Luis Castillo, Mariners crushed by Brewers in series finale

SEATTLE – All it takes sometimes to wind up on the losing side is one bad inning.

Wednesday afternoon’s start was one of Luis Castillo’s most frustrating, and worst of the season, the type that many pitchers prefer to forget about, as the Seattle Mariners veteran tied for a season high with 10 hits allowed, along with six runs, three earned, over five innings in a lopsided 10-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in front of 41,449 fans.

It was just the third time this season Castillo has allowed at least six runs in a start.

While the Brewers made consistent contact, Castillo still managed to strike out seven batters, with no walks.

“I think especially with this team, you try to do your best to just focus and lock in,” Castillo said through translator Freddy Llanos. “But a team like this that does like to make contact, I felt like every ball that they hit went right to a spot where there was no players there.”

The Brewers hit seemingly everything the Mariners threw their way, finishing with 17 hits, the second most Seattle has allowed in a game this season, with 14 singles.

The Mariners also gave up 17 hits at San Francisco on April 4, and allowed 18 against Detroit on March 31.

“Just a tough one,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “We knew they were going to be aggressive. A lot of singles, lots of balls that found ground, ground balls that found holes through the infield and they just kept stacking them up.”

The trouble started early for Castillo, who gave up three consecutive hits to begin the second inning, including Blake Perkins’ two-run double to left-center that made it 2-0 .

Seattle bounced back the next inning when Dominic Canzone drove in Jorge Polanco with a two-out double to right field to continue his hot July.

Ben Williamson drove in Canzone with a bloop single into center to tie the game at 2.

For July, Canzone is hitting .341 with four doubles, one homer, and five RBIs.

But in the fourth, J.P. Crawford’s error began to unravel Castillo’s day. It was a tough day at shortstop for the usually sure-handed Crawford, with several balls skipping past him into left field or taking odd bounces that gave him trouble.

His error allowed Isaac Collins to reach base to lead off the inning. After getting two outs, Castillo hit Anthony Seigler with a fastball to the back. Joey Ortiz then put the Brewers ahead with an RBI single. On the play, Collins avoided the tag from catcher Mitch Garver on a nearly perfect throw home by Canzone.

“It’s a team, like we talked about, that likes to put balls in play,” Wilson said of the Brewers. “They do that a lot, and you know, they found holes today. When you help them with that, then it’s going to hurt you a little bit. They just put the ball on the ground and were able to get it through.”

Brice Turang drove in another with a single, and William Contreras made it a 5-2 game with Milwaukee’s third consecutive hit. Due to Crawford’s error, none of Milwaukee’s three runs in the inning was earned.

Castillo gave up another run in the fifth when the Brewers led off the inning with three straight singles.

“This is a team that likes to swing a lot and make a lot of contact,” Castillo said. “So you kind of have to work a little extra, you know, apart from the routine that you already come in here, you’ve got to work a little extra to try to control and dominate them in the zones that they’re best at.”

While Castillo struggled to put batters away, the offense didn’t do much.

The Mariners had four hits outside of that two-run second inning, all of them singles, and never put much of an offensive threat together.

The Brewers took the series 2-1

Brewers starter Quinn Priester allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings, with two walks and six strikeouts.

“I thought he pitched well today in terms of mixing in his fastball and then his curveball and his slider were very good down there at the bottom of the zone,” Wilson said. “Again, a tough one, but one to move on from and start looking forward.”

Mariners reliever Trent Thornton allowed four runs on seven hits over two innings. Jackson Chourio drove in Turang with an RBI single in the sixth, and the Brewers scored three more runs in the seventh, as Turang’s RBI double and a Contreras’ run-scoring single made it 10-2.

Casey Legumina pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Mariners. Brandyn Garcia allowed two walks but no runs in the top of the ninth, while recording his first career strikeout.

Seattle’s Mitch Garver hit a single with two outs in the ninth against reliever Tobias Myers, but Canzone struck out to end it.

Polanco stretched his on-base streak to 14 games with a second-inning double.

The Mariners will begin a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday in Anaheim, California.