By Ryan Divish / The Seattle Times
BOSTON — The dichotomy of the back-to-back performances was striking, but not completely unfamiliar to those who have followed the Mariners over the first 42 games of the season and largely indicative of their 21-21 record.
A day after perhaps their most complete victory of the season, getting their usual strong performances from the starting pitching and bullpen complemented with better-than-normal run production and solid defense, the Mariners followed it up with dismal clunker that was lacking in every way.
Seattle starter Luis Castillo got rocked by the Red Sox in his worst 2023 outing, giving up seven runs in five innings as the Mariners were drubbed 9-4 on Tuesday.
The struggles started in the first inning when Kolten Wong bobbled a routine ground ball off the bat of Alex Verdugo and couldn’t complete the play. The error loomed large when Masataka Yoshida smoked a fly ball over the head of Julio Rodriguez in center field. Off the bat, Rodriguez retreated to the deep and uneven spaces of Fenway Park, believing he could make the catch. But at the last moment, he turned to play it off the wall. The decision came too late as the ball ricocheted past Rodriguez back to the outfield grass. It was a run-scoring triple for Yoshida.
The lead quickly turned to 3-0 when Justin Turner crushed a gift of a fastball in the middle of the plate, sending it over the Green Monster and out of the stadium.
Castillo retired the next two batters, but rookie first baseman Triston Casas made it 4-0 with a line drive over the short fence in right field.
For the first three innings, the Mariners hitters looked listless against Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta, who came into the game with a 6.23 earned-run average.
But Seattle exploded for four runs in the fourth inning. Teoscar Hernandez scored a pair of runs when his sinking liner got past a diving Jarren Duran in center field for a two-run triple. Taylor Trammell tied the game moments later, pulling a homer to right field just inside the Pesky pole.
But after retiring 10 of the 11 batters he faced from the first to the fifth inning, Castillo fell apart again. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Verdugo and Yoshida for a run. A wild pitch would later allow Yoshida to score from third. With two outs, Duran crushed a solo homer to right-center to make it 7-4.
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