On sing-along fireworks night, the Seattle Mariners treated their fans to the most satisfying display of firepower they’ve mustered in nearly three weeks. It was a 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians that featured everything that’s been missing from their grisly recent spate of play, while building on what’s nearly clicked game after game.
On the hill, it was Luis Castillo, bouncing back from an unlucky and ill-timed clunker in Anaheim last weekend to post his fifth Quality Start in six games. The Rock has not been an ace in 2024, but his consistency of decency has been a no-religion-send in a season where Seattle’s rotation has been bludgeoned like a piñata. Sometimes the stat line doesn’t tell the story, but it’s almost impeccable on Castillo Friday night. Despite the two solo shots that put the M’s in an early 2-0 hole, the 32 year old had some of his best stuff on display on a classic Seattle June-uary night. Things never felt out of control, or even particularly threatening, and a pair of double plays in the 5th and 6th allowed the veteran to calmly hand the well-rested, extra fortified bullpen a game they could handle. Clearly, postgame, the weight of ending the losing streak was a responsibility Castillo shouldered personally:
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. It was all about going out there and battling, that’s what we did. I was trying to go battle and give everything I had. I want to thank God we were able to get rid of that bad streak that we had, and credit to this team that we’re able to put up some good at-bats and get us out of it.”
While The Rock was denied a statistical win, his handiwork contrasted his counterpart meaningfully. While both ballclubs had an off day Thursday, Guardians starter Gavin Williams exposed his bullpen early with exceptionally inefficient pitching. Saved by some snazzy glovework and inopportune sequencing, the early innings were telling a familiar story to Seattle’s moribund road trip, littering runners on base each inning out of the windows of their carriage.
The comeback began with a bang, as Rowdy Tellez attempted to atone for coming up empty with the bases loaded in the first inning by clobbering a solo shot to halve Cleveland’s lead. It seemed like Ben Williamson’s current stretch of solid hitting might see his latest effort spoiled as his one-out double turned into a two-out spectatorship from third base, just as Julio had experienced the inning before, and Williamson again the inning before that, and all of Rowdy’s disappointed ducks on the pond back in the first.
J.P. Crawford delivered. Instead of another near miss, the M’s shortstop delivered one of the biggest games of his vital bounce-back season. An opposite field RBI single laid the theme for the night, as Seattle wore out the left field corner over the coming frames against a Cleveland bullpen that was called into action by the start of the 5th. Crawford cracked a double there in the sixth but was stranded, but the seventh at last saw the wave of offense crest over the Guardians’ defenses. Cal Raleigh walked, then scooted to third on a Jorge Polanco double to that same exposed corner. Both watched with bated breath alongside 34,378 compatriots in attendance and many more as Randy Arozarena lashed a line drive seemingly destined to be snagged if the weeks prior were to be precedent.
But prologues are not epilogues, and this story has a happier ending. Arozarena found outfield grass, then swiped second for his 12th stolen base in as many tries. That bit of banditry prevented a Rowdy Tellez grounder from being a double play, and allowed Dominic Canzone to come up huge in a moment he might not have a season or two ago.
The frail, 0-2 swing Canzone offered is not exactly the thing of legends. It was, however, contact, “fighting for your at-bat with two strikes,” as Dan Wilson put it postgame. The bat on the ball with runners on second and third afforded the M’s a chance to score. In actuality, it broke open blessing after blessing. A 5-2 lead swelled to 6-2 on a Cole Young double after another B-Willy single. That allowed Matt Brash to pitch the 8th, working through the top of the order and retiring Jose Ramirez, and with him the biggest threat for the rest of the night. An insurance run on a Jorge Polanco homer not only placed a fitting final explosion before the field was cleared postgame, it allowed Andrés Muñoz to make it home in time to feed Matilda a little early, with the game in Bazardo range.
34-34 isn’t the record I’d hoped the Mariners would be at right now. This is, however, the type of game I’d hoped they’d play. 16 hits and pressuring the opponent in every facet of the game, while playing largely unblemished ball and limiting opposing opportunities. That’s a team worth tuning back in for.
