Mariners back to familiar .500 despite Kolten Wong’s late-game heroics
MINNEAPOLIS – For a team that president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto described as “we’re a .500 team that’s about as mediocre as you’re going to be and we’ve done it in a very .500 way,” the outcome was almost too fitting .
In their 100th game of 2023, the Mariners wasted a quality outing from starter Luis Castillo and squandered the late and unexpected heroics from Kolten Wong in a 4-3, extra-inning loss to the Minnesota Twins.
Carlos Correa’s single to right field in the bottom of the 10th scored Donovan Solano from second base for the victory.
The disappointing defeat left Seattle with a 50-50 record. The path to an 81-81 season seems clear and without obstruction.
Down to their last out in the top of the ninth inning and trailing by a run, the Mariners were moments away from a defeat that would have left them a 50-50 record – the most fitting of outcomes for a season and a team that, as Dipoto said, has been as mediocre as it could be.
But unwilling to accept defeat, Mariners manager Scott Servais emptied what was left of his bench in hopes of finding some way to scratch out a run against Twins right-handed reliever Griffin Jax.
Pinch-hitter Cal Raleigh singled up the middle to keep the hope alive. It brought to the plate veteran infielder Kolten Wong, who was pinch-hitting for Jose Caballero.
In what has been one of the most frustrating seasons in his career, Wong lost his starting job due to lack of performance and has played sparingly since.
On the third consecutive slider he saw from Jax, Wong sent a fly ball to right field that sneaked into the flower planters in the front of a seating box that hangs out over the high wall.
His second homer of the season gave the Mariners a 3-2 lead.
However, Andres Munoz gave up back-to-back doubles to Alex Kirilloff and Max Kepler in the bottom of the inning that tied the game.
Seattle got a strong outing from Castillo, who was facing the Twins in back-to-back starts after pitching against them Wednesday at T-Mobile Park.
Castillo pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. It was his 11th quality start (six innings and three runs or fewer) allowed this season.
His runs allowed came in the fifth inning after he was given a 1-0 lead on Tom Murphy’s solo homer to center off Twins starter Kenta Maeda.
After Kepler led off with a single, it looked as if Castillo would work another scoreless frame. He got Matt Wallner to fly out to center and got some defensive help when Eugenio Suarez made a pretty over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory for the second out.
But Trevor Larnach was able to lift a 1-0 slider to deep right field that bounced off the wall just out of the reach of Teoscar Hernandez’s leaping attempt. The ball bounced away for a triple.
Christian Vazquez followed with a single to right field that allowed Larnach to trot home with the go-ahead run.