Extra Inning Woes Continue: Yankees Still Scoreless in Extras on the road After 2-1 Loss to Mariners

SEATTLE – The Yankees dropped a heartbreaker last night, falling 2-1 in 11 innings to the Seattle Mariners. The main takeaway here is the lack of offense through the whole game, but especially in extras.

The one run the Yankees scored last night was in the ninth inning, after a hit by pitch, stolen base, groundout, then an E3 scoring the run. The Yankees had Anthony Volpe on second with one out in the top of the ninth when Jasson Dominguez got punched out on a pitch well below the zone.

Aaron Boone would subsequently get ejected from the game trying to protect his young left fielder from getting the boot.

With that being said, that called strike could have changed the whole trajectory of the game, instead it's an out.

When Jasson Dominguez was asked about the interaction with HP Umpire, Mark Wegner, Dominguez said:

"I'm not gonna say what I said to him... but I said some words"

The main story of the night was the fact that the Yankees can't score a run in extras even with the runner on second.

Here is the best part:

This is not based on the players, this is based on the coaching staff and the plate approach in extra innings from the Yankees. In the 11th, they could not even get a GD sac fly to get a run home! There situational hitting skills are awful. The fact that they have the worst record in baseball in extra innings since 2020, the start of the ghost runner, is sad. They need to be better in these spots.

The Yankees have been even worse this season in extras:

They need to score in extras to win games. They are now 1-3 in extras in 2025. The Yankees need to win close games and they are just not doing it right now. The Yankees are also 4-9 in one-run games in 2025, tied for the worst in baseball with the Boston Red Sox.

In order for the Yankees to be legit contenders, they need to be better at small-ball to get runs across and make sure they play fundamentally sound baseball and playing the game the right way. My point of this is that the Yankees need to take a more National League style to their play with the talent they have (i.e. Volpe, Vivas, Peraza, Escarra, Goldschmidt and Bellinger), to make things happen.

Before the DH came to the NL, teams often relied on small ball strategies—such as sacrifice bunts, hit-and-run plays, and stolen bases—to manufacture runs in tighter, lower-scoring games. NL teams would also emphasize strong pitching, sound defense, and situational awareness, all theories I would like to see the Yankees employ going forward in 2025 to be the best team that they can.