Luis Castillo out performs Alek Manoah, as the Mariners shut out the Blue Jays 4-0.
The first inning was one that Alek Manoah would like to forget, he was wild both inside and outside of the strike zone. Manoah hit Julio Rodriguez in the hand with a fastball on the fourth pitch of the game. Then he allowed a double to Eugenio Suarez on a poorly spotted 4-seamer, and a homer to Cal Raleigh on a poorly spotted sinker. Manoah’s outs came in the form of 2 groundouts and a strikeout. Luis Castillo’s half of the first inning was much better, he only needed 11 pitches to induce 3 straight groundouts. Castillo was up to 100.3 mph in the first inning.
Manoah started out the second inning by striking out Jarred Kelenic on four pitches. Adam Frazier singled into RF and J.P. Crawford followed it up with a 5 pitch walk. Manoah avoided the two on, one out jam by striking out Julio Rodriguez on a white castle special (3 straight sliders). And then getting a flyout to RF. Three of Manoah’s four hits allowed occurred during the first two innings. Alejandro Kirk led off the bottom half of the second inning with a single that he kept just inside of the 1st base line, however it was quickly erased as Teoscar Hernandez grounded into a double play on the first pitch he saw. Luis Castillo allowed another single in the frame, this one to Matt Chapman, on a ball that fell in no mans land center field. Raimel Tapia then flew out to center field to end the inning.
Manoah went 1-2-3 in the top of the third, getting a groundout, strikeout, and a pop out. So far Manoah has been unable to locate his fastball, neither his 4-seamer nor his sinker. His slider has been his best weapon up to this point, getting 6 of his 9 outs so far on it. In the bottom half of the third inning, Luis Castillo got 2 quick outs, a strike out and a soft liner to center field. He allowed a single to George Springer on a second pitch sinker, but the first pitch that Castillo threw in the at-bat was ridiculous. Castillo threw a painted backdoor 100.1 mph 4-seamer with 18 inches of horizontal run. His stuff is eye popping, but it was looking extra special in this Wild Card game. Castillo did allow another base hit in the frame, but it was an infield hit, which he quickly followed up with a fly out to center to end the inning.
Manoah started to settle in during the fourth inning, getting a slow dribbler right back to himself followed by a fly out and a groundout. His slider continued to look good. The bottom half of the fourth went by just as fast as the top half did. Castillo also went 1-2-3, getting a groundout, lineout, and fly out. The two pitchers only needed 18 pitches combined to get through the top and bottom half of the fourth.
J.P. Crawford hit a 104.9 mph laser directly at George springer for the first out of the fifth inning. Manoah then hit J-Rod for a second time in the game, this time it was a sinker that ran in and got him on the forearm. Ty France then inside outed a fastball into right field for the Mariners 4th hit of the ballgame, which led to runners on the corners with 1 out. Suarez got J-Rod in by grounding into a RBI fielder’s choice. Manoah got a pop out to end the inning, he once again got burned by his command issues with the fastball. In the bottom half, Castillo allowed back to back 2 out singles, after getting two fly outs. Nothing came of it as he jammed Bo Bichette on a sinker with 19 inches of run, which led to a soft grounder to 2B.
Both sides went 1-2-3 in the sixth inning. Manoah would get two quick groundouts before the Blue Jays called to the bullpen, ending his outing with a statline of: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 ER, 4 K. Tim Mayza came into the game and just like Manoah got a groundout. Castillo’s outs came in the sequence of strikeout, pop out, and groundout.
Tim Mayza came back out to start the seventh inning, and just like Manoah, he got 2 quick groundouts before another call to the bullpen. Mayza’s sinker induced all 3 of his groundouts, on the season the pitch has a ground ball percentage of 61.9%. Yimi Garcia was tasked with finishing off the top of the seventh inning, and he did just that despite allowing a 2 out single to J-Rod. Luis Castillo just decided to get even nastier for the seventh inning, he struck out the side after having only 2 K’s throughout the first 6 innings.
Zach Pop got the call to start the top of the eighth inning, he faced only 3 hitters striking out one of them and allowing the other 2, to reach base. Suarez singled and Haniger doubled, that would be enough for interim manager John Schneider to see before pulling Pop and going to the arm barn once more. Trevor Richards was tasked with escaping a 2 runners in scoring position, one out jam. He did just that, he struck out Santana on three pitches and got Kelenic to bounce out to 1B. Luis Castillo would face two more hitters in the eighth before being pulled, he got a flyout to right field off the bat of Whit Merrifield, and on his last hitter of the game he threw a 97.9 mph fastball that hit George Springer directly on the hand. Castillo finished the game with a statline of: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 5 K. The Mariners bullpen only needed 5 outs to win the game, and they relied on one man to get all 5 of them, Andres Munoz. Munoz got a flyout and a groundout to end the eighth inning, and get him 2/5 of the way to completing the save.
Trevor Richards continued pitching into the ninth inning, in which he got a flyout to LF in foul territory and surrendered a walk before being pulled. Richards changeup looked fantastic, which it has been all season, on the year his change piece has a .169 xBAA, 48.7 Whiff%, and a miniscule 22.2 Hard Hit%. Adam Cimber inherited a runner on first base when he was called to enter the game, but it didn’t bother him much as he only needed 3 pitches to get 2 outs. Andres Munoz trotted back out to the mound to finish off the save, he struck out Kirk on 3 pitches and then struck out Teoscar Hernandez. Matt Chapman hit an elevated slider for a 2 out double down the third base line. Munoz kept everything under control getting the very next hitter to groundout, which would complete his save and win the game for the Mariners.
Luis Castillo looked absolutely dominant throughout the entire game, his stuff was overpowering, as it always is but most importantly for Castillo he had command and was in control of where his stuff was actually going. While Alek Manoah struggled to settle in early in the game, allowing a 3 run first inning which would ultimately be the deciding factor. Manoah struggled with his command on both his 4-seamer and sinker, misses inside of the zone is what got Manoah beat in this game. The Blue Jays look to bounce back with their ace, Kevin Gausman on the hill, in an effort to save their season. The Mariners would much rather put the Blue Jays away and not even have to think about a possible game 3.