The Mariners were swept by the Yankees on the road in the Bronx this week, in what can only be described as a thorough drubbing of a series.

With a chance to preserve a game on Thursday, Bryan Woo carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before finally exiting, allowing only two runs on two hits. It was the first time in his career that he continued a start into the eighth inning.

Matt Brash allowed a two-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton after replacing Woo, but was able to limit the damage to that, holding a 5-3 lead as the game headed into the ninth.

The Mariners would go down without a threat in the ninth and turned to Andrés Muñoz to attempt to close it out. This is where everything went south.

Muñoz didn’t have his best stuff. He also appeared to be tipping his pitches to the heart of the Yankees’ lineup. To make matters' even worse, the strike zone was inconsistent in the ninth inning with multiple missed calls impacting plate appearances in favor of both teams.

After allowing the tying runs to score following a string of base hits and walks, a sacrifice fly to center by Aaron Judge was able to just barely push across Anthony Volpe to score the winning run for the Yankees. Julio Rodríguez’s throw home was a dime, but Volpe pulled out a swim move to avoid the tag by Cal Raleigh.

Run prevention was the issue for the Mariners in both of the first two games of the series.

Despite a 0-0 score heading into a rain delay, Logan Gilbert allowed the Yankees to break through following the short break from action, allowing a combined five runs in the fifth and sixth inning. Casey Legumina entered in relief, but was unable to stop the bleeding, giving up five runs of his own in one inning of work. The Mariners would ultimately lose 10-3 despite scoring several runs late, two of which came across on Raleigh’s 36th homer of the season.

In the second game Wednesday, the Mariners fell into a hole much quicker. Logan Evans, in his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Tacoma, gave up hard contact aplenty to the Yankees’ star-studded lineup, putting the M’s down three runs early. The Mariners attempted to chip away as the game went on, but were unable to put up enough zeros against the Yankees. Evans ended up allowing six runs in 4.2 innings as the Mariners lost 9-6.

Overall — not an ideal series. The Yankees had not been playing well of late. The Mariners were coming off one of their few sweeps, which featured some sparkling pitching performances. They couldn’t keep it rolling, though, and they now face the tough proposition of closing out the first half against the best team in baseball — the Detroit Tigers.

The series sweep, paired with a Red Sox win streak, has knocked the Mariners out of the final playoff spot in the American League. In perhaps the only silver lining I can find from this week, the Astros saw their recent run of form come to a screeching halt as they were swept by the Guardians. Their division lead remains at seven games.

Randy Arozarena added to AL All-Star roster

In addition to Raleigh, Rodríguez, Muñoz and Woo, Randy Arozarena has been named an All-Star as a replacement on the AL roster and the Mariners’ fifth selection. This comes in the wake of the team’s announcement that Rodríguez will not be participating in Atlanta next week.

As stated in the Compass Points section of this newsletter, Arozarena has been on fire lately. For the entire year, he has slashed .247/.354/.446 with a 132 wRC+ and 15 home runs.

Coming up next: Detroit Tigers

Hovering just three games over .500 with one series remaining before the first half comes to a close, the Mariners will travel to Comerica Park to face the top team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers.

Coming off a brutal sweep to the Yankees, the M’s will look to stay afloat and remain right in the thick of the AL playoff race with the trade deadline rapidly approaching. As if this series didn’t already look difficult enough, they will face reigning Cy Young Award winner and Seattle University product Tarik Skull in the opening game tonight.

A note: tonight’s game will NOT be available on Root Sports. The game will be presented on Apple TV as part of Friday Night Baseball. The final two games of the series will be broadcast on Root Sports as normal. All three games will be available on the radio on 710 AM Seattle Sports.

This is Rolling Roof Rundown’s twice-weekly Mariners newsletter. You can follow James @rollingroofrundown.com on Bluesky and, if you haven’t already, subscribe to the newsletter for more news and commentary. Rolling Roof Rundown is now on Instagram and Threads as well.