Mariners outlast Rangers for series win in Texas, jumping back into first place
ARLINGTON, Texas – The uppercut fist pump from Luis Castillo has become a trademark celebration after striking a hitter out.
Given his propensity for punch outs, Castillo seems to have developed levels of fist pumps based on the intensity of the upper cut and length of the post-punch pose that can vary depending on the drama of the moment.
So with his pitch count over the 100-pitch mark and his internal tank of energy running of fumes, Castillo emptied what was left with a perfectly placed 97-mph fastball on the outside corner of the plate to freeze Evan Carter for a called strike three, ending the sixth inning.
“When you’re a top-end rotation starter in this league, that’s how you become that guy,” M’s manager Scott Servais said.
Castillo gave an exaggerated fist pump and held it a tick longer than usual. He earned the moment.
For six innings, he battled the Rangers’ potent lineup, working through some early command issues, surviving plenty of hard contact and fighting the entire way to provide his team a much-needed quality start en route to a 4-3 victory and a series win over the defending World Series champions.
The Mariners (13-12) finished the road trip with a 4-2 record and sit atop the American League West standings with a half-game lead over the Rangers (13-13). They head home to open a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks – the team Rangers defeated in the World Series.
“Really good road trip,” Servais said. “Really proud of the guys. We got the offense going in Colorado and certainly our pitching here in this series. And timely homers, they work.”
Castillo pitched six innings, allowing the two runs – both off solo homers – on four total hits with two walks and six strikeouts to improve to 2-4 on the season.
“They were really grinding him,” Servais said. “They took a lot of edge pitches, close pitches to get his pitch count up. I was concerned we’d maybe only get five out of him. He was able get through the fifth really quick and then very efficient through the six as well.”
After struggling in his first three starts of the season, posting a 0-3 record with a 6.89 ERA and allowing 25 hits in 15⅔ innings pitched, Castillo has returned to his expected form.
Over his past three starts, he’s posted a 2-1 record with a 1.89 ERA, allowing just four earned runs in 19 innings pitched with 24 strikeouts and only three walks.
The Mariners jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. With J.P. Crawford placed on the injured list, Julio Rodriguez returned to the top of the batting order in the leadoff spot. He started off the game with a crisp single to center off Andrew Heaney. Would he be stranded like so many runners the game before?
Nope.
Ty France finally found some of that new-dad strength, sending a fly ball over the wall in right field for his first homer of the season. In years past, the bulk of France’s were to left field on pulled pitches. That his first homer went to right field is something he credited to his offseason swing changes at Driveline Baseball.
“It tells me my bat path is in a good spot right now, especially when I hit a ball that well to the opposite field,” he said. “We’ve made a lot of adjustments, a lot of tweaks. It’s starting to feel pretty good.”
The Rangers answered in the bottom of the inning with their first homer off Castillo. Nathaniel Lowe pulled a 1-2 slider at the bottom of the strike zone into a line drive that landed in the bullpen to cut the lead in half.
Texas briefly tied the game in fourth when Josh Smith hit a first-pitch fastball over the middle, pulling a solo homer into the right-field seats.
“We were attacking the batters with my best pitches,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “The two homers weren’t the locations I wanted.”
But the Mariners answered in the top of the fifth. Dylan Moore led off with a double and Luis Urias ripped a two-run homer into the left-field seats. Urias, who had to be removed from the opening game of Sunday’s doubleheader after being hit on the hand with a fastball, hadn’t played in the series.
“It’s been hard,” he said. “I’ve never been in this spot before. But it’s not about me, it’s about the team. I show up trying to stay positive, trying to go through my routine. Even if I’m not in the lineup. I know I can get into the game in the seventh or eighth. So I just try to stay ready.”
Given the lead again, Castillo made sure it held up even with his pitch limit looming. He came back with a shutdown 1-2-3 fifth and followed it up with another in the sixth.
Seattle gave a run back in the seventh with Ryne Stanek on the mound. Dylan Moore booted a one-out ground ball off the bat of Wyatt Langford to start the issues. Stanek came back to strike out Ezequiel Duran. But pinch-hitter Jonah Heim singled to left and Marcus Semien followed with an RBI single to center to trim the lead to one.
With the dangerous Corey Seager coming to the plate, Servais called on Gabe Speier to end the drama. Speier got ahead 1-2. He fired a fastball well above the zone on which Seager tried to check his swing. Home-plate umpire Jordan Baker appealed to third-base ump Dan Merzel, who rung up Seager for strike three.
Speier came back to pitch a scoreless eighth and Andres Munoz had an easy 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.
“Gabe Speier, wow,” Servais said. “He’s been a savior for us.”
After going winless in Globe Life last season and struggling against Texas, taking a series vs. the Rangers mattered for many reasons.
“I thought this was a really important series,” Servais said. “Obviously, they won the World Series last year. We know them very well. They are in our division and we needed to come out and play well in this series. I didn’t know if we’d win it or not. But I just thought how we played was really important to kind of establish: ‘This is who we are.’ We have a little bit different team this year. And we’re very hungry. I’ve talked about that in spring training. We can talk about it all you want, but you need to go and show it. I thought we did that in this series.””