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# 3 Up, 3 Down: Best and Worst Performances From Mariners’ Series Loss to Tigers
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/3-up-3-down-best-and-worst-performances-from-mariners-series-loss-to-tigers/
- Published: 2025-04-03T05:47:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:37:38.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Mariners, Luis Castillo, Victor Robles, Emerson Hancock, Mitch Garver, Rowdy Tellez

[Embed from Getty Images](http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2208186407?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com)

The Mariners officially wrapped up their first homestand of 2025 with a 3-2 win over the Tigers on Wednesday, salvaging a game to hit the road with a record of 3-4\. Here were the best and worst performances from the three games versus Detroit. 

# 3 UP

### Luis Castillo

On the brink of getting swept and facing defending American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal on the other end, the Mariners needed Castillo to be on his A-game and got just that on Wednesday. He gave them seven strong innings, not just going pound-for-pound with Skubal, but straight-up outdueling him with five strikeouts and just two earned runs allowed on five hits and a pair of walks. Given Castillo’s dreadful 5.57 FIP versus left-handed hitters in 2024, Detroit stacked five lefties in its lineup, though he managed to keep them at bay — for the most part. Two of the five lefties, Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney, drove in both of the Tigers’ runs off Castillo, but notorious Mariner-killer Kerry Carpenter went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against him, while Colt Keith and Zack McKinstry combined for a 1-for-6 afternoon with a strikeout and two walks. It wasn’t a big swing-and-miss day for Seattle’s veteran starter, generating just 10 whiffs on 51 swings, but he filled up the strike zone early and often, registering 24 first-pitch strikes in 28 at-bats, and kept the pressure on Detroit. With that, the Mariners were able to finish an otherwise mediocre homestand on a good note. 

### Victor Robles

Robles was the Mariners’ most consistent hitter across all three games in the series, which is, to be fair, a relatively low bar to clear, but he certainly made an impact. He went a combined 3-for-13 with a pair of doubles and as many runs driven in, recording Seattle’s only hit in Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss and drawing first blood on Skubal with a two-run double to left-center field on Wednesday. Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come for the Mariners’ leadoff man, who’s been middling at the plate through the first week of the season after a breakout year in 2024\. 

### The Mariners’ Bullpen

As a result of Emerson Hancock’s blowup start in the series opener on Monday, the Mariners’ bullpen was tasked with covering 8.1 innings and fared about as well as one could hope for given the circumstances. Tayler Saucedo, Collin Snider, Carlos Vargas, and Eduard Bazardo combined to finish the rest of the game, giving up just three earned runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and a trio of walks. Vargas’ contributions were especially critical as the 25-year old, potentially staring down a trip to the waiver wire if things went sideways, ate up 3.2 innings of the work and essentially played the biggest role in Seattle being able to save its high-leverage arms for the remainder of the series. That paid huge dividends particularly on Wednesday as Gabe Speier, coming off a strong eight-pitch appearance the day before, was able to go again and put the Tigers’ 2-3-4 hitters away in the eighth inning of a one-run ballgame. 

# 3 DOWN

### Emerson Hancock

What else can be said that hasn’t been already about Hancock’s brutal start? It was abysmal and it didn’t take long to see where things were headed, kicking off with three consecutive hard-hit balls and a quick 2-0 lead for the Tigers. Things continued to unravel from that point forward and the concerns about Hancock’s inability to put hitters away combined with his high hard-hit rates and low groundball percentages came to a head. He was only able to get two outs before getting the hook and one of them was purely due to a baffling baserunning error by Carpenter. As a result, Hancock was optioned down to Triple-A Tacoma the following day and may not get another opportunity to start in the absence of George Kirby (shoulder inflammation). 

### Rowdy Tellez

Although Tellez drove in the Mariners’ only run on Tuesday with a sacrifice fly, his series as a whole was lacking in the offensive department, which, for someone whose spot on the roster is solely dependent on his ability to hit, is a pretty glaring negative. He went a combined 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts in the two games he played, and while he was more so the victim of a questionable decision by manager Dan Wilson than anything else, he was nevertheless at the center of one of the most frustrating moments of the entire series for Seattle when he was left in the game to face southpaw reliever Tyler Holton with runners on first and second, worked a 3-1 count, swung over the top of what would have been ball four, then proceeded to ground into the third and final out of the fifth inning. 

### Mitch Garver

Garver only played once in the series, but it was quite the stinker — albeit against Skubal. That said, Skubal ate the 34-year old backup catcher for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Wednesday, striking him out three times without much of a battle. In fact, Garver only saw 10 pitches in his three at-bats versus Skubal and either swung at or fouled off six of them. The only thing saving Garver from an even worse day was a solid defensive effort behind the plate and a well-struck, 104.3 MPH flyout that he just got underneath on against John Brebbia.