Mariners: Sound pitching and luck lead to 6-2 win versus Angels

Luis Castillo delivers again for the Mariners, who beat the Angeles 6-2 in the series opener thanks to a four-run blitz in the ninth inning.

There’s a long referenced saying that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. If anything though, the Mariners were both on Monday night during their series opener against the Angels.

Starting with the good, let’s focus on Luis Castillo, who had his third quality start in three appearances for Seattle. He was outstanding – a necessity considering Los Angeles had their own start pitcher on the mound in Shohei Ohtani.

While critics would argue Castillo wasn’t as crisp as his first two starts for the Mariners, it ultimately doesn’t matter. In six innings, he allowed just six hits and one walk, while striking out nine.

Most important of all, the two-time All-Star gave up only two earned runs. And the fact it was even two wasn’t really his fault.

Luis Rengifo hit what was ultimately ruled a solo home run by reply video. However, the deep blast would have been caught by Julio Rodriguez — who briefly had the ball in his glove — if he and Mitch Haniger hadn’t collided at the wall.

Regardless, Castillo edged Ohtani in the pitching duel, with the latter also leaving the game after six innings. On the day, the Mariners ace threw 109 pitches.

Rising to the occasion

Castillo has now faced star pitchers in all three of his starts for Seattle, including twice against the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole. Asked about his mentality in these situations, speaking through a translator he said:

“I’ve had that luck that I’ve had to go up against three stellar pitchers and when I know I’m going up against these (elite) pitchers it inspires me to better. I’m always going out there with the mentality that, if you’re good, so am I.”

Castillo also gave an insightful response, when asked about his response to precarious situations on the mound. He said:

“There’s various situations in the game; there’s normal situations and there’s situations where things can get a little tough. For me it’s just a mentality of just enjoying the game and the moment and just doing my job out there.”

After Castillo left, the quality continued with the bullpen trio of Diego Castillo, Andres Munoz and Paul Sewald. Each pitched an inning and they combined to allow just two hits, no walks and zero runs.

The Mariners bullpen continues to rank among the very best in the Major. Following Monday night’s action, they rank second with a 1.09 WHIP and are tied second with a .210 batting average; they are also eighth with a 3.39 ERA.

Mariners offense takes advantage of good fortune

However, it doesn’t matter how good your pitching is if you have no offense, as evidenced in losing Sunday’s series finale in Texas. In this respect, Seattle did improve on that paltry effort of four hits, by manufacturing nine versus Los Angeles.

As mentioned earlier though, some luck was required as the ball clubs entered the ninth inning tied at 2-2. It started after Sam Haggerty had reached base with a single.

After the Angels’ Aaron Loup threw a pitch in the dirt, Max Stassi hurriedly aimed the ball towards second base but missed his target. Stassi anticipated Haggerty stealing second, but the catcher’s panic allowed the latter to advance with ease.

Haggerty them managed to steal third, during Carlos Santana’s at bat. What came next proved to be another significant break for the Mariners.

In an extremely rare occurrence, home plate umpire Laz Diaz walked Santana on three balls instead of four. Diaz admitted after the game that he lost count.

Haggerty with heads up play

Dylan Moore then pinch hit for Santana, as Rodriguez came to the plate. The Mariners’ All-Star subsequently hit a line drive that Rengifo was unable to catch.

Rengifo did recover to throw the ball to home, meaning Haggerty was now in a rundown. Stassi made the mistake of leaving home plate and throwing to third, with the evasive Haggerty taking advantage of the ensuing bedlam to score and make it 3-2 Seattle.

Haggerty gave an intriguing take on what he was thinking as the situation played out, when speaking to the media. He said:

“I get to second and the timing of it all felt right. The throwaway, Loup is relatively slow to the plate. There’s one out, there’s a right-handed hitter. Everything kind of aligned to attempt third base and I successfully got that. Then the chaos happened. Julio hits the line drive, I freeze to not get doubled up. I see the ball drop, my first thought was keep us in the inning and stop the double play. So I tried to get a throw home. They threw it home and now I’m trying to stay in the rundown to get Dylan to third and Julio to second, to give us another chance. I turn my head and don’t see anybody at home plate, so I went for it.”

The chaos continued on the next two runs by the Mariners, which made the score 5-2. Moore got a run after a tag was dropped at home plate, followed by Rodriguez easily scoring after a Jesse Winker ground out to shallow infield.

Things then returned to normal, as J.P. Crawford hit a single and Ty France scored to make it 6-2. This would be the final run in what was a very surreal top of the ninth.

Afterwards, manager Scott Servais did his best to sum up the unusual final inning, while also acknowledging that luck played a part. He said:

“(Haggerty) steals third and then everything gets crazy after that. We needed to catch a few breaks there at the end, but you’ve got to take advantage of them … we got fortunate, but we put pressure on (the Angels) and forced them to make plays. They weren’t able to make them and it allowed us to get the W, so it’s a good way to start the series.”

Seattle moved up the first wild card spot in the AL with the victory, but it’s still an extremely tight situation in the standings. They must continue to find ways to win, whether it be in a conventional manner or similar to how it happened on Monday night.

What impressed you about the Mariners’ win on Monday night? Do you expect them to now go on to win the series, or does the outcome against the Rangers leave you in doubt? Let us know in the comments section below.