SEATTLE — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge did not just hit a ball far on Friday—he nearly hit one out of Safeco Field, sending a shot into one of the last rows in the left-field bleachers.

Judge’s three-run display of brute strength meeting hand-eye coordination was the game’s decisive shot: The Seattle Mariners lost 5-1, their second straight loss to the Yankees after returning home with so much momentum.

The Mariners are now two games below .500 (48-50).

In short order, Judge has become one of baseball’s biggest stars, largely because he hits some of baseball’s most dramatic home runs. Andrew Moore, the Mariners’ rookie starter, knew this, of course, as Judge dug in during the fifth inning of what was then a 2-1 Yankees lead.

Moore had been pretty good until that point in a bounce-back start. He’d allowed two runs behind two doubles in the third inning, but he’d avoided the game-altering inning.

In his last start, Moore gave up five runs in just three innings, the shortest and rockiest start of his very young career.

Judge dug in, and when he does that he is different than just about any other player in baseball—at 6-foot-7, 282 pounds, he is basically Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham with a bat in his hands.

Felix Hernandez has pitched for more than a decade now, and when asked about Judge the night before, he just laughed and said, “The man’s big. Oh my god. He looks huge in the box.”

Moore made a mistake, and what Judge does with that mistake was shake-your-head impressive: He sent it to the fans in the high seats in the left-field bleachers, his 31st home run of the season, an estimated 440 feet.

That made the score 5-1.

For the second straight night, the Mariners’ offense didn’t do much.

With two outs and two on in the first inning, Kyle Seager hit a ball that deflected off the glove of first baseman Chase Headley. Seager beat out the infield single, and Cano scored.

The Mariners loaded the bases, all with two outs, but just like the night before, they couldn’t crack open the game. Guillermo Heredia grounded out. The Mariners also had two on and one out in the third inning and produced nothing. And in the eighth inning, Cano led off with a double but never scored.

In their last two games, the Mariners have scored two runs and gone five for 26 with runners in scoring position.

The Mariners entered this nine-game homestand with momentum. They’d won five of their first six games out of the All-Star break, setting up a big series against the Yankees, a team they’re chasing in the American League wild-card race.

The first two games of the series, however, haven’t carried on that momentum.