Castillo burned by homers in 10-K start vs. Ohtani

ANAHEIM -- On one hand, Luis Castillo continued to dominate with a season-high-tying 10 strikeouts while overwhelming the Angels in many big moments on Friday night. On the other, his two biggest mistakes proved costly and led to a 5-4 loss.

Castillo was tagged for a pair of two-run homers, from Shohei Ohtani in the third and Mickey Moniak in the sixth, along with an RBI single from Luis Rengifo in the fourth that led to five runs (three earned), his most since he turned things around midway through last month.

Perhaps more crippling than the Ohtani homer itself was the error from J.P. Crawford that immediately preceded it. Seattle’s shortstop bobbled a chopping grounder that would have led to the inning’s third out, but instead, it set up the Angels’ two-way star for his seventh career blast in a game he started on the mound. He also finished a triple shy of the cycle.

As a pitcher, Ohtani was solid but shaky, with six strikeouts and just three hits allowed, but also five walks and a hit-by-pitch. With a ballooned pitch count of 97 after five innings, he departed one inning before Castillo, who escaped some big jams -- including an inning-ending strikeout to Mike Trout in the fifth with two on -- but was burned for the two mistake pitches that left the park.

The one to Ohtani was a middle-middle changeup in a 1-0 count, right in the slugger’s wheelhouse, and he crushed it 440 feet and to the berm beyond center field. The one to Moniak was on a 97.1 mph fastball up, the fourth of the at-bat, and in a 1-2 count when Castillo opted for gas instead of using his breaking ball to induce a chase.

“I wouldn't say it was a good game because obviously we didn't get the win,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “But the most important thing for me, what I take away, is that I just competed and competed. Obviously, I had good numbers, but the two home runs, one of them was to Ohtani, and he's Ohtani. But the other one would have been my last pitch of the game for me. So it wasn't the results that we wanted.”

The Mariners gave “La Piedra” early support via a two-run homer from Jarred Kelenic in the first inning -- his first since May 22 -- and an RBI knock from Ty France that re-tied the game in the fifth. But the offense went quietly the rest of the way and Seattle dropped to 4-24 when trailing after six innings, going 1-for-10 with three walks.

And therein lies the broader issue: The Mariners need their starters to be lights-out night in and out, and if there are hiccups, the run differential hole is typically too big to dig out of.

Seattle dropped to 1-5 on this three-city road trip and has been outscored, 46-20. Its rotation has been on the hook for each loss and has a 7.39 ERA (23 earned runs in 28 innings).

“I thought we threw the ball really well,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It was just a matter of a couple of big swings for them that turned the tide in the game.”

That said, there were encouraging signs at the plate, but they were outweighed by the tough nature of the loss. The approach was far more disciplined, and aside from Julio Rodríguez’s three strikeouts, the lineup struck out just four times.

Kelenic’s homer was on the heels of a 13-game drought in which he was 8-for-47 with 24 strikeouts, good for a slash line of .170/.264/.234 (.498 OPS). Eugenio Suárez, who entered Friday with a 138-point drop in slugging percentage, MLB’s eighth-largest drop, ripped three balls harder than 100 mph, but all were outs. Mike Ford, selected from Triple-A Tacoma on June 2, crushed his first homer out of the DH spot, which has lacked production more than any American League team.

But it didn’t correlate to a win.

“That’s baseball,” Servais said. “And I know people don't like me saying that, but sometimes there are things that happen you can't control. I love Luis out there. I loved where we were at in the ballgame. I thought his stuff was outstanding tonight. He made big pitches get out at one jam with a strikeout of Trout. But, they got a couple of big swings on us tonight, and that was the game.”