SEATTLE — A feel-good win for the Yankees quickly turned somber in the ninth inning Monday night.
Oswaldo Cabrera scored on a sacrifice fly, but in the process suffered what appeared to be a serious lower-leg injury that forced him to leave the field in an ambulance with his left leg in an air cast.
The energetic third baseman had to sidestep the catcher to avoid a tag, but then as he pivoted back toward the plate, his ankle appeared to give out.
He hit the deck and touched home but with his lower leg bent the wrong way as trainer Tim Lentych immediately raced out to tend to Cabrera.
A hush fell over T-Mobile Park as medical personnel quickly called for the ambulance and Cabrera writhed in pain on the ground, with Lentych.
In the visiting dugout, the Yankees looked on with concern, many with their head in their hands, for their teammate who has always been a bundle of joy since he arrived in the big leagues.
The brutal injury cast a pall on the Yankees’ 11-5 win over the Mariners that was buoyed by a six-run fifth inning.
The frame that began with Trent Grisham’s second home run of the night and ended with a three-run shot from Austin Wells marked the fourth straight game in which the Yankees (24-17) have scored five or more runs in an inning.
They did so twice Sunday against the Athletics and have scored five or more runs in an inning six times in their past six games.
Monday’s outburst against the Mariners (22-18) turned a 2-1 deficit into a 7-2 lead in a hurry off right-hander Emerson Hancock and sent the Yankees to their fifth win in their past six games.
They have scored 39 runs through their first four games of this trip, the first three in the A’s Triple-A, wind-impacted ballpark.
Every Yankee had at least one hit on a night when the team racked up 15 while scoring in double digits for the fourth time in six games and the MLB-high ninth time this season.
It was more than enough support for Clarke Schmidt, who gave up a pair of solo shots through the first three innings but allowed only one other hit (which also turned into a run after he left the game) through six-plus innings.
It marked his third straight solid start, a span in which he has allowed just four runs across 17 innings, offering more hope he can be a quality third starter behind Max Fried and Carlos Rodón.
The Mariners made things interesting when Cal Raleigh clubbed a two-run shot off Tim Hill to get within 8-5 in the eighth inning. But Anthony Volpe answered with a two-run blast of his own to regain some breathing room.
Grisham continued to be a surprising godsend at the top of the order, crushing his 11th and 12th home runs of the season.
The first came in the third inning to tie the game 1-1 — with an assist from center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who nearly robbed it but instead saw the ball tip off his glove to ensure it got over the wall — before he tied it again 2-2 to lead off the fifth.
The second homer marked the first of five straight hits the Yankees reeled off to start the game-changing inning. Aaron Judge, who went a ho-hum 2-for-3 with two walks and is now batting .414, followed with a single before Ben Rice ripped a double to the right field corner.
Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger then delivered back-to-back RBI singles to put the Yankees up 4-2.
One out later, Wells drilled his eighth home run of the year to make it a 7-2 lead.
Schmidt did exactly what he was supposed to do in the bottom of the fifth, retiring the Mariners in order on eight pitches to keep the momentum fully on the Yankees side.
The Yankees added an insurance run in the seventh with more good baserunning and situational hitting. Goldschmidt led off with a single, then went first to third on Volpe’s one-out single to right field, setting him up to score on Wells’ sacrifice fly.
Schmidt was in an early groove after striking out the first two batters he faced and then getting ahead of Julio Rodriguez 1-2.
But then he left a sweeper right down the middle, and it ended predictably, with Rodriguez crushing it for a home run and a 1-0 Mariners lead.
The Mariners threatened for more in the second inning after Schmidt walked the first two batters he faced, despite getting ahead 0-2 on Randy Arozarena and 1-2 on Rowdy Tellez.
Leody Taveras then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move up the runners, but it served as a lifeline for Schmidt, who extinguished the threat with a strikeout and a fly out.
