OAKLAND, Calif. – Even if Luis Castillo’s somewhat odd and unproductive struggles against the Oakland Athletics, or what’s left of them, which is a few veterans playing out the string and most of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, hadn’t occurred once again on Tuesday night, victory would have been difficult if not unlikely for the Mariners.
Even if Castillo didn’t implode during an interminable fifth inning that featured him being one strike away from five scoreless innings and then giving up four runs, this glaring fact remains – the Mariners scored one run and tallied one hit – an infield single from Carlos Santana over nine innings.
Seattle’s 4-1 loss to the A’s on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 4,251, but realistically about 2,000 fans, was many things – perplexing, disappointing, embarrassing and frustrating.
The team that scored nine runs on Sunday, scored one run on Sam Haggerty’s bases-loaded walk in the second inning where Santana led off with a single to shortstop.
Castillo cruised through the first four innings, allowing two base runners in the third inning. But in the fifth, with a runner on first, he issued a two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Nick Allen, bringing diminutive leadoff hitter Tony Kemp to the plate.
Castillo got up quickly 0-2 on Kemp, but left a changeup in the middle of the plate that was turned into a three-run homer to right field
The A’s tacked on another run on back-to-back doubles from Vimael Machin and Sean Murphy. When Castillo walked Seth Brown, his night was over. Matt Brash entered and struck out Dominic Garcia to finish the inning.