Luis Castillo’s day went from great to poor and the Mariners defense had one of their worst performances of the season in 9-6 loss to the White Sox.
Earlier in the Chicago series, we wrote if there was ever a game not to criticize the Mariners, it was Monday’s 3-2 loss. The exact opposite applied in Wednesday’s 9-6 defeat, which clinched the series for the White Sox.
Everything was going well for Seattle on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, with a 4-0 lead after three innings. They were firmly in control against the White Sox in the rubber match.
Castillo on fire early
Luis Castillo had set a franchise record with seven consecutive strikeouts to begin the game. Eugenio Suarez had his first of two home runs, on a day which would be marked by his 1,000th Major League hit.
Then it all started to go wrong in the top of the fourth. After appearing to end the half inning with a double play, a replay review overturned the final out.
Given another opportunity, the White Sox took immediate advantage. Eloy Jimenez hit a first pitch slider into the stands for two RBIs and Chicago was back in the game, trailing just 4-2.
Suddenly, Castillo’s imposing presence was no more. The re-energized White Sox scored four runs in the top of the sixth and he was removed with still one out remaining.
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It represented a stunning turn of events for the two-time All-Star. It was his second below-average outing in seven starts since his trade from Cincinnati.
On the day, Castillo threw 92 pitches — 61 of them for strikes — in 5.2 innings. He allowed five hits, six runs — three earned — and one walk, while striking out eight.
A despondent Catillo summed up his performance afterwards to the media. Speak through team interpreter Freddy Llanos, he said:
“I mean that’s just kind of part of baseball. Sometimes there are bad moments, sometimes there are good moments. A lot of times there are more good moments than anything. We just have to turn the page and just look forward to the next outing.”
Poor defense by Mariners
What didn’t help Castillo and the Mariners in general, was an uncharacteristically sloppy game from the defense. They had three errors on Wednesday afternoon, which resulted in a season-high six unearned runs.
For some context, consider that Seattle had committed just 40 errors in 136 games prior to the rubber match with Chicago. This was good enough to rank first in the Majors.
The trio of costly errors came courtesy of Suarez in the sixth, Curt Casali in the eighth and Chris Flexen in the ninth. Interestingly for such a usually technically solid team, this is the third time this season Seattle has committed three errors in a game.
The offense has been renowned for their inconsistency this season. As such, it is ironic the defense was so mistake-prone on a day when the bats were pretty effective.
The Mariners’ six runs came on eight hits, with Suarez leading the way with his two-hit, three RBI performance. The other RBIs came courtesy of usual suspects Julio Rodriguez, Ty France and Mitch Haniger.
No hiding from the mistakes
Manager Scott Servais didn’t attempt to sugar-coat what happened. Speaking afterwards to the media, he said:
“Not your typical 2022 Mariners game today. We did some things that were very uncharacteristic of our ball club and certainly the White Sox took advantage of them … We’ve played very clean baseball for the most part. You’re gonna have rough days – today was one of them. We made some mistakes and it wasn’t just one. We made a couple of different ones that hurt us in this ballgame.”
If nothing else, the Mariners had a much-needed rest day on Thursday. Now, they have the not-so-small matter of a three-game home series versus the World Series champion Atlanta Braves.
Seattle will ride a red-hot Robbie Ray on Friday in Seattle, as they attempt to strike first in the series. They enter the night with a tenuous hold on the second AL wild card spot, albeit five games ahead of those on the outside looking in.
Any significant concern about the manner in which the Mariners lost the series against the White Sox? Or do you just see it as one of those minor blips with no long-term impact on the remainder of this season? Let us know in the comments section below.
