Bullpen touched for first time as Yankees fall in Seattle

SEATTLE -- For nearly four games, the Yankees’ bullpen had been untouchable. It took just a few pitches in the ninth inning Monday for that run to end, sending the club to its first defeat of the season.

Cal Raleigh lined a run-scoring, walk-off single facing Paul Blackburn in a 2-1 loss to the Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The hit scored Leo Rivas and marked the first run allowed by a Yankees reliever this year.

"The whole pitching staff has been doing well, starters and relievers,” said left-hander Ryan Weathers, who struck out seven over 4 1/3 innings in his Yankees debut. “We’ve given up three runs as a whole entire pitching staff. That’s really good. Hopefully we can keep getting outs and keep it rolling.”

The knock offered a measure of redemption for Raleigh, the runner-up to Aaron Judge in last year’s American League Most Valuable Player race, who was out of Seattle’s lineup after a 2-for-15 start.

It came after four relievers had held the line behind Weathers, who scattered four hits and two walks in a 77-pitch effort.

Fernando Cruz flashed a filthy splitter to notch two strikeouts and escape a fifth-inning jam. Jake Bird tossed a scoreless sixth, while Brent Headrick and Camilo Doval got high-leverage outs in the seventh.

As Weathers noted, the Yankees have held opponents to three runs -- only the 1915 Phillies (2) and 2018 Dodgers (2) permitted fewer through their first four games of the season.

"These guys came in ready, had a great spring, and have carried it on into the first couple of games here,” catcher Austin Wells said. “They’re all pitching really well.”

Doval threw just two pitches, yielding Julio Rodríguez’s inning-ending grounder. Boone said that he could see using Doval for multiple "ups" later in the season, but not this early.

"I’m sure eventually he’ll have plenty of two-ups,” Boone said.

Making his first appearance of the season, Blackburn worked around a two-out walk in the eighth but allowed three hits in the ninth. The Yanks wasted Giancarlo Stanton’s one-out double in the ninth, the fourth straight multi-hit game for Stanton to open the year.

“I liked him through the bottom of the order there,” Boone said of Blackburn. “They found a couple of holes and beat us.”

Overall, the Yanks managed five hits -- just two off starter Luis Castillo, who threw six sharp innings. Their only run came on Amed Rosario’s seventh-inning sacrifice fly.

They fared better in the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system challenge department, going 5-for-5 in flipping calls by home plate umpire Mike Estabrook early in the game.

“Really good job by the guys,” Boone said. “It’s not going to be like that every night, but I thought every one was warranted. A couple were in key spots to give us a chance to build an inning. We just weren’t able to build much offensively.”

Weathers admitted he wasn’t sharp early, but he limited damage to Cole Young’s second-inning RBI single.

"I definitely want to be more efficient and be in the zone a little bit more,” Weathers said. “I don’t want to hang my hat on 4 1/3 innings. I want to get deeper into the ballgame, and a lot of that comes from managing the pitch count myself and not falling behind in counts.”

Known for a big arm with high-90s velocity but a checkered injury history, Weathers was acquired from the Marlins in January for a package of four Minor Leaguers.

Limited to 38 1/3 big league innings last season due to a lat strain and flexor strain -- and yet to exceed 100 innings in any year -- Weathers has become a project for pitching coach Matt Blake.

Under Blake’s advisement, Weathers modified his weight room workouts as well as his between-starts throwing program, aiming to prioritize recovery and save more strength for the mound.

The son of 19-year big league veteran David Weathers -- who was in attendance Monday -- has embraced the changes, seeing a velocity jump. Wells believes that if Weathers continues pounding the zone, he’ll see results.

"He’s got really good stuff,” Wells said, “and I think he should fill it up.”