A deeply frustrating loss in Texas
When I was a kid, my mom used to warn me before we went in a store that she didn’t want to get nickel-and-dimed, a confusing mental image for a kid: I didn’t want nickels and dimes, I wanted a Barbie doll. And maybe a candy bar. And a hair ribbon. Oh, and…
Today the Mariners got nickel-and-dimed by the Astros, watching a three-run advantage shrink away as the offense failed to score outside of two innings, a frustrating theme from this series. Another frustrating theme from this series: the Astros continually making contact, chewing into starters’ pitch counts with singles and foul balls extending counts and innings. Luis Castillo had his longest start, pitch-count-wise, as a Mariner, going over 100 pitches through six innings, but walked away with a no decision for his trouble as the Mariners frittered away a potential win in Texas.
The offense did give Castillo some early run support against Colton Gordon and the Astros, with back-to-back two-out singles from Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena. With the Mariners utilizing their righty-heavy lineup against the lefty Gordon, Mitch Garver got a rare start and came up with a huge two-run double:
Castillo was able to shut the Astros down in the first inning, but it cost him 28 pitches, as he navigated around back-to-back singles to open the game. The chief culprit was the Astros’ refusal to chase out of the zone and ability to get bat on ball; the inning featured two nine-pitch battles, one that ended in an Isaac Paredes single and one in a strikeout of Christian Walker.
The bottom of the lineup again got something cooking in the second, again with one-out back-to-back singles from Ben Williamson and Leo Rivas, but Dylan Moore flew out harmlessly and Cal Raleigh struck out looking, frozen on a 91 mph fastball right over the plate as he struggled all day to solve Gordon. The Astros answered back with their own back-to-back one out singles, but Mauricio Dubón finally got unlucky on some contact, rolling a room service double play ball right to Dylan Moore.
The Mariners got another run via some small ball in the third: Julio led ff with his second single of the day, advanced all the way to third on two wild pitches, and was driven home by a clutch two-out single from [checks notes, checks notes again] Donovan Solano.
However, the Astros were finally able to turn those nickels and dimes into runs in the third. Paredes and Altuve again went back-to-back with one-out singles, but this time, Castillo couldn’t get out of it. Christian Walker pounced on the first pitch he saw, for yet another single thanks to some solid outfield defense by Arozarena, this time scoring a run, as even the slow-footed Paredes was able to score. The Astros got another run on a sac fly from Victor Caratini, which could have been much worse but for an athletic leaping grab at the wall by Leody Taveras.
Jake Meyers lined out softly to a leaping Leo Rivas, but the Mariners saw their advantage trimmed to just a run, and the bottom of the lineup wasn’t able to come up with an answer-back inning in the fourth, going down in order on just 13 pitches. That sent Luis Castillo, at 62 pitches already, right back out to the mound. After two quick outs, it looked like Castillo might have his first 1-2-3 inning of the day, but in an 0-2 count he got too aggressive with Dubón, putting a pitch right on the plate for a double that broke up the Astros’ string of 24 consecutive singles. Perhaps annoyed about losing his chance at his first clean inning of the day, Castillo came back to strike out Jeremy Peña on a nasty slider at the bottom of the zone to quash the threat.
But the Mariners again couldn’t find any breathing room against Gordon in the fifth, going down almost in order with the exception of Arozarena getting hit by a pitch. It was a scary moment as Randy remained on the ground for quite a while getting his wrist looked at, but he remained in the game.
After the Mariners yet again went down quickly in the sixth against new pitcher Shawn Dubin, Castillo came back out to try to complete the sixth. He walked Victor Caratini on seven pitches to open the inning, but got his next two outs. At 104 pitches, a new season-high for The Rock, manager Dan Wilson opted to leave Castillo in to face rookie Cam Smith and try to complete the inning. Castillo got nailed by some bad batted-ball luck, as Smith hacked at a fastball in and was able to keep it just fair into the right field corner, scoring the speedy Jake Meyers (on base in place of Caratini due to a fielder’s choice) who was in motion from first. The Mariners opted to leave Castillo in to face pesky Dubón, owner of the Astros’ only other extra-base hit on the day. Pushing deep into his pitch count, setting a new high as a Mariner, Castillo struck out Dubón on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. But the damage was done, with the game tied and the dark threat of the Astros’ bullpen looming.
The Mariners finally got something going in the seventh against Dubin, back out for a second inning of work, but it came with two outs: Cal finally reached base on the day, working a walk, and Julio doubled—although really it was more like a single and Julio took second when Altuve’s throw went to third to try to get Cal. The Astros went to the bullpen again to get Kaleb Ort, an appropriately Star Wars named pitcher on an interminable Star Wars weekend, to quash the threat, striking out Arozarena to end the inning. Squandered opportunities. Nickels and dimes falling out of pockets.
Carlos Vargas took the seventh inning and opened by striking out Jeremy Peña on a vicious cutter, but Paredes jumped on the first pitch he saw, cranking it towards the Crawford Boxes, which is always dangerous. Thankfully it didn’t go out, but it did clank off the wall for a double. The Mariners then decided to intentionally walk Altuve, hoping to get Christian Walker to put one on the ground. Instead, Walker singled up the middle, as Rivas couldn’t quite get the ball to Moore at second, loading the bases with just one out. Nickels, dimes, Victor Caratini—who did hit into the double play, delivering Vargas from trouble.
The Mariners got something going in the eighth. Rowdy Tellez singled, followed by another single by Taveras, pushing J.P. Crawford—pinch-running for Tellez—into third. But on a ground ball from Ben Williamson that looked like a surefire double play, Dubón opted to throw home instead, getting J.P. Crawford trying to score, meaning the Mariners had one more out to play with against new pitcher Bryan King. Unfortunately, it was Leo Rivas up against King, and Leo grounded out easily to end the threat and squander yet more baserunners for the Mariners—not a great place to be against the Astros’ very good bullpen, playing in a tied game on the road.
Wilson tapped Collin Snider for the eighth, and he should have had an easy first out, but J.P. Crawford, just in the game, overthrew Dylan Moore, playing at first, in a play that doesn’t cover either of them with glory, essentially giving the Astros their ghost runner two innings early. Maybe that shook Snider, who then walked the free-swinging Yainer Díaz on five pitches, but he was able to get his first two outs of the inning, striking out Cam Smith on a well-located pitch right on the edge of the zone and popping up Dubón. With the lineup turning over, Wilson opted to bring in Brash. Struggling with his slider command, Brash walked Peña to load the bases, but was able to get Paredes to ground out to the surest hand on the infield (today), Ben Williamson, to end the inning. Enormous phew. Still, it continued a theme of the Mariners making little mistakes, scattering change carelessly.
Despite a one-out Cal Raleigh single in the ninth, the top of the Mariners order again couldn’t convert against King, forcing Wilson into a decision: use his closer against the heart of the Astros lineup in a non-save situation or haha just kidding of course he didn’t do that. Casey Legumina, pitching on back-to-back days, instead got the call, and he gave up the game-winning home run to Christian Walker, who seems to be emerging from his early-season slump. It’s hard not to feel like the Astros are doing their yearly Undertaker-like emergence from the coffin, while the Mariners, despite an improbable, thrilling sweep in San Diego, feel like they’re going in the other direction. A 6-4 trip vs. a 7-3 road trip doesn’t seem like that big of a difference, but it makes a difference when three of those losses come against the division rival nipping at your heels; the Astros are now just 1.5 games back, as the advantage in the AL West shrank away with this stretch of poor play in Texas. It’s also disheartening when it comes with some straight-up bad baseball: failing to advance runners, striking out in key spots, defensive miscues.
One last note: Dan Wilson was ejected for the first time in his managerial career arguing on behalf of Randy Arozarena, who seemed to be upset about something in his last at-bat as he struck out. Not sure what that was, because the pitch was clearly on the plate, so now we have to add “Laz Diaz correct about a call” to the laundry list of complaints about today’s game. Insult, injury, nickels and dimes.