Mariners trampled by Rays as Luis Castillo's struggles continue

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 1, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. – One bad start is an outlier that can be tossed aside like spoiled food.

Two consecutive rough starts becomes something more than concerning. It’s the start of a bad trend.

Three straight suboptimal starts is a problem that should be at least discussed, if not addressed.

And after four consecutive outings of poor pitching from a starter?

Well, it will be interesting to see what the Seattle Mariners do with Luis Castillo.

The struggles for the veteran right-hander continued in the sticky Monday evening heat of George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Castillo tossed out yet another short, inefficient and ineffective performance, nearly destroying any potential victory hopes for the Seattle Mariners in what would be a 10-2 pasting from the Tampa Bay Rays.

With the loss and the Houston Astros’ win earlier in the day, Seattle (73-65) fell three games behind Houston (76-62) in the American League West Division standings.

The Mariners have now lost 14 of their past 20 road games, including eight of their past 12.

While each loss stings a little more with in the season’s final month, seeing Castillo give up hard-hit balls all over the field and struggle to get outs makes it worse.

The Mariners aren’t in a position to make changes their rotation. They need Castillo to somehow figure it out before he takes the mound again.

Castillo had to work to somehow make it through four innings, giving up five runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

In a recurring theme during the Mariners’ road woes, they allowed multiple runs with two outs. After retiring the first two batters in the second inning, Castillo gave up an unlucky infield hit to Jake Mangum.

But he made the situation worse by walking Richie Palacios. Light-hitting Nick Fortes, who came into the game batting .212 with four homers on the year, clubbed a ball over the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer and a 3-0 Rays lead.

Tampa Bay picked up two more runs in the third. Castillo gave up an RBI double to Brandon Lowe and a run-scoring single to Junior Caminero.

He was able to get through the fourth without allowing any further damage. But his night was done.

The Mariners are 1-3 in Castillo’s last four starts, none of which lasted more than five innings. Over that span, he’s pitched a combined 17 innings, allowing 19 runs on 30 hits with seven walks and 18 strikeouts. That’s a 10.06 ERA. Opponents are batting .390 vs. Castillo over those games with 30 hits in 77 at-bats.

They can’t option Castillo to Triple-A Tacoma to get him right. They certainly won’t designate him for assignment. With Emerson Hancock converted to a reliever and Logan Evans on the injured list, their next best starting option is lefty Jhonathan Diaz in Tacoma.

With an off day Thursday, they could reshuffle the rotation slightly to get him an extra day of rest. They could perhaps put him on the injured list if he is dealing with something health-wise though he’s been steadfast that he feels fine physically.

But something isn’t right. The Mariners initially believed that Castillo’s struggles were the result of three consecutive starts on four days rest. The fatigue led to mechanical issues that decreased his velocity and stuff while leading to command issues, He’s had similar periods of sluggishness in his previous two seasons.

Meanwhile, the Mariners offense was largely non-existent and mildly self-destructive against Rays starter Shane Baz.

He pitched six scoreless innings, allowing five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Seattle’s two runs came in the ninth inning. Leo Rivas, who was called-up from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day with MLB roster expanding, smashed a two-run homer to right field. It was the first homer in his MLB career.