5/16/23
Red Sox 9, Mariners 4
(Boston, MA) April showers bring May flowers as the old saying goes but it has been more showers in the month of May for Seattle Mariner ace Luis Castillo. As he took the mound in Boston on Tuesday afternoon, Castillo had not recorded a quality start in his last four appearances. Home runs have hurt Castillo after not allowing any in his first four starts. In his last four starts, Castillo had allowed three home runs total. That number would be doubled in Fenway Park as La Piedra allowed three home runs to the Boston Red Sox and the Mariner bats just couldn’t keep up as Boston took game two of the series 9-4.
Boston’s bombardment of Castillo started right away in the bottom of the 1st. After an error by Kolten Wong allowed Alex Verdugo to reach first to leadoff the inning, Masataka Yoshida showed the M’s why he is the current frontrunner for AL Rookie of the Year. Yoshida smoked a line drive into center field over the head of Julio Rodriguez. Yoshida flew around the bases as Verdugo scored on Yoshida’s first MLB triple to give Boston a 1-0 lead. Justin Turner followed the triple with a two run shot over the Green Monster for his fourth home run of the season. Three batters into the game, Boston had a 3-0 lead. A few batters later, Triston Casas got ahold of his sixth home run of the season with a solo shot to right field to make it 4-0 Red Sox in just the 1st inning.
Castillo settled down for the next few innings while the Mariner bats woke up in the top of the 4th. It looked like it might be a quick inning for Nick Pivetta after retiring the first two batters in the inning for two quick outs. Eugenio Suarez kept the inning alive with a single to left and Cal Raleigh followed with a walk to put a couple of runners on with two away. Teoscar Hernandez looped what looked like at best a single for the first year Mariner. Jarren Duran tried to take the hit away from Teo but came up empty on the diving attempt which let the ball roll all the way to the wall. Suarez and Raleigh both scored while Hernandez recorded his first triple of the season to get Seattle on the board trailing 4-2. One batter later the game was tied. Taylor Trammell continued his all or nothing season as he sent one into the right field stands for his third home run of the season. Another two-out burst by Seattle got the M’s back in the game all tied up at 4-4.
While Castillo was really good in innings 2-4, the bottom of the 5th saw him slip up once again. Back-to-back doubles by Alex Verdugo and Masataka Yoshida gave Boston back the lead 5-4. He would advance to third on a sacrifice fly by Justin Turner and Yoshida would then score on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. The long ball would plague Luis Castillo again a couple batters later. Jarren Duran got a slider hanging in the middle of the plate and made Castillo pay. A 417-foot blast for Durran’s third home run of the season extended the Boston lead to 7-4 and also ended Luis Castillo’s rough outing.
Paul Sewald pitched for the first time in a few days and showed some rust. A walk to Alex Verdugo and singles by Justin Turner and Jarren Duran drove in another run against the Mariner closer making it 8-4. Yoshida added another RBI to his line with an RBI groundout to put the dagger in Seattle. A quick 1-2-3 top of the 9th put the Mariners out of their misery as Boston took game two by a final score of 9-4.
This sets up a rubber game on Wednesday at 4:10pm. Seattle (21-21) will give the ball to veteran lefty Marco Gonzales (3-0, 4.42 ERA) who has a tough task as a contact pitcher in a hitter friendly ballpark against a good hitting team. Brayan Bello (2-1, 5.01 ERA) will go for Boston (23-20) who has been much better in his last few starts.
Notable Performances
Mariners
- Teoscar Hernandez- 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI, R
- Taylor Trammell- 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Luis Castillo (L, 2-2)- 5 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
Red Sox
- Masataka Yoshida- 2-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R
- Jarren Duran- 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Nick Pivetta (W, 3-3)- 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO
elisportsnetwork.com
