SEATTLE — First, Jacoby Ellsbury led them to a lead. Then he left the Yankees in the latter innings.
If the right hip problem that forced Ellsbury out of Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Mariners in front of 40,596 at Safeco Field lingers, the Yankees’ three-game sweep will have come with an expensive price tag.
“It tightened up after I hit the wall,’’ said Ellsbury, who robbed Robinson Cano of at least an extra-base hit and possibly a two-run homer in the fifth with a leaping catch in center. When he bounced off the padded wall, Ellsbury crashed to the warning track. “It continued through the [eighth-inning] at-bat. I’m not concerned. I expect to play [Friday]. It was more preventive than anything.’’
Ellsbury remained in the game until the home seventh.
When the Yankees pulled into the jewel of a ballpark Tuesday, they had lost seven of 10, were 6½ games out of first place and on the cusp of quickly becoming irrelevant in the pedestrian AL East.
Three straight victories over the mild-hitting Mariners and the Yankees (34-31) are 3½ games back of the first-place Blue Jays, and will open a three-game series against the A’s Friday night in Oakland. The 40-26 A’s have the best record in the American League.
Ellsbury hit a two-run homer in the first to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. A similar hip problem surfaced Monday, when he wasn’t in the lineup for a game that was rained out in Kansas City.
Brett Gardner, who moved from left to center, denied Mike Zunino an extra-base hit in the seventh with a leaping catch in the same area Ellsbury made his play on Cano. Gardner turned his back to the plate for a few seconds as if the ball went out, and then threw it back toward the infield.
“I waited a couple of seconds … keep [Chase] Whitley on his toes,’’ Gardner said.
Whitley was the beneficiary of the Yankees’ highest run output in 13 games. The rookie right-hander doesn’t push speed guns much past the low 90s, but paints the corners and has an improving slider. In his sixth major league start, Whitley, a converted reliever, worked 7²/₃ innings, allowed two runs, five hits, didn’t walk a batter and fanned six.
He is 2-0 with a 2.41 ERA.
The Yankees are 21-8 in games started by rookie hurlers — 5-1 with Whitley. They are 15-1 on the road — 5-0 with Whitley.
In his final regular-season game at Safeco Field, Derek Jeter went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and was 7-for-12 in the three-game sweep.
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When Jeter came to the plate in the ninth, what was left of the large crowd gave him a standing ovation. After grounding out, Jeter received another ovation and waved toward the seats when he neared the dugout.
“I feel good. All you have to do is keep battling,’’ Jeter said. “This game is difficult all the time. You go through periods where you make adjustments, I don’t care if it’s your first year or 20th. There are always adjustments.’’
With a four-run lead in the ninth, manager Joe Girardi summoned Shawn Kelley, who made his first appearance since coming off the disabled list Wednesday. He gave up back-to-back one-out doubles and Girardi then brought in David Robertson. Two strikeouts later, Robertson had his 16th save in 18 chances, and the Yankees had their first three-game sweep of the year.
“Three in a row and the Mariners were playing pretty well,’’ Gardner said. “We needed this.’’