By Charles Hamaker 

Seattle, WA – Returning from a tough nine-game road trip over three cities, the Seattle Mariners did exactly what they needed to do against this historically bad Oakland Athletics team with an 11–2 victory. Mariners ace Luis “La Piedra” Castillo delivered six strong innings in a sort of bounce back effort, having given up three or more runs in his past three outings, while also recording his 1,000th career strikeout. On the offensive end, Castillo got some well-earned run support as young outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez lit things up, combining for six hits, five runs, and four RBIs between the two. After some tough battles against good teams in Boston and Atlanta, Seattle has a chance to get some momentum back with the start of this homestand.   

La Piedra adds to his legacy 

Seattle starting pitcher Luis Castillo hit a bit of a snag over the past few starts he had, which then resulted in some questions about his quality and what had happened to the Castillo we’d seen to begin this 2023 campaign. It should be noted that those three games where Castillo had “weaker” numbers were against good offenses (Houston, Texas, and Boston) and that pitchers nearly never go an entire season in one consistent form, but it was fair to ask especially after the Red Sox outing saw him give up seven runs through five innings. With injuries taking out several of Seattle’s relievers and starter Robbie Ray, the last thing that the Mariners could survive was losing more starting pitching, considering that it’s carried them for the larger part of these past two years. Tonight, Castillo got back to what we saw from him to begin the year.  

Heavily deploying his four-seamer while adding a touch of his changeup and sinker, Castillo was able to cut through the Athletics lineup and collect 22 swings and misses. With his location in check, Castillo minimized the amount of times Oakland was able to make solid contact (only six hard hit balls and one barreled ball on the 101 pitches he threw) while also managing the trouble he faced. The big situation that Castillo faced was in the last inning he pitched, having loaded the bases in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a few singles and a walk. Having gone high and inside and low and inside in his first two pitches, La Piedra blotted a changeup along the outside of the strikeout, getting Jace Peterson to roll over it for the harmless groundout to end his outing as a shutout.  

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo during his May 10th outing against the Texas Rangers (Photos by Liz Wolter)

Kelenic continues to crush 

Outfielder and former top prospect Jarred Kelenic us continuing his revenge tour with patience and power, mashing another homer in this game, his tenth on the season. Patience has been key for the outfielder from Waukesha, Wisconsin, as we’ve all seen what sort of issues that Kelenic’s dealt with at the plate and with his game overall. His mental mindset has been the biggest barrier he’s faced in his young career, whether it be continuously changing his swing as he tried to find an answer at the plate, showing visible frustration over a basic strikeout, and just generally having a lot of pressure on him to succeed after being the big piece returning to Seattle in the trade with Mets that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to New York. This really looks like it may be Kelenic’s breakout year, and he continues to use that patience to display his power as he leads the Mariners batters.   

Following Julio Rodriguez reaching first after Ty France was thrown out at second, Kelenic came up with two outs looking to do damage against Oakland starter Kyle Muller. Trying to get out of the inning and having just thrown two balls to the Seattle outfielder, Muller left a fast ball in the middle quadrant of the plate, which Jarred jacked to deep center field. Kelenic paid for the express mail on that ball, filling out the destination as the “JROD Squad” section out in center field, putting his team on the board first. Kelenic’s day didn’t end with that blast, as he went on to reach base in three of his next four plate appearances. That patience and more relaxed approach at the plate and to the game in general has Kelenic looking like another young, bright star in Seattle’s outfield.  

Julio finds rejuvenation? 

There have been cries of concern for the 2023 AL Rookie of the year and presumed next face of Mariners baseball for the next decade, but Julio Rodriguez continues to bring his recognizable smile to everything he does. Rodriguez has struggled coming into tonight’s game, bringing a poor .207 batting average into this ten game homestand, but was able to find that second gear of his and run with it all night long. While there is some reasonable concern about the struggles Rodriguez has faced at the plate, and perhaps the idea of a sophomore slump, but considering the attitude that Julio brings to the ballpark on a day-to-day basis, I’m not too concerned that he’ll be in that sort of scuffle for very long, especially if tonight is any indication.  

The center fielder from Loma de Cabrera, Dominican Republic reached base in all five of his plate appearances tonight, the best mark of any Seattle batter in tonight’s runaway victory. His first appearance was potentially the “cheapest” one of the five, as Julio got to first on a fielder's choice as teammate Ty France was thrown out at second. Julio earned every other plate appearance following that, singling and adding two doubles before reaching first as he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. Again, this series against the Athletics needs to be taken with a grain of salt considering how poorly their team is performing this season, but getting these wins mentally can be big for the players and team moving forward.  

Keeping the line moving 

In what is a dream scenario for Mariners fans and the ballclub itself, several batters chipped in for this victory to keep the line moving at the plate. Obviously, it’s against an Athletics team that may go down as one of the most historically bad in all of baseball, but building this momentum and getting players going is a key in games against these “bad” teams. Four Mariners had multi-hit games, while six reached base multiple times. While Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez will get plenty of the attention (as we just gave them), infielder Jose Caballero continues to be a guy that impresses and surprises, as he wasn’t on the team’s opening day roster. While Caballero didn’t have a huge game that saw him record multiple hits, his three-run homer in the second-inning kept the offense rolling for the Mariners and notched his second career homer, his second four-bagger in as many days.   

Quick notes 

• The Mariners won tonight’s game 11-2 to open up the 4-game series against the Athletics. 

• The Mariners are now 4-0 against the A’s in 2023. 

• The team tied their season high in runs (last: 4/11/23 vs. LAA). 

• Seattle’s 3, 4 and 5 hitters each reached base safely 4 times. 

• Seattle hit 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position. 

• Luis Castillo picked up his 1,000th career strikeout tonight after striking out Shea Langeliers in the bottom of the 5th inning. 

• Castillo is the first pitcher to record his 1,000th career Major League strikeout, while pitching in a Mariners uniform, since reliever Jamey Wright on Aug. 5, 2011...Félix Hernández was the 2nd-most recent, recording his 1,000th career strikeout (all with Seattle) on Aug. 25, 2010. 

• He joins 46 other active pitchers in the Major Leagues with 1000+ strikeouts. 

• In tonight’s outing he threw 6.0 innings, allowed 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 8 batters over 101 pitches. 

• Castillo's 22 swing-and-misses are most by a Mariners pitcher this season...Castillo has accounted for each of the top-5 performances in swing-and-misses by Seattle pitchers in 2023. 

• Jarred Kelenic went 3-for-4 with 1 home run, 1 walk and 3 RBI on the night. It is the first time Kelenic has recorded 3 RBI in a game this season. 

• Kelenic hit his 10th home run of the season in the bottom of the 1st inning and is the first Mariner to 10 home runs this year. 

• His home run is the longest home run hit at T-Mobile Park this season, passing Julio Rodriguez’s 454-foot home run on 5/27/23. 

• Julio Rodríguez went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs and 1 RBI tonight. 

• Tonight was the 2nd time this season he has had a 3-hit night (last: 5/12/23 @ DET) and the 3rd time he has hit 2 doubles in a game this season (last: 4/4/23 vs. LAA). 

• It is his first multi-hit game since 5/12/23 @ DET. 

• After his home run in the 2nd inning, José Caballero has now hit home runs in back-to-back games. 

• During the month of May, Caballero is batting .342 (13x38) with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 9 RBI and 6 walks. 

• Entering tonight’s game, Seattle 9-hitters led the Major Leagues in OBP at .372. 

• Ty France went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and scored 2 runs in tonight’s game.  

• It marked his 7th multi-hit game this season and the first time this year he has recorded a multi-hit game with 2+ walks. 

• Eugenio Suárez picked up 2 singles and 3 RBI. He now leads the team in RBI this season with 28. 

• Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford each picked up 1 hit on the night. 

• In his last 10 games, Raleigh is batting .273 (9x33) with 2 home runs, 4 RBI and 4 walks. 

• AJ Pollock walked twice and scored 2 runs. 

• The Mariners bullpen (Juan Then, Gabe Speier and Chris Flexen) combined for 3.0 innings and allowed 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and struck out 2. 

• There were no pitch clock violations in tonight’s game. 

What’s next? 

Following tonight’s blowout victory, Seattle continues this four-game series tomorrow against the Athletics in game two. The Tuesday, May 23rd matchup against Oakland will have a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST, just as all four of these games against the Athletics will. There are no promotions taking place through the course of this series, outside of the fact that they are all Mariners value games where fans can get $10 bleacher and view level tickets, $20 main level tickets, $30 club level tickets. 

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