Mariners Best Royals 2-0, Move Back into First-Place Tie Ahead of All-Important Astros Series
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Seattle Mariners did what they had to do in Kauffman Stadium. Things have often run close in Kansas City for the M’s in recent years, but as they have done many times before, the team scratched across a series win against the Royals despite dropping a winnable game.
It was all pitching during game three on Thursday afternoon, as Luis Castillo notched his 10th win of the season with six shutdown innings for Seattle, all while Royals hurler Stephen Kolek got into the eighth inning in what in many ways was one of the least deserved losses any pitcher has had this season.
Rock Anchors Mariners Win
Luis Castillo may have had some issues during Seattle’s August skid, but upon turning it around, the rock of the rotation has seemed a weathervane for the Mariners’ fortunes as of late. Another strong start—six innings, three strikeouts, no walks, and no runs—heralded another key win for Seattle.
During his Thursday outing, Castillo continued his recent trend of forsaking the sinker and leaning on the four-seamer as his main fastball while leaning on his slider early on and his changeup later in the game as his main secondary pitches. The more important factor in Castillo’s six-inning start was his location. La Piedra was dotting the corners throughout, and not only that, he mixed up which corner he would target, keeping well ahead of Royals batters inning after inning. Kansas City, for their part, is a strong contact team, but most of what they could muster were weak flyouts and groundouts.
His biggest jam came in the second inning. With one away, Salvador Perez chopped a ball up the middle and Adam Frazier followed it up with a single into center, so the Royals had a man in scoring position. Castillo locked himself in a battle with Jac Caglianone, who managed to foul off a strong mix of fastballs, sliders, and one lone changeup. The eighth pitch of the at-bat, though, tipped the scales back towards Castillo, as Caglianone harmlessly lofted one to shallow right. Carter Jensen managed a couple two-strike foul balls off the Seattle starter, but he swung under a four-seamer a couple inches off the high and outside corner for strike three.
Castillo settled in quickly, breezing through the next four innings without any real trouble. He worked efficiently, getting through the sixth having thrown just 84 pitches. However, although his final two innings went by quickly, he was giving up some harder contact in the air. Over his first four innings, Kansas City had an average exit velocity of 87 miles per hour against Castillo, but their average exit velocity in the fifth and sixth was 92.2 miles per hour.
Dan Wilson and company, likely worried that the Royals might find a few dozen more feet on some fly balls and leave the yard, went to the bullpen for the bottom of the seventh.
Naylor, Polanco Scratch Across Early Run
The hottest Mariner hitter coming into Thursday’s afternoon contest was Jorge Polanco. Through his first 15 games of September, he had accrued a .370/.419/.685 triple slash on the back of 11 doubles. With Josh Naylor on first base and nobody out in the top of the second, Polanco ripped a 1-1 slider into the gap in right center. Naylor roared around third before the ball reached the infield and scored standing up as the relay throw was offline.
Unfortunately for Seattle, Polanco followed that up with an error on the basepaths. Dominic Canzone hit a one-out liner into left for a flyout, but it seemed that Polanco misread the ball—either thinking it would fly into the gap in left center or drop in front of Royals left fielder Adam Frazier for a base hit—and his readjustment came too late: Frazier gunned him down at second to finish the double play and the half inning.
Patrolman Dan Works Second Run
With a nascent mustache and dark sunglasses, Mariners manager Dan Wilson resembled a highway patrol officer in the visiting dugout. And in one of the most bizarre sequences I have ever witnessed, he all but imitated a highway patrolman of the most persnickety variety—and somehow worked an insurance run out of it.
Royals starter Stephen Kolek had worked an incredible game thus far. Since Polanco’s run-scoring double in the second, he had efficiently retired 18 of the following 19 batters. Royals manager Matt Quatraro trusted in the young starter, but with one out in the eighth, events beyond his control forced him from the game.
Dominic Canzone, on a 1-1 count, chopped a routine groundout to second baseman Michael Massey. For a brief moment, it appeared to be a completely unremarkable second out of the frame, with Kolek well on his way to an excellent eight-inning start. But Wilson motioned for a challenge, and umpiring crew chief Bill Miller explained to a bewildered Kauffman Stadium that Seattle was challenging Massey’s positioning at second. The review took quite a bit of time, but the ruling from New York was that Massey’s cleats did indeed touch the outfield grass. It was a defensive shift violation error on Massey, and Canzone was awarded first base.
In highway patrolman terms, it was like an officer catching someone going a fraction of a mile an hour over the speed limit.
Wilson brought in Victor Robles to pinch-run for Canzone, looking for a bit of two-out magic to extend Seattle’s lead. Lo and behold, he got it: J.P. Crawford ripped a ground ball down the right field line for an RBI double, and the Mariners led 2-0.
Andy Bissell, the Seattle Mariners’ Major League replay coordinator and coaching assistant, noted that this exact shift violation is something that the Mariners’ replay room regularly looks for.
“It’s not specific to Massey, it’s just something we always try to look for as the game is going,” Bissell remarked. “There’s probably been two or three times throughout the year where you see the heels in the grass, but the ball’s not hit to the guy. Very rarely does it all kind of align where you see it and the dugout’s ready for it. All those things have to align, because if Dan doesn’t know that we’re going to challenge that, then he’s not going to be able to put his hand up in time.”
Bullpen Locks Down Victory
There may have been a bad blowup in the eighth inning of game two on Wednesday, but it was back to regularly scheduled programming for Seattle’s ‘pen during Thursday’s matinee. Three relievers combined to give up no runs over three innings of work, an effort that led Seattle to their big series win.
Eduard Bazardo got it started with an easy one-two-three, nine-pitch inning, capped off with a three-pitch looking strikeout against former Mariner Adam Frazier. Gabe Speier followed that up with a 10-pitch effort of his own, and it was up to Andrés Muñoz to close out the game and bring Seattle into a tie with Houston.
The Mariner closer faced a bit of adversity, with a one-out Vinnie Pasquantino double bringing up Maikel Garcia as the tying run. Muñoz promptly made Garcia look foolish on a painted heater for the second out, but he nicked Salvador Perez with a misplaced fastball to put another man on for Adam Frazier.
Frazier couldn’t get any tossed salad or scrambled eggs out of his at-bat, though, as he struck out on three pitches to end the game.
On Deck
All eyes are on the AL West chase as the Mariners and Astros gear up for a series that will likely decide the winner of the division. Both teams stand at 84-69, tied for first. Both teams have to worry about a Cleveland Guardians team that is hanging in the playoff race as an outside contender for the third wild card.
Friday’s matchup shapes up to be the best on the mound for both teams, as Mariners headliner Bryan Woo (14-7, 3.02 ERA) takes on Astros ace Hunter Brown (12-7, 2.27 ERA).
