Mariners' Luis Castillo continues to struggle in loss to White Sox
CHICAGO - In what has been a curiously uneven and far too inconsistent start to the highly anticipated 2026 season, two of the prohibitive factors in the Mariners' issues - the struggles of Luis Castillo and the offense's inability to hit left-handed pitching - came together Saturday night at Rate Field.
The final result - a 6-1 loss to the White Sox - was somewhat predictable.
Tough one tonight," manager Dan Wilson said. "They pitched well tonight. We had a tough time offensively where we weren't able to get much going. Luis got in some deep counts and gave up a couple home runs and was only able to get through the four. And offensively we weren't able to get enough going to bail him out."
Castillo, whose spot in the starting rotation is tenuous at best, pitched four innings, allowing four runs on a pair of two-run homers while forcing the Mariners to play from behind almost immediately.
"I felt good," Castillo said through interpreter Manny Acta. "I was trying to attack the zone and just had one of those days that I have been having, where luck hasn't been on my side."
Castillo has allowed at least four runs in six of his last seven starts this season. It was the third time where he failed to give Seattle at least five innings. Since tossing six scoreless innings vs. the Yankees in his first start of the season, Castillo is 0-4 with a 7.79 ERA while the Mariners are 1-6 in those games.
"I've just got to keep my head up," he said. "It's not how you start, it's how you end. But I felt like I'm making the pitches, and I have got to give credit to them, because they're putting good swings on it."
Castillo has dealt with struggles in his career. In 2021, the Reds lost nine of his outings in a row. That season he went 8-16 and led MLB in losses.
"I've got to keep my head up and keep battling," Castillo said. "The moment has to come."
Meanwhile, White Sox starter Anthony Kay, a somewhat nondescript lefty who spent the last two seasons pitching in Japan, stymied Seattle's offense in his outing. Kay, who came into the game with a 5.70 ERA in five starts and two relief appearances, pitched five innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts to improve to 2-1 on the season.
"It looked like he had pretty good command of the outside corner with some more of the off-speed stuff, and was keeping us honest with some good velocity on the inner half," Wilson said. "That's what pitchers do - in and out, change speeds and up and down. And seemed like he had all three of those going.
The Mariners are now 5-8 in games started by left-handed pitchers this season. As a team, the Mariners are hitting .200 vs. lefties (27th in MLB) with a .283 on-base percentage (29th), .334 slugging percentage (27th) and 111 strikeouts (25th).
In 30 prior innings pitched, Kay had allowed 35 hits, including six homers with 15 walks and 20 strikeouts. Opponents had put up an .897 on-base-plus-slugging percentage vs. Kay.
In his previous outing vs. the Kansas City Royals, Castillo gave the Mariners a reason to hope there were better outings ahead. His fastball velocity was back up in the mid-to-high 90s and his stuff actually looked lively even though he still allowed four runs on six hits over six innings pitched.
Castillo's velocity wasn't quite as good as his previous outing and it declined a tick or two with each inning he worked. It was noticeable in his inability to finish off a few hitters. He still struck out six batters and had 18 swings and misses in the game, but his efficiency wasn't ideal. Chicago hitters fouled off 22 pitches in his outing, including 12 with two strikes. He needed 65 pitches to get through the first three innings.
Sam Antonacci led off the game with a single. Later with two outs, Castillo got up on Colson Montgomery 0-2. But a pair of sliders - one for a ball and another fouled - never got the swing and miss to end the inning. Castillo tried to elevate a fastball, but it wasn't above the zone enough. Montgomery stayed on top of the ball, sending it into the right-field seats for a 2-0 lead. It was Montgomery's 10th homer of the season.
Chicago made it 4-0 in the third inning. Castillo hit Antonacci with a 2-2 sinker to start the inning. With one out, Miguel Vargas ambushed a first-pitch sinker that was on the inner part of the plate, sending it over the wall in left for a 4-0 lead.
Meanwhile, the Mariners offense, which scored 12 runs roughly 24 hours earlier, did little against Kay, even when they did get runners on.
The Mariners' lone run came in the fifth inning. Mitch Garver worked a leadoff walk and Cole Young reached on an error by first baseman Munetaka Murakami. Despite being down four runs, Leo Rivas bunted the runners over. Rob Refsnyder hit a hard line drive to left that was caught on a tough play by Antonacci, but Garver was still able to tag up and score from third.
Down 4-0 when Castillo exited, Wilson went to his middle relievers, most of whom were just added to the active roster in the last two weeks, to cover the final five innings.
Josh Simpson gave up a homer to Vargas in the fifth inning. Nick Davila gave Seattle a scoreless sixth. Jose Suarez, who hadn't pitched since April 30 after being designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves, pitched two innings, allowing a run on two hits.
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