For my first recap at Lookout Landing, I signed up for a Tuesday Night Against the A’s, and Tuesday Night Against the A’s I got. The Mariners fell 5-2 on Tuesday night in what can only be described as a “tough one.”
The bats just never got going for the hometown nine against Jacob Lopez, who entered the day with an ERA north of six. He went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, despite only generating three whiffs in 35 swings. His first and only strikeout of the day came against J.P. Crawford in the sixth — the final hitter he faced on the evening.
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Luis Castillo walked the first hitter off the game in Nick Kurtz, and it did, in fact, haunt. Kurtz got a massive jump to steal second base and move into scoring position. Then, with two outs in the inning, Tyler Soderstrom took advantage of a slider left in the middle of the plate, lacing it into the right field corner for an RBI double to make it 1-0.
“I always say the leadoff walk is like a free base, because for me it’s a 70-75% chance they’re going to score,” Castillo said. “They made me battle, and unfortunately, the run scored. But it was really important to get back to myself, attack with first pitch strikes, attack every batter and get ahead, and we were able to do that.”
Castillo still gave up some hard contact, but he settled in and seemed to go as his slider did, saying himself that the pitch felt better tonight. He generated eight whiffs with that pitch alone, and 14 in total. He struck out six — five of them were the first batters he retired. The A’s had trouble stringing together hits against him to do any damage.
The Mariners got the first couple of hitters on in the third, with Rob Refsnyder and Cal Raleigh singling. A Julio Rodríguez flyout was able to advance Refsnyder to third, setting up a Josh Naylor sacrifice fly to tie the game up at one.
Castillo’s night was over after five innings, allowing two runs on five hits. The only other run allowed came on a solo shot to right by Jeff McNeil in the fourth. Though they weren’t able to do much tackling on in the early going, the A’s were pesky as usual at the plate, managing to spoil many of Castillo’s potential put-away pitches.
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“The pitches were were I wanted them to be, but when you have an aggressive team like that that makes a lot of contact, they like to swing,” Castillo said. “But for me, what I took from that is those pitches they fouled off were exactly where I wanted them to be. Sometimes those are fouls, and sometimes they go for pop ups or roll outs, but for me, I knew those pitches were where I wanted.”
Raleigh showed another flash that he may be beginning to heat up, depositing a solo shot of his own into the ‘Pen — his fourth of the year — to once again tie the game at two. It was his second homer in as many days.
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Every time the A’s jumped out in front, the Mariners had an answer. Well, until the third time. Then they didn’t.
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Eduard Bazardo entered in the sixth inning to make his 11th appearance on the season. Back-to-back doubles from Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson to lead off the inning gave the A’s the lead right back, and this time they wouldn’t relinquish it. Bazardo would take the first regular season loss of his career.
On the brighter side of things, Mitch Garver continued to flex his ABS challenge muscles behind the plate. He notched three more successful challenges for his pitchers on Tuesday, but also lost his first appeal of the season, in the words of Aaron Goldsmith on the broadcast: “by the width of a credit card.” It registered on ABS as missing by less than a tenth of an inch.
The A’s would tack on in both the seventh and ninth, with a Shea Langeliers solo homer and a Wilson RBI single, respectively.
The Mariners failed to mount a late rally and went down quiet in the ninth. They’ll return to T-Mobile Park tomorrow afternoon for a Wednesday matinee, looking to preserve a game from the series before heading to St. Louis.
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