Luis Castillo picks the wrong time to allow a season-worst eight hits and the Mariners offense wastes several opportunities, as Athletics take the series.
If there’s one fan base in professional sports which never takes anything for granted, it’s the Mariners. Similarly, they often except something to go wrong, even when all seems good in the world.
Don’t take that as meaning this particular writer is predicting Seattle will definitely miss out on the postseason once more. However, as Sunday proved, it’s going to be touch and go pretty much the rest of the way this year.
The Mariners theoretically should have done better against an Athletics team with the worst record in the AL. Instead, Oakland won the rubber match 5-3 and took the series.
A bad time for worst start of the year
To help with the narrative, consider that Seattle’s most reliable pitcher was a significant reason they lost on Sunday afternoon. Luis Castillo truly picked the wrong time to allow a season-high eight hits.
Yes, no one could have expected Castillo to maintain his hot start with the Mariners indefinitely. However, even a decent outing from him on Sunday conceivably would have been enough to help the team win.
Instead, the two-time All-Star gave up three runs in the opening two innings, to put Seattle in an early hole. He would eventually leave after five innings; his shortest outing as a Mariner and second-shortest of the season.
The four earned runs Castillo allowed, also tied a season-high. He would throw 86 pitches on the day, walking one batter and striking out five.
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In fairness, credit has to go to the Athletics as well, for how aggressive they were with Castillo. Six of Oakland’s eight hits came against his fastball or sinker, as he struggled with his command.
Sunday’s outing ended the 29-year-old’s run of eight consecutive quality starts. The last time he failed to pitch six innings was back on June 22 with the Reds, against the Dodgers.
Castillo admitted he wasn’t in 100% rhythm all day and accepted his share of the responsibility. Speaking through his interpreter, Mariners bench coach Manny Acta, he said:
“Not every day is going to be a great one, but you have to deal with it. I put myself in those situations with those counts … (I) went through the secondary pitches once (I) saw how aggressive they were. (I) still feel that it could have been worse, and I came out of there with the game still reachable.”
Offense repeatedly comes up short
While a 4-1 deficit when Castillo left wasn’t the easiest of situations to recover from, there was still some truth in what he was saying. After all, this is team which never knows when it’s beaten.
At the same time however, the offense was not quite the same as the one seen in Anaheim and the first game of the Athletics series. Despite manufacturing nine hits and four walks, Seattle left 18 men on base.
This included going just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Mariners did get to within 4-3 in the top of the seventh, thanks to RBIs from pinch hitter Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez, but it wasn’t enough.
Arguably the best chance the Mariners wasted, came in the top of the eighth. They got runners on first and third with just one out, but neither J.P. Crawford or Dylan Moore were able to take advantage.
Afterwards, manager Scott Servais focused on the fighting spirit of his players, while acknowledging how well the Athletics played. He said:
“We competed our tails off. This team has no quit. We did the same thing today, we did not quit. Our guys find a way to get that tying run at the plate multiple times there late in the game … but not our day. You can probably say more frustrating than anything else. We needed a few things to go our way, but they played very good and swung the bats well.”
With the combination of other results on Sunday, the Mariners dropped to the third wild card spot in the AL. Things remain as tight as ever, with six teams in contention and the Red Sox lurking.
The Mariners now return home for a short six-game home stand, beginning on Tuesday with two against the Nationals. Washington has the worst record in the Majors, but as always with Seattle, they can’t take anything for granted.
Do you have any concern it’s going to be another case of ‘same old Mariners’ come season’s end? Or are you confident they will finally end their playoff drought? Let us know in the comments section below.
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