Mariners win Athletics series and regain top spot in AL West

The Seattle Mariners beat the Athletics 8-4 in the series finale, thanks to masterful performances from Luis Castillo and Julio Rodríguez.

There will be people who wonder what the big deal is in the Seattle Mariners beating the Oakland Athletics in a best-of-three series at home? That their divisional rivals are just 19-23 on the season and have a run differential of -32.

However, the reality is that this version of the Athletics is better than people expected. After starting the 2024 season with a 1-7 record and -30 run differential, they had entered the Mariners series on a run of 17-13 in their past 30 games.

Regardless, all that matters is that you beat the ball club in front of you, which the Mariners did in taking two out of three games at T-Mobile Park. This included a 8-4 win on Sunday afternoon, in the rubber match.

The Mariners came out firing offensively — still too much of a rarity thus far this season — with five runs in the opening couple of innings. This included four in the bottom of the second, to blow the game wide open.

A bit more like the real Julio Rodríguez

Four different players contributed RBIs on the five runs, but the most significant was the two-run blast by Julio Rodríguez. It represented just his second homer of the year and the first at home.

Rodríguez would produce another hit on the day and while he still has some way to go to return closer to what he’s truly capable of, at least it’s a start. Overall the Mariners produced eight hits, as well as eight+ runs for just the fourth time in 41 games so far this year.

Manager Scott Servais was understandably happy with the offense in general, and Rodriguez specifically. Speaking to the media after the game, he said:

“Our offense showed up today. Put good pressure on them early, got some big hits, home runs. I think I mentioned it last night, I really liked where Julio was headed. His timing looks so much better and we saw it today.”

Rodríguez also spoke to the media about his performance. He said:

“You’ve got to stay patient and let the results come and I feel like today was the day and I’m really happy about that, that I was able to help the team win.”

At the same time, the two-time All-Star knows he still needs to be better, which is refreshing to hear from someone who has already accomplished so much this early into his Major League career. He said:

“I’ve been putting all the work in and doing everything I can possibly do. But sometimes, you think that you’re doing everything, but then the game shows you ‘OK, you need to do a little bit more.’ And that’s kind of where I’m at.”

Servais is appreciative of the challenges his budding superstar centerfielder is going to have to contend with throughout his career. He said:

“With him, it’s understanding how teams are going to pitch him. They’re not going to lay the first one in there for him. They’re going to challenge him. You have to earn your pitches to hit by laying off the bad ones.”

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Luis Castillo is back

Another player looking more like his usual self, is Luis Castillo. Following a worrying 0-4 record in his first four starts when he had a 5.82 ERA and 1.662 WHIP, he’s turned things around significantly.

Versus the Athletics on Sunday, Castillo pitched 6.0 innings and allowed just seven hits, no walks and two earned runs. He also struck out eight, which was one off his season high.

As with Rodríguez, the three-time All-Star righty did not let his tough start to the season get him down. Speaking through an interpreter, he said:

“The beginning of the season, sometimes it’s a little cold. I didn’t let that get to me. I stayed focused and I knew better times were going to come. “I just worked on what I could.”

In his past five starts, Castillo has an outstanding 1.65 ERA and 0.765 WHIP. All of the talk that he is on the downside of his Major League career, seems to be a tad premature.

Returning to the offense, they still have work to do. Following Sunday’s slate of action, they are ranked just 24th in runs, 25th in batting average and 25th in OPS.

However, at least they saw some improvement versus the Athletics, with 17 combined runs in the three games, albeit one where they just scored one. As Servais said:

“A lot of things coming together offensively in this series. We had a couple of really good games.”

Next up, the Mariners will continue their homestand with a three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals. George Kirby will take the mound on Monday night, with a 3-3 record, 4.15 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.038 WHIP and four quality starts in his previous eight outings this year.

How encouraged are you following the Athletics series, with effectively one quarter of the 2024 regular season now completed? Are you optimistic about the Seattle Mariners’ chances of qualifying for the playoffs, or do you have any specific ongoing concerns? Let us know in the comments section below.