Luis

Castillo

Mariners manager Dan Wilson opted to pull Castillo with the bases loaded in the third inning after just 48 pitches. It was his shortest start since April 27, 2018. The 32-year-old veteran right-handed breezed through the first two frames before giving up a giving up a two-run homer to light-hitting Andrês Giménez. He was charged with one additional run when lefty reliever Gabe Speier handed out a bases-loaded free pass to Daulton Varsho.

Rather than risk Castillo in a road start, the Mariners will have him pitch just once at home in the ALCS. Kirby will be lined up for a potential Game 7, though the Mariners will have some options with Bryan Woo’s return giving them five starters.

Gilbert started more recently than Luis Castillo in the ALDS and threw more than twice as many pitches as Castillo in relief in Game 5 (34 to 15), but such is the Mariners’ desire to pitch Castillo at home than they’re going to bypass him for now. He’ll presumably start Game 3.

The Mariners have made it official leading into Sunday’s ALCS opener in Toronto that Miller will get the ball on short rest to kick off the best-of-seven series after George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo all pitched during Friday’s series-clinching win over Detroit. The 27-year-old righty tossed 4 1/3 innings on Wednesday in Game 4 of the series, but threw only 44 pitches in that contest. He would be pitching on just four days of rest, so this would likely be an abbreviated outing and another bullpen game to allow the Mariners to ostensibly reset their rotation.

The 32-year-old hurler issued four walks on the night while striking out three opposing hitters. He worked into and out of trouble in each of the first two innings — needing 51 pitches to get his first six outs — before settling in. The only hit that he allowed came on a two-out single by Gleyber Torres in the fifth that put runners at the corners. That prompted manager Dan Wilson to go to his bullpen to get Gabe Speier to face Kerry Carpenter. Castillo got 13 whiffs on 85 pitches on the night — five each on his fastball and slider — while posting a CSW of 25 percent. He’ll now bide his time and see how the series plays out as both he and George Kirby would be available on regular rest should the series go back to Seattle for a decisive fifth game on Friday.

Castillo draws the starting assignment for Sunday’s critical Game 2 showdown against Tigers ace Tarik Skubal after Seattle dropped the series opener at T-Mobile Park. The 32-year-old veteran closed out the regular season on a high note with a stellar 2.45 ERA over five September starts, including a 10-strikeout gem against the Rockies to end the year.

It’s a significant loss for Seattle’s pitching staff heading into a best-of-five series against the Tigers as Woo remains sidelined heading into the postseason while continuing to recover from pectoral inflammation that sidelined him at the conclusion of the regular season. There was optimism the 25-year-old ace would be ready for the ALDS, but it sounds like he’s going to get some additional time off. It’ll likely fall on Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo to step up in his absence behind Logan Gilbert and George Kirby.

Castillo struck out 10, topping his previous season high by two. He concludes the regular season having allowed two runs in final four starts and going from 8-8 with a 3.94 ERA to 11-8 with a 3.54 ERA. He’s still a hard guy to trust outside of Seattle — he had one quality start against a contender on the road this year — but even with his shrinking strikeout rate, he’s a survivor.

Castillo struck out three batters on the day and didn’t allow a base on balls. All three of the hits against him were singles. The only time the Royals had a runner reach second base against him came as Salvador Perez and Adam Frazier hit back-to-back one-out singles in the second inning, but Castillo was able to retire the next two hitters without issue. The 32-year-old hurler got five swings and misses on 84 pitches on the day, registering a CSW of only 19 percent. Now 10-8 on the season, he’ll carry a 3.63 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and a 152/46 K/BB ratio (173 1/3 innings) into his final start of the regular season on Wednesday against the Rockies.

Castillo’s lone run allowed came after he exited the game, as he gave up a single to Luis Rengifo and Rengifo scored on a double by Logan Davidson allowed by Carlos Vargas. It leads to a no-decision, but it’s another strong outing from Castillo who has now allowed just two runs over 12 innings in his last two outings. It’s nice to see after he was so bad in the previous four. Castillo will take a 3.76 ERA into a start scheduled against the Royals next week.