> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Mariners Win Series in Houston, Set Sail for Uncharted Waters with Raleigh Out - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/seattle-mariners-win-series-houston-sail-uncharted-raleigh-out/ - Published: 2026-05-15T04:38:56.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:11:38.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: Analysis, Mariners, Cal Raleigh, Mitch Garver, Brendan Donovan, Luis Castillo, Nick Davila, Domingo Gonzalez, Luke Raley, Cole Young \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="6000"\] ![ Seattle Mariners third baseman Brendan Donovan (33) hits a triple to right field against the Houston Astros during the third inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/seattle-mariners-third-baseman-brendan-donovan--2833-29-hits-a-triple-to-right-field-against-the-houston-astros-during-the-third-inning-at-daikin-park--mandatory-credit-3a-erik-williams-imagn-images-format-original.jpg) Seattle Mariners third baseman Brendan Donovan (33) hits a triple to right field against the Houston Astros during the third inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images \[/caption\] After their 8-3 victory against the Astros on Thursday, the Mariners are 7-1 with a +26 run differential against that team in 2026\. They’re also 15-22 with a -7 run differential against every other team. Thursday was something of a fulcrum for Seattle. It was the day the M’s officially sent Cal Raleigh to the 10-day IL, though this was an obvious development after his exit from Wednesday’s game with clear discomfort on the same oblique he had tweaked earlier. Mitch Garver caught Luis Castillo in the latter’s final full start for some time as the piggyback plan goes into effect the next time through the rotation. The cloud of these changes hung over the game’s activities, which saw the M’s take the bad Astros pitchers to task once more. ### Brendan Donovan and Mitch Garver stood out on both sides of the ball on the day Cal Raleigh went to the IL. There were two individual performances in particular that echoed Raleigh’s absence in a way. Garver, obviously, moved into the primary catching role upon his addition to the IL, while for Brendan Donovan, his performance was a lesson in the virtues of caution around early injuries. Donovan, who had taken the previous game off due to the team’s load management plan coming off his IL stint, came out swinging in the top of the first, whacking a double down the right field line. Although neither Julio Rodríguez nor Josh Naylor reached base, a walk from Randy Arozarena set the table for Luke Raley’s 10th home run of the season, and the Mariners led 3-0 after the first half inning of the game. Garver’s big moment with the bat was a two-run blast in the top of the fourth, adding some cushion to the lead against Astros starter Mike Burrows. But as the early innings came and went, Donovan racked up hit after hit, with a triple - and unlike most triples in the modern era, it was an honest-to-goodness triple without help from a defensive miscue - in the third and a single in the fifth, though he didn’t score in either of those frames. Still, it meant that he had four innings to complete the cycle. The first opportunity for the third baseman came in the sixth on the back of some more two-out lightning. Cole Young had just knocked Garver and Dominic Canzone home on a double down the right field line, and although Young was at third due to the throw home and Donovan only needed a hit to bring him home, the eyes were on the fences; all he needed was a home run and the Mariners would have their first cycle-hitter since Adrian Beltre. Donovan didn’t get it, neither in the sixth nor the eighth. But his 3-5 performance with six total bases was a bright sign for a hitter coming off an IL stint. Both Garver and Donovan had bright moments on defense, too. Garver successfully made two ABS challenges (though neither came with men on base, one resulted in a strikeout as the initial call had been made on a 2-2 pitch), and Donovan showed continued improvement in his range at third. ### Luis Castillo’s last full starting ride for now showed improvement, though he didn’t make it through six. There seemed to be a special fire under Castillo as he took the mound on Thursday. With the Mariners’ plan to “piggyback” Castillo off of Bryce Miller for the foreseeable future (so as to maintain the five-man schedule for all the pitchers and not *officially* move anyone to the bullpen), this was set to be his last true start. Castillo’s fastball had plenty of zip to it, sitting at 95 miles an hour and even hitting 97 miles an hour at points. He incorporated the changeup into his repertoire a noticeable amount, which is something he hasn’t done as much during his time with the Mariners. “(The changeup) used to be my best secondary pitch in past years, and now I have to trust in it a little bit more,” Castillo said after the game. Still, Castillo had some control issues with all his pitches, walking three batters during his 5 ⅔ innings on the mound. Two of these free passes were to Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes with two outs in the first - meaning that just one out was needed to end the threat, which Castillo duly got from Cristian Walker. Alvarez went deep in the third with nobody on, but until the sixth, that was the only run that the Astros produced. In the meantime, Castillo was getting some swings and misses, though his pitch count did rise as Houston’s batters made him throw strikes and fouled quite a few off. They didn’t square him up, however, and “the Rock” was nearing his second quality start of the season. Alvarez rocked a one-out single to get Houston’s party started in that inning, but Castillo came right back to punch out Paredes for the second out and then got a strike away from finishing the inning against Christian Walker. With Castillo’s pitch count rising, however, his control waned: both the heater and changeup fell outside and the count went full. Walker fouled off a couple of painted pitches to keep himself alive and finally took his walk on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. By this point, the last bit of gas was exiting the tank, and Castillo pumped a couple of heaters right down the middle to Braden Shewmake. That was a dangerous game to play even without the Crawford Boxes in left, but as Shewmake floated one high to left, the quirks of Daikin Park produced two runs for Houston. The ball caromed off the top of the close wall and the score was 7-3\. Mariners manager Dan Wilson took Castillo off the mound at that point. ### How will Cal Raleigh’s absence affect Seattle in the medium term? It isn’t just a one-day sprint for the Raleigh-less Mariners, though. Since he’s on the 10-day IL, they will have to make do without him available at all for at least that time (and probably enough time to where they’re confident the oblique issue is truly in the past). As Luke Raley can attest, oblique issues aren’t ones to be taken lightly, though the desire to return Raleigh to the roster will be big for Seattle. Garver and Jhonny Pereda will be splitting the catching duties. While Garver has been solid as a backup catcher and occasional lefty platoon bat, his performance over his time with the Mariners indicates that he isn’t likely to fare as well when he’s in the order day-in and day-out. Guys can step up, however. It’s apples to oranges, absolutely, but the bullpen’s performance in lieu of Matt Brash, Gabe Speier, and (briefly) Jose A. Ferrer has been commendable. Nick Davila and Domingo González finished out the game on Thursday, while Cooper Criswell has stepped up to the plate (rubber?) in leverage spots with the big men out. There’s a big difference between a bullpen arm and a catcher, though. Garver isn’t at Raleigh’s level when it comes to defense, and so there will probably be more runners taking off in the rest of May as he suits up behind the dish and more errant pitches finding their way past him \[1\]. Pereda has a much better throwing arm than Garver, though he has built up less rapport with the Mariners pitching staff over the years. Garver is a good ABS challenger while Pereda isn’t, another wrinkle in the tale of the two backups, but the bulk of the detriment will be to the batting order. While Cal Raleigh had been slumping (and managed to break the slump briefly with a two-hit game on the back of choking up on the bat), perhaps due to lingering issues with his obliques that only became too much for him on Wednesday, the offensive upside for Raleigh is tremendous and not something that Garver nor Pereda can replace. They will be hitting at the bottom of the order when they play (probably eighth), which moves Arozarena to cleanup, Raley to fifth, and so on. Everyone will have to step up with the stick, and that’s something the team hasn’t seen beyond fits and starts. ### On Deck Despite pumping up numbers against Astros pitching all year, the Mariners offense has struggled to consistently produce in 2026\. Houston’s arms have been some of the worst in the league this season, something that has shown with an M’s team that has scored 6.63 runs per game against the ‘Stros and 3.73 runs per game against everyone else. It’s not like destroying bad teams is a bad thing - the 2019 Astros scored 6.47 runs per game against the Mariners and made it to the World Series - but you have to be good against the good teams, too. That 2019 Astros superteam scored 5.57 runs per game against everyone else, and that’s why they were one of the most powerful teams ever assembled, not because they beat up on one of the worst Mariners teams this side of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Seattle will be tested by the Padres at home over the weekend. While the Dads have been overperforming, tied with the Dodgers for first in the NL West at 25-18 despite a -3 run differential for San Diego and a +63 run differential for Los Angeles, they still have serious oomph.