Mariners ride Luis Castillo’s near perfect game to a 1-0 win and sweep of Rockies
By Bel Garcia
Seattle, WA - There were some Sunday scaries in the Mariners win to sweep their series against the Colorado Rockies. Starting pitcher Luis Castillo was every bit of himself during today’s matinee match up, ou could feel T-Mobile Park hold their breath as he almost pitched a perfect game. The Mariners offense, however, was not on the same page as their pitcher. While they got some base hits, a lot of their advancements came on walks. The 1-0 score tells us all we need to know about this game, as it wasn’t a long ball Sunday.
Mariners first basemen Ty France slides home for Seattle’s only run of the game (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
JK Saves the Day
Jarred Kelenic continues to show improvement this season, as he held most of the energy that came from the Mariners batters. This started in the bottom of the fifth when Kelenic got walked. As AJ Pollock was batting, Kelenic stole second and with a throwing error from Rockies catcher Brian Serven, advanced to third base. Unfortunately, those that followed in the lineup could not bring Kelenic home, stranding a great opportunity to put a scoring run on the board. Kelenic’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth scored Ty France, giving the Mariners the lead and their only run of the game. This score was not out of reach for the Rockies, as their biggest threat of the game came in the seventh inning, which did end Luis Castillo’s outing. Things got interesting in the top of the eighth when Rockies shortstop Alan Trejo doubled on a sharp line drive. With two outs, the Mariners defense and reliever Justin Topa needed to hold on for just a bit longer. Colorado’s Elias Diaz connected on a hit that could have made this a whole new ball game. Lucky for the Mariners, Kelenic was everywhere he needed to be at the right time. With a dive and slide to catch the ball for the third out, JK came up big in big moments.
Seattle left fielder Jarred Kelenic slides into third base (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
It's Castillo’s Mound
Although the offense was not rewarding Luis Castillo’s great showing by scoring runs, watching Castillo pitch was a highlight of its own. Within only two inning he had four strikeouts to start the game and continued to apply pressure to the Rockies’ lineup. He had allowed no hits until the middle of the sixth, and when Jurickson Profar’s single ended what could have been, the stadium gave Castillo the standing ovation he deserved. He finished through the seventh inning with a line of seven innings pitched, two hits, zero runs, zero walks, and nine strikeouts. Both hits surrendered came in the top of the seventh, one being the Profar single, followed by a Kris Bryant single. Colorado did not score, but they did ruin a perfect game bid for Castillo.
It’s Luis Castillo’s mound, we’re all just bearing witness to his greatness (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)
The Rockies are 0-10 when the give up a homerun to their opponents, which they did not do in today’s game but suffered the loss anyway. It was costly throwing errors throughout the series that helped swing things in Seattle’s favor, giving them the sweep of the series to begin the homestand. With no rest in between series’, Seattle will welcome the Milwaukee Brewers to T-Mobile Park on Monday.
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Seattle celebrates the win, and the sweep over the Rockies (Photo by Mathew Bermudez)