3 Up, 3 Down: Mariners Find Hero in Diego Castillo, Get Shaky Start From Chris Flexen in 7-6 Win Over Orioles
Thanks to a four-run sixth inning and some late-game heroics, the Mariners toppled the Orioles by a score of 7-6 in Thursday night's rubber match in Baltimore. The victory marks just the second time this season Seattle has won back-to-back series, and the first since all the way back on April 23.
It was an ugly game at times for both teams, with multiple blown leads resulting in an extra inning of play being needed before a winner was ultimately decided. In one night, the Mariners experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows on the pitching front and tallied 12 hits while leaving a whopping 20 men on base.
Nevertheless, they got the job done and that's all that matters at the end of the day. To dig themselves out of the hole they created with their disastrous month of May, they will need to string together multiple series wins by any means necessary. They're off to a good start.
Now sitting at a record of 22-29, still in fourth place in the AL West standings, the Mariners will head down to Texas for a three-game set apiece against the Rangers and Astros. But first, before Seattle kicks off its intra-divisional tour down in the "Lone Star State," let's go over the three best and worst performances from Thursday's action at Camden Yards.
3 Up
RHP Diego Castillo
Castillo was arguably the MVP of the game for the Mariners, not only keeping the Orioles off the board in the ninth, but shutting the door in the 10th as well. Fellow relievers Paul Sewald and Andrés Muñoz had already been called upon earlier in the game, leaving manager Scott Servais with very few options to lean on from a struggling bullpen. Castillo essentially put the unit on his back, registering his longest outing of the season and facing the minimum in both innings pitched with a trio of strikeouts. After a disappointing start to the year, the hard-throwing 28-year old has allowed just two runs on a pair of hits with 10 strikeouts and just two walks over his last seven appearances (7.1 innings).
C Luis Torrens
Entering this game hitting just .197/.271/.211 on the season, Torrens collected a trio of base knocks, including a two-run single in the sixth to extend the Mariners' lead to 6-3. He did generate an out on one of the aforementioned hits when he tried to leg out a double and also had a brutal strikeout with a runner in scoring position and just one out in the 10th, but it was a positive night for the otherwise struggling Torrens.
OF Jesse Winker
It was a rough start to the night for Winker, who was thrown out at third trying to leg out a leadoff triple (pictured above). The silver lining from that play, at least, is the fact his blunder was preceded by an opposite-field double to the left-center field gap with an exit velocity of 104.8 MPH. He put the ball in play all five times he stepped up to the plate and recorded an additional three hard-hit balls, including two more over 100 MPH. In all, he went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and a run driven in—a good sign for the 2021 All-Star selection.
3 Down
RHP Chris Flexen
Flexen wasn't particularly dreadful, but he was nowhere near as sharp as the Mariners will typically need him to be. Command was an issue for him, especially with his cutter, with just 14 of his 76 pitches on the night resulting in a called strike or whiff. In all, he surrendered three earned runs on six hits (eight hard-hit balls) with a trio of strikeouts and a walk. But considering the stuff he had on Thursday night, he was fortunate to have faced a fringe-average lineup like the Orioles'.
1B Ty France
France has been so spectacular this season that it's legitimately shocking when he has a game like this. He went 0 for 5 on the night with a strikeout, finishing as one of two Mariners starters to not record a hit in the win.
2B Adam Frazier
Frazier was the other Mariners starter to not get on the board with a base knock on Thursday night. He's 0 for his last 9 after collecting a pair of hits, including a double, during the series opener in Baltimore.
