SEATTLE _ Austin Romine has never set the bar particularly high for himself at the plate.
Behind the plate, yes.
Standing next to it, bat in hand? Not so much.
"I know why I'm in there," Romine has said many times, referencing his defensive abilities.
But he also accepted a challenge thrown his way during spring training by new manager Aaron Boone, who essentially said this: Don't be an automatic out. Romine has been anything but in what has been a breakout season offensively.
It continued Saturday night as the backup catcher slugged a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning in the Yankees' 4-2 victory over the Mariners in front of 38,733 at Safeco Field.
The Yankees (89-53) climbed within 7{ games of the AL East-leading Red Sox and stayed 3{ games ahead of the A's for the top wild-card slot. They also lowered their magic number for clinching a wild card to 10.
Romine stepped in against right-hander Nick Vincent with one out in the seventh and drove a 2-and-2 fastball the other way to right for his 10th homer and a 3-2 lead. Previously, the most homers for Romine in a big-league season was four.
Lance Lynn, who had allowed a combined 19 earned runs in his previous four starts, pitched well, allowing two runs and three hits in six innings.
The Yankees' bullpen took it from there. Zach Britton struck out one in a perfect seventh and David Robertson struck out the side in a perfect eighth.
After Gleyber Torres' sacrifice fly in the ninth made it 4-2, Dellin Betances escaped big trouble in the ninth. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out on a leadoff double by Mitch Haniger, a hit batsman and a walk, but Betances struck out Denard Span and Kyle Seager to preserve the victory. He had fanned Jean Segura earlier in the inning.
Andrew McCutchen, off to a 1-for-17 start in his Yankees career before homering Friday night, led off the first inning Saturday night by driving a 1-and-2 change-up from Felix Hernandez down the left-field line. It was his 17th homer of the season overall.
Lynn pitched out a jam of his own making in the bottom half. With one out, Jean Segura hit a comebacker. Lynn moved to the right of the mound to field the ball, then fired wide and low in the direction of Luke Voit at first, missing badly. The two-base error put Segura on second. But Lynn got Robinson Cano to bounce back to the mound _ he easily threw out the former Yankee _ and Nelson Cruz to ground to third.
Lynn retired five straight after Segura reached base but grooved a first-pitch fastball to Mike Zunino to start the third, and the catcher's 19th homer tied it at 1-1.
The Yankees retook the lead in the fifth. Brett Gardner led off with a four-pitch walk and, with McCutchen up, stole second. McCutchen worked a walk and that was all for Hernandez, who signaled for the trainer after spiking a full-count curveball for ball four. Hernandez, who has struggled all season, left the game with tightness in his right hamstring. The former Cy Young Award winner, who came in 8-13 with a 5.55 ERA, allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits in four innings.
Right-hander Shawn Armstrong came on to face the slumping Giancarlo Stanton, in a 6-for-54 slide coming in. With the count 2-and-2, Zunino was charged with a passed ball that moved both runners up a base. Stanton's sacrifice fly to right brought in Gardner and put McCutchen on third, but Aaron Hicks lined into a double play to end the inning.
Kyle Seager opened the bottom of the fifth with a single and Ben Gamel grounded into a 5-4 forceout. Gamel went to second on Zunino's groundout and scored when Dee Gordon flared a 3-and-1 fastball to left to tie it at 2-2. Romine threw out Gordon trying to steal second for the third out.
