, the Mariners acquired LHP Marco Gonzales from St. Louis in exchange for Triple-A OF Tyler O'Neill, who was considered one of Seattle's top prospects. Gonzales, 25, appeared in parts of three seasons with the Cardinals -- 2014, 2015 and 2017 -- going 4-2 with a 5.53 ERA in 12 appearances, including seven starts. He missed the entire 2016 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The Mariners later dealt veteran RHPs Mark Lowe and Jean Machi, who were both at Triple-A Tacoma, to the Chicago White Sox for cash. ... Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (7-9, 5.33 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday against Mariners LHP Ariel Miranda (7-4, 4.35). Tanaka is 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA in five career starts against Seattle.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Yankees   Seattle
CC Sabathia Player Andrew Moore
Win W/L Loss
5.0 IP 6.0
5 Strikeouts 2
4 Hits 9
1.80 ERA 7.50
Hitting
NY Yankees   Seattle
Didi Gregorius Player Ben Gamel
3 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 3
.750 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Yankees 11 1 16 .314 11 3 5 2 0 0
Seattle 7 0 9 .212 18 11 1 3 0 0