For a flash, a flicker of hope.

In the end, the ball would leave Cole Young’s bat and fall rather harmlessly into Aaron Judge’s glove in right field, the final out of the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.

Even if for a mere moment, though, the outcome had the potential to be so much more as Young worked through a 10-pitch battle against David Bednar, the Yankees’ veteran closer.

And yet, for most of the afternoon, it also appeared so much worse for the Mariners offense, shut down for 16 straight innings in another lethargic approach against a Yankees starter.

Cal Raleigh, amidst a dreadful start to his season, delivered the first glint of hope of a comeback with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, bringing the Mariners within 4-2.

With two outs in the ninth and Dom Canzone at second base, Young strode to the plate as the potential tying run. Given Young’s hot start to the season, one couldn’t help but think he might deliver.

It didn’t happen this time.

But the 22-year-old second baseman’s emergence has perhaps been the most positive development of the first week of the season for the Mariners. Young’s final at-bat serves as something of a minor win in the eyes of M’s manager Dan Wilson, who is wont to see the bright side of things even in the darkest of outcomes.

“It really typifies the way this team fights and fights you till the end,” Wilson said. “And to see that from Cole … he’s really starting to feel the confidence and I think really starting to feel the flow here a little bit. And it’s really great to see from such a young player.”

Young singled earlier in the game, finishing the first homestand hitting .320 with an .866 OPS. He’s also made several highlight plays defensively, including a jump-throw to first off a backhanded play earlier Wednesday.

A hot start from Young and the M’s support cast – Canzone, Brendan Donovan, Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena – has helped the sluggishness from the heart of the lineup.

Raleigh is showing some positive signs – a walkoff hit Monday and Wednesday’s eighth-inning spark.

Julio Rodríguez is trending toward another early-season slog. He followed Raleigh’s two-run single by striking out on a Bednar splitter, stranding two runners to end the eighth.

Josh Naylor finished the first week with one hit in 27 at-bats.

“Obviously,” Wilson said, “we’ve got some adjustments to make offensively, and we will do that.”

Shut out by Yankees ace Max Fried on Tuesday, the Mariners had just two hits off Cam Schlittler on Wednesday afternoon.

Schlittler stymied the Mariners with three variations of a fastball – a four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter, all in the mid- to upper-90s. He had no walks and seven strikeouts over 61/3 innings, retiring the final 16 batters he faced.

Yankees pitchers largely dominated Mariners hitters in the series, holding the M’s to five total runs to win two of three in the first meeting of the season between two teams with designs on a deep October run.

“We just weren’t able to barrel anything up,” Wilson said.

The Mariners (3-4) have an off day Thursday before beginning their first road trip of the season Friday in Anaheim, California.

“The pitching was outstanding for us as we got started,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of positives we can draw from this home stand, and that’s what we’ll take with us on the road.”

The Yankees led 1-0 for much of the afternoon until George Kirby left a fastball over the middle of the plate to Paul Goldschmidt, who hammered it for a back-breaking three-run homer in the sixth inning.

That wasted what up to that point had been a quality start from Kirby.

Kirby issued three walks, all of which came around to score. No one loathes free passes more than Kirby, so to lose largely because of them was especially surprising.

“It’s just so critical to get in the zone, make guys beat you,” he said. “It just stinks. I felt really good that whole game. Just two walks there in the sixth and then the homer – it really stinks.”

After the M’s pulled within 4-2 in the eighth, Yankees cleanup hitter Ben Rice belted a leadoff homer in the top of the ninth off Cooper Criswell to extend New York’s lead to three.

Canzone drove in Arozarena from second base with two outs in the ninth to bring the Mariners within 5-3.