Mariners lean heavily on Luis Castillo to squeeze past Pirates 1-0

It was a tense occasion inside T-Mobile Park, but the Mariners prevailed in large part due to Luis Castillo’s best start of the season.

Luis Castillo will be the first to admit he hasn’t been quite as effective as previous years, with him no longer really the same pitcher who dazzled during his first two seasons with the Seattle Mariners. However, for one night at least, he took fans down memory lane with probably his best performance of the 2025 campaign.

Castillo tied a season-high by going 7.0 innings, allowed just two hits and no walks, while also striking out a season-best eight batters. Most importantly of all though he didn’t give up a single run, as he threw 99 pitches in total.

The performance by the three-time All-Star was desperately needed as well, on a night when the Mariners managed just five hits. Their only run came courtesy of a RBI double by Ben Williamson in the bottom of the sixth, which brought Jorge Polanco home and provided the only scoring in a tight 1-0 win for the Mariners.

The Mariners did manage to manufacture five walks, with three of those coming for Cal Raleigh, who is going to find it tough to maintain his current home run pace if the lineup around him struggles. In any event, the night was all about the pitching, with Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz both pitching a shutout inning each to secure the win.

Luis Castillo the main man for the Mariners

However, there’s little denying Castillo was the headliner on the night at T-Mobile Park, with Mariners manager Dan Wilson raving about the righty. Speaking to the media postgame, Wilson said:

“We were in the fourth inning, and his pitch count wasn’t very high, so you knew that it was going to be a special night. And he just continued to attack. I thought he had all of his stuff working. His fastballs were great. And the secondaries were very good too. I thought he and Cal worked really well together tonight, just mixed and matched and just didn’t really allow them any kind of a threat.”

In a game where the Pirates only managed two hits and one walk, their best opportunity actually came in the opening inning when Andrew McCutchen absolutely belted a fastball off Castillo. However, there was Julio Rodríguez at the wall in center field to make a leaping catch which saved what at the very least looked like an extra bases hit.

That turned out to be the high point of the game for the Pirates, who never advanced a runner past first base. And again, Castillo was the main reason for this, as Wilson said:

“He is The Rock for a reason. And when you’re steady like that, and you have a firm foundation, it’s nice to be able to rest on that. And tonight, he was that foundation for us.”

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One of the more reliable members of the rotation

Castillo was the poorest member statistically in the Mariners’ ideal starting five last season, and he similarly has had his struggles at times this season. However, his 3.31 ERA and 1.2 WAR are both second behind Bryan Woo in the rotation so far in 2025 and for that he deserves at least some credit.

Whether we are going to see vintage Castillo moving forward or not remains to be seen, but he’s at least in a good frame of mind and body as of right now. Speaking through interpreter Freddy Llanos, he said:

“I feel like my body becomes stronger and helps me a lot. We’re at a certain point in the season where my body really feels good. … I think I can kind of locate my pitches where I want them at the velocity that I want.”

There will understandably be those who scoff at beating the Pirates twice, given that they’re bottom of the NL Central standings. However, this is a Pirates team which has played a lot tougher since Don Kelly replaced Derek Shelton as manager, with the team winning six straight games prior to arriving in Seattle.

In any event the Mariners improve to 47-42 and although they remain 7.0 games behind the Houston Astros at the top of the division, they do maintain a 2.5 game advantage for the final wild card spot in the AL. They will now aim to complete the series sweep on Sunday afternoon, by sending George Kirby to the mound.

Photos court​‌esy of Tim Rodgers Photography

Is Saturday night a sign that Castillo is going to return to his form of previous years on a more consistent basis moving forward? Pending the Mariners qualifying for the playoffs, do you have him in your preferred starting three rotation? Let us know in the comments section below.