8/21/23

Mariners 14, White Sox 2

(Chicago, IL) Julio Rodriguez has been the hottest player on the face of the planet for the last week, but a scheduled day off meant other members of the Seattle Mariners would have to carry the load if the M’s were to extend their winning streak to seven games. After the game the question became, “Has Julio Rodriguez held the offense back?” That is obviously a joke but the performance that Seattle put on Monday night was exceptional. The bulk of the offense was carried by the Big Dumper but plenty of help from other members of the lineup got the job done in blowout fashion in game one of the three-game series in the Windy City with the Chicago White Sox. Luis Castillo attacked the Chicago lineup while the offense put on a show as the Mariners rolled the lowly White Sox 14-2.

It was a complete and consistent game for the M’s as they jumped out big early and still added on in the final inning to spread out the offense. Touki Toussaint was wild once again on Monday for Chicago with back-to-back walks of the returning J.P. Crawford and Eugenio Suarez to begin the game. A Ty France single then loaded the bases with still nobody out. For the second straight game, Seattle scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch. Crawford scored as Seattle took a 1-0 lead. Cal Raleigh then smoked a double off the top of the wall in right for his 19th double on the year. Suarez and France both scored to make it 3-0 M’s with still nobody out. Raleigh reached third on a sacrifice fly with two outs and Cade Marlowe joined him on-base with a walk. Marlowe then stole his fourth base of the season and drew a throw that rolled away from second base. That allowed Raleigh to score on an error to make it 4-0. The nine hole hitter for the M’s would put a bow on the 1st as Josh Rojas singled in Marlowe to make it 5-0 Seattle before Luis Castillo ever threw a pitch.

The worst inning for Luis Castillo would be the bottom of the 1st. A weak double by Elvis Andrus began the inning for Chicago as they needed to at least push across a run to answer the Mariner five-run outburst. With Andrus still on second and two outs, Eloy Jimenez smoked a line drive over Dominic Canzone’s head in left. Jimenez trotter to second with his 15th double of the season as Andrus scored to make it 5-1. Yoan Moncada followed with another hard hit line drive, but Cade Marlowe was there to make the catch to end an action packed 1st inning with the M’s leading 5-1.

After a very exciting 1st inning, there really wasn’t much to talk about in innings 2-4. A nice catch by Cade Marlowe in center and Luis Castillo finding his groove on the mound by striking out three in those innings was about it. Then came the top of the 5th. Touki Toussaint was still on the mound for Chicago after a nightmare of a 1st. One of the big hits in the 1st was the Cal Raleigh double that was inches away from being a home run. That home came leading off the 5th. Raleigh smoked a 112-mph liner that stayed inside the foul pole in right for Cal’s 23rd home run of the season. Not to be outdone, Teoscar Hernandez followed with a 402-foot bomb of his own for his 19th of the year. The back-to-back solo home runs chased Toussaint a made it 7-1 Mariners. It looked like Seattle would get one more solo shot in the inning as Mike Ford drove a deep fly ball to center. A phenomenal catch by center fielder Luis Robert Jr. kept the ball in the yard to give the Southsiders a reason to cheer in this one.

This one felt over after La Piedra mowed down the White Sox, striking out the side in the bottom of the 5th. If that didn’t bury the White Sox, the top of the 6th did. Josh Rojas’ 15th double led off the inning as he blooped one right down the left field line. Eugenio Suarez followed a J.P. Crawford strikeout with a bloop single of his own to put runners on the corners. Ty France would shockingly get hit by a pitch to load the bases but Cal Raleigh struck out for the second out. Teoscar Hernandez then dug in against Tanner Banks and Teo added on to his strong day as well. An opposite field line drive got down in right field and scored Rojas and Suarez to make it 9-1 Seattle as Teo made it three RBI on the day for himself.

Following a day where the Mariners had to use more of their bullpen than they had anticipated, Luis Castillo did everything he could to get the bullpen back on track before Thursday’s off day. Castillo really labored through the 1st inning but was the ace we know him to be after that. Castillo even finished his day by throwing 47 consecutive fastballs as he trusted his stuff and didn’t think that the White Sox could beat him. After the bumpy first inning, Castillo only allowed three more batters to reach base and at one point retired 15 batters in a row. Castillo got Oscar Colas to lineout to end a threat in the bottom of the 7th and ended his say with a very good outing. Castillo went seven innings and allowed just one run on five hits and did not walk a batter while striking out nine.

Tempers would flare in the top of the 8th once again for the Mariners. After J.P. Crawford was walked by reliever Brent Honeywell, Jose Caballero was hit by a first pitch fastball. He and Honeywell exchanged words and Julio Rodriguez began chirping from the dugout as well. The umpires extinguished those flames but Cal Raleigh might have done an even better job. With runners on the corners and one out, Cal crushed his second home run of the game and 24th of the season to just add insult to injury to the White Sox. Dominic Canzone two batters later got in on the home run party with his third long ball of his rookie year. Just like that, it was a laugher as the M’s had a 13-1 lead.

An RBI single by Jose Caballero in the top of the 9th made it 14-1 and Darren McCaughan came on to pitch the bottom of the 9th. McCaughan made quick work of Gavin Sheets and Yasmani Grandal with back-to-back strikeouts. The seventh double of the season for Oscar Colas extended the inning for Lenyn Sosa. Sosa hit a grounder to Josh Rojas at third and Rojas spiked the throw and it got by Ty France at first. The E5 allowed Colas to score making it 14-2. That was as close as the White Sox could get as McCaughan punched out Elvis Andrus looking to finish off the game and giving the Mariners their seventh straight win in blowout fashion, 14-2.

Following the blowout win and the Texas Rangers losing in extra-innings in Arizona, the Seattle Mariners (70-55) are now just two games back of the Rangers for the AL West lead and remain half a game back of the Astros for both second in the West and the second AL Wild Card. Toronto was off on Monday so the Mariners now lead the Blue Jays by a full game for the final wild card spot. Julio Rodriguez will return to the lineup on Tuesday as Bryan Woo (1-3, 4.75 ERA) also makes his return when he gets the start for the Mariners. Woo is coming off a minor forearm issue and will make his first start since August 3rd in Anaheim. In that outing, Woo went six strong innings of four hit, two run ball with six strikeouts. Mike Clevinger (5-5, 3.26 ERA) will make the start for Chicago. Since his IL stint ended in late July, Clevinger has been very good for the depleted White Sox pitching staff. In four starts since then, Clevinger has pitched 23 innings and allowed five runs on 16 hits with six walks and 18 strikeouts. Four of those runs came in one game so the M’s will have their work cutout for them when first pitch rolls around at 5:10pm on Tuesday.

Notable Performances

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 3-5, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R
• Teoscar Hernandez- 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Luis Castillo (W, 10-7)- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO

White Sox

• Eloy Jimenez- 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB
• Elvis Andrus- 2-5, 2B, R
• Touki Toussaint (L, 1-6)- 4 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO

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