SEATTLE -- A.J. Burnett looked as if he was finally going to snap a lengthy road losing streak. It appeared Nick Swisher had hit his first homer in a month.

Neither happened Friday night, and the New York Yankees long West Coast road trip started with a dud.

New York relievers Boone Logan and Luis Ayala failed to hold a one-run lead, and Franklin Gutierrez made a sterling catch at the wall to rob Swisher of a homer in the Seattle Mariners 4-3 win over the Yankees.

Seattle scored twice in the sixth inning off the combo of Logan and Ayala, as the Mariners scored all four runs on infield groundouts in winning for the ninth time in 11 games and getting back to .500 for the first time since April 4.

The Yankees dropped one-game back of Boston in the AL East with the loss.

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Burnett had thrown only 97 pitches through five innings, and was pulled in favor of the bullpen. But Burnett had allowed a walk, single and double in his final inning of work.

"That's not my decision. We have guys in the bullpen for a reason. Unfortunately I can't control that," Burnett said. "A lot of walks; and I'm sure the 97 pitches had something to do with that."

Mark Teixeira homered in the first inning on a 3-2 fastball from Seattle rookie Michael Pineda, but the Yankees offense could only manage Curtis Granderson's run in the fifth on a wild pitch and Alex Rodriguez's RBI single. Seattle reliever David Pauley (3-0) worked two scoreless innings of relief and closer Brandon League pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save in 16 chances.

Swisher could have used a homer to help his confidence. He went hitless in 13 at-bats on the Yankees recent homestand, but it looked as if he was going to get his first homer since May 7 in the fourth inning with a deep drive to right-center field.

Gutierrez was shaded to left-center, but sprinted to the warning track and in full stride leaped at the fence to rob Swisher and end the inning.

"Any ball to center field here it looks like somebody puts a parachute on it," Swisher said. "When I hit it I was like 'at least a double' and then Michael Jordan came over there and robbed me."

Burnett allowed two runs and four hits, but he also struggled with his control, giving up a season-high five walks and striking out six. Seattle scored twice in the fifth off Burnett, who hasn't won on the road since July 28, 2010.

Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan led off with a single and went to third on a sliced double by Suzuki just inside the bag at third. Luis Rodriguez grounded out off the foot of Burnett to score Ryan and Justin Smoak followed with a high chopper of the plate to score Suzuki.

Burnett escaped that jam with the lead, but his bullpen couldn't make it stand. Adam Kennedy opened the sixth with a single off Logan, a lefty who specifically came in to face Kennedy. He was replaced by Ayala (1-1), who gave up a single to Miguel Olivo and walked Carlos Peguero on four pitches.

Ryan then hit a slow chopper to short that allowed Kennedy to score and beat out the possible double play. Suzuki did nearly the same with another slow roller to Derek Jeter, who threw out Suzuki at first but watched Olivo score the go ahead run. Ayala hit Luis Rodriguez with a pitch, but finally got out of the inning by striking out Smoak.

"Every one of them has an important job. No matter when you pitch, it's important," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We're going to need every one of them to contribute."

Teixeira was the catalyst for most of New York's offense. His homer in the first was his 14th of the season and came after he battled back from a 1-2 count and caught Pineda trying to sneak a fastball past the slugger. In the fifth, Teixeira got the Yankees second hit that sent Granderson to third. Olivo then failed to block Pineda's curveball in the dirt that Alex Rodriguez swung and missed. The ball bounced to the backstop and Granderson scored. Rodriguez then lined a single just in front of Gutierrez to score Teixeira.

"I think his pitch count was up around 100 in the fifth inning so we did our job as hitters and put three runs up on the board," Swisher said of facing Pineda. "But we let it slip away from us."

Notes

• NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell threw out the first pitch as part of African-American heritage night. He spent a good deal of the pregame talking with Reggie Jackson.
• Seattle 3B Chone Figgins was given the night off. Manager Eric Wedge said it was a pre-planned decision and not entirely based on Figgins going 2 for 27 on Seattle's past road trip.
• New York began Friday night with the fewest road games (18) played in the majors this season.