7/19/23

Twins 6, Mariners 3

(Seattle, WA) It is always fascinating to me to see how a team bounces back from a blowout losses. We’ve seen the Seattle Mariners try to do just that multiple times this season unfortunately and Wednesday night was another one of those instances. After a 10-3 beatdown by the Minnesota Twins in game two on Tuesday, Seattle would have their ace on the mound which always has a team liking their chances. While Luis Castillo did his job, some silly mistakes late cost the M’s in this one as Minnesota came out on top for the second straight night.

With the pitch count issues, Seattle needed Luis Castillo to eat some innings and get deep in the ballgame. It didn’t start out very well for La Piedra though as he faced the same issues every starter has since the All-Star break. In the bottom of the 2nd, Minnesota kept the pressure on Castillo and continued to raise his pitch count. A walk to Matt Wallner and a single by Kyle Farmer put runners on first and second with two outs for Ryan Jeffers. The Minnesota catcher would send a weak groundball back up the middle and into centerfield for a base hit. The softly hit single allowed Wallner to score and gave the Twins a 1-0 lead.

After getting visibly frustrated after allowing the early run, Castillo was dialed in and was a rockstar. La Piedra had nine strikeouts through the first four innings before Minnesota added onto their lead. With one out, Edouard Julien continued to do serious damage against the M’s. Julien clobbered his ninth home run of the season out to right to make it 2-0 Twins. Two batters later, Max Kepler launched a solo shot of his own as his 14th home run made it 3-0.

A season-high in strikeouts for Luis Castillo was reached as he punched out 11 Twins in six innings of work. With a strong outing, the offense was trying to bail out their ace and give him the performance that he deserved. Tom Murphy would start the comeback bid in the bottom of the 6th. Seattle had only recorded one hit and that was way back to leadoff the bottom of the 1st. The next hit would be off the bat of Murphy and it would leave the yard for his sixth long ball of the year. Seattle was then on the board trailing 3-1.

A one out single in the bottom of the 7th by Jarred Kelenic chased Kenta Maeda who was spectacular for Minnesota. The lefty gave up just three hits in 6 1/3 innings without allowing a walk and striking out nine. Griffin Jax relieved Maeda and hung a sweeper in the middle of the plate to the first batter he faced. That batter was the surging Eugenio Suarez who made a Minnesota pitcher pay for a mistake again. For the third straight game, Suarez launched a two-run home run for his 14th of the season. The Suarez power surge continued and brought the M’s back to tie the game at 3-3.

Mistakes cost the Mariners in the top of the 8th. Andres Muñoz came on to try to give the Mariners a chance to take the lead but would be unable to do so. A leadoff single by Max Kepler and a one out single by Willi Castro put runners on the corners for Minnesota. Muñoz would then record a massive strikeout by getting Kyle Farmer swinging for the second out. Disaster would then strike. A slider above the zone clipped off of the glove of Tom Murphy and to the backstop. The passed ball allowed the go ahead run to score, giving Minnesota the 4-3 lead. Muñoz then walked the bases loaded but would escape the inning with no more damage being done to keep it a one run game.

Another MLB debut took place for the Mariners in the top of the 9th as Devin Sweet made his debut in a pretty big spot. It would not be a sweet debut for Sweet. A walk by Michael A. Taylor led off the inning and set things up for Alex Kirilloff. Already a big series for the Twins first baseman got bigger as he sent a 2-1 changeup the other way to left field for his seventh home run of the year. The two-run shot was a big blow to the Mariners as their deficit grew to 6-3.

Electric, hard throwing closer Jhoan Duran would take over in the bottom of the 9th for Minnesota against the top of the Seattle order. J.P. Crawford would begin the inning with an infield single to get some energy back in T-Mobile Park. Then, a 103-mph fastball hit Julio Rodriguez in the elbow and shook up the reigning Rookie of the Year. J-Rod stayed in the game thanks to his elbow guard taking the majority of the blow and Seattle brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out. Jarred Kelenic battled, fouling off multiple 104-mph pitches before an absolutely perfect curveball sat right on the outside corner for a called third strike and the first out of the inning. If that wasn’t bad enough, he would then kick a water cooler and fracture his foot to send himself to the IL. Eugenio Suarez would then groundout to Carlos Correa at short for the second out while Crawford and Julio moved up. It wouldn’t matter as Mike Ford was blown away on three pitches for a strikeout to end the game as the M’s dropped one to the Twins 6-3.

Seattle (47-48) will now look to salvage a split in the four-game series on Thursday at 12:40pm. George Kirby (8-8, 3.43 ERA) will try to find his All-Star form after a shaky start against Detroit over the weekend. Minnesota (50-47) will go with Pablo Lopez (5-5, 4.24 ERA) who has had some ups and downs in his first year after being acquired in the trade that sent Luis Arraez to Miami.

Notable Performances

Twins

• Edouard Julien- 2-2, HR, RBI, R, 2 BB
• Max Kepler- 2-5, HR, RBI, 2 R
• Kenta Maeda (ND)- 6.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO

Mariners

• Luis Castillo (ND)- 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 11 SO
• Eugenio Suarez- 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
• Tom Murphy- 1-3, HR, RBI, R

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