The Seattle Mariners have not had a pleasant experience on the East Coast over the past 10 days.
The slumping Mariners, looking to end a four-game losing streak, will turn to Luis Castillo in the finale of their nine-game road trip Wednesday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Seattle lost two of three in Baltimore last week before dropping two of three over the weekend against the New York Mets, including a 7-3 defeat on Sunday in the Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pa. The disappointing results have since made their way to Philadelphia, where the Mariners lost 12-7 on Monday and then 6-4 on Tuesday.
In the latest setback, Seattle rallied to forge a 4-4 tie on Eugenio Suarez’s two-run double in the seventh inning. However, J.T. Realmuto responded with a two-run homer against Matt Brash in the eighth as the hosts prevailed.
“A road trip’s a road trip. You know, it is what it is,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I think we anticipated that it was going to be a long one. It’s been a long one. But there’s nothing out of the ordinary here for us. We’ve just got to continue to come out each day ready to play. And tonight, these guys were ready to fight. They fought and it just didn’t go our way.”
Realmuto, who has homered in both games of the series, was particularly emotional in celebrating with his teammates after the go-ahead blast.
“That’s a really good team over there,” Realmuto said. “That was a pretty intense game with them coming back and tying the game on us. Emotions were definitely high after that swing.”
Like his team, Castillo (8-6, 3.48 ERA) is hungry for a win. The right-hander is coming off one of his worst outings of the season, when he gave up six runs and nine hits — including three homers — in four innings against the Mets on Friday.
Castillo is 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.
The 32-year-old veteran certainly will be looking to fare better than teammates Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller, who have surrendered a combined 10 runs over seven combined innings while starting the first two games of the series.
“This is where we’re at,” Wilson said. “This time of the season, we’ve got to put this one behind us and come out (Wednesday) and be ready to play. Quick turnaround, but we’ve been here before.”
Philadelphia will give the ball to Jesus Luzardo (11-6, 4.21 ERA), who took his first loss in more than a month on Thursday against the Washington Nationals. Still, the lefty was effective in that contest, allowing three runs and striking out seven over six-plus innings in an eventual 3-2 defeat.
“Being able to land the sweeper has been big all year,” Luzardo said. “Being able to throw it for strikes, for chase, throwing it in high-leverage counts, has been a good weapon for me. I went through a rough stretch where I didn’t have a good feel for it, and lately it’s been good for me.”
Luzardo has made six previous appearances (three starts) against Seattle, posting a 2-1 record with a 4.15 ERA.
–Field Level Media
