4/16/23

Mariners 1, Rockies 0

(Seattle, WA) For the second Sunday in a row the Seattle Mariners were looking for their first sweep of the season. This time it was in their home ballpark hosting the Colorado Rockies with ace Luis Castillo looking to deliver for the M’s. He would deliver and then some as the Mariner ace flirted with history and the offense scraped across the only run the Mariners needed as they swept their Rocky Mountain foes taking the finale 1-0.

Early on signs pointed to Luis Castillo being on his A+ game. La Piedra struck out five of the first nine batters he faced and nobody looked like they really had a chance against the 30 year old. His typical explosive fastball was unhittable and his changeup was on full display in without question his best outing of the season, which is saying something since he has an ERA under 1.00 thus far. As he worked his way through the order a second time, there was some chatter about what exactly was going on. The most recent perfect game in MLB was in 2012 by none other than Felix Hernandez. After six innings, Luis Castillo was nine outs away from his own perfect game.

Just like in King Felix’s perfect game, the Mariners offense was struggling to score. Headed into the 6th, the Mariners had left three runners in scoring position with one of them being left stranded on third with nobody out. Walks by Ty France and Cal Raleigh gave the M’s another opportunity with runners on first and second with two outs. Lefty reliever Brad Hand came on to face Jarred Kelenic in the big spot. Kelenic would win the battle to stay red hot. Extending his hit streak to ten games, Kelenic snuck a groundball into right field. France would look to score from second and it looked to be a close play until the ball popped out of catcher Brian Serven’s glove as France slid over home plate to make it 1-0.

The perfect game bid would end in the top of the 7th. Jurickson Profar flipped a fastball into left center for the first Colorado hit of the ballgame. That quickly turned into a threat as Kris Bryant followed with a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a Charlie Blackmon strikeout, C.J. Cron grounded to first to move up the runners with now two outs. Ryan McMahon lined what looked like a go ahead single, but former Gold Glove winner J.P. Crawford skied into the air to snag the line drive and end the inning. That would end Castillo’s day after seven innings of two hit shutout ball with no walks and nine strikeouts for the Cy Young contender.

In the top of the 8th Colorado would threaten again. A two out double for Alan Trejo put the tying run in scoring position. Elias Diaz would pinch hit and face Justin Topa and Diaz lined one into right field. But Jarred Kelenic showed his defensive talent by flying in and making a diving catch to end the inning and preserve the lead. That would be the last gasp for Colorado as Paul Sewald struck out the side in the top of the 9th to lock down the 1-0 win and Seattle’s first sweep of the season.

With the series wrapped up, the Mariners (8-8) will look to climb above .500 for the first time since Opening Day when they host the Milwaukee Brewers (11-5) in game one of the three game series on Monday at 6:40pm. Chris Flexen (0-2, 8.74 ERA) will try to bounce back from a nightmare outing in Wrigley on Tuesday. It won’t be easy for the Mariner offense as they will take on Corbin Burnes (1-1, 5.19 ERA) who took home the NL Cy Young in 2021 and is coming off his best start of the season against Arizona.

Matt’s Takeaways

All that panicking early and the Mariners are now .500. It wasn’t an easy schedule to begin the year and everyone was working their way into their role. Now the guys are starting to take off. Luis Castillo is working his way into the conversation of best in-season acquisition in franchise history. La Piedra now has a 0.89 ERA in games pitched in T-Mobile Park. Castillo is a legit one. If Robbie Ray returns and looks like he did in Spring Training, this rotation might be the best in baseball.

Notable Performances

Rockies

• Noah Davis (ND)- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
• Alan Trejo- 1-3, 2B
• Jurickson Profar- 1-4, Broke up Perfect Game in 7th

Mariners

• Luis Castillo (W, 2-0)- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
• Jarred Kelenic- 1-2, RBI, BB, Game Saving Diving Catch
• J.P. Crawford- 1-2, BB

elisportsnetwork.com