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

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.

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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 Rice’s inexperience at first base came into play in the third inning and eventually led to a pair of unearned runs scoring on Warren.

Leody Taveras led off with a ground ball between first and second that DJ LeMahieu fielded cleanly. Rice had initially started toward the ball before running back to the bag, but by the time he turned around, he was not in position to catch the throw from LeMahieu as it sailed past him before he collided with Taveras (both stayed in the game).

LeMahieu was charged with the error, but Rice — moving from DH to first base to give Goldschmidt a breather — was on the hook for the misplay.

Warren retired two of the next three batters — meaning he should have been out of the inning unscathed — before walking Jorge Polanco on four pitches to load the bases.

Julio Rodríguez then cashed in with a hard double down the right field line to put the Mariners up 2-0.

Trent Grisham nearly gave the Yankees an immediate lead with yet another leadoff home run, but Rodríguez would not allow it.

The Mariners center fielder made a terrific leaping catch at the wall, reaching over to snag it and rob Grisham of a homer.