Hal Steinbrenner already knows what it cost to keep Aaron Judge in The Bronx.
The price of doing the same thing with Juan Soto continues to rise, as the pair of sluggers went deep two innings apart — and Soto homered twice — in the Yankees 7-3 win over the Mariners at the Stadium on Wednesday.
The victory allowed the Yankees to avoid their first three-game losing streak since April 14-16 and assured that they would not be swept in a series for the first time this year.
Judge got the Yankees on the board in the bottom of the first with his 14th home run of the year, an opposite-field, two-run shot to right to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead after Anthony Volpe led off the inning with an infield hit to extend his career-high hitting streak to 15 games.
With the homer, 10 of Judge’s previous 12 hits have gone for extra bases, including four home runs.
Soto followed in the third, as he came up after Volpe singled for the second time on the night.
Like Judge, Soto took the ball the other way, as it went out to left-center to make it 4-0.
Soto added another opposite-field homer to left to start the bottom of the sixth for a 5-0 lead and his 13th blast of the season.
Soto added to the show in the top of the seventh, as the fans serenaded the right fielder with another “Juan Soto” chant during a visit to the mound and Soto waved his arms in encouragement.
With a chance to put the finishing touch on Wednesday’s win, Soto came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh, this time to a chorus of “MVP.”
But this time, Soto struck out.
The three combined homers by Judge and Soto all came off right-hander Bryce Miller, who allowed just five base runners over six innings, but they all scored.
To top it off on Wednesday, Nestor Cortes dazzled at home again, tossing five shutout innings, as the Yankees rotation continued to excel.
But the typically excellent bullpen faltered, as Michael Tonkin walked two batters in his second inning of work and Luke Weaver then allowed a three-run homer to Cal Raleigh to cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-3 with one out in the eighth.
Alex Verdugo gave the Yankees some cushion again in the bottom of the inning with the team’s fourth homer of the night, a two-run shot into the bleachers in right-center.
The 420-foot shot made it 7-3.
Cortes pitched around a leadoff walk to start the game, a leadoff double by Dylan Moore in the second and a base hit to open the third.
Much like Clarke Schmidt on Tuesday, Cortes saw his pitch count escalate early.
He needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning and found himself at 74 pitches after three, when he stranded a pair of runners.
Cortes retired eight of his last nine batters before he gave way to Tommy Kahnle, who was making his first appearance of the season after missing time with shoulder inflammation.