Mariners shut out Toronto 4-0 for Seattle’s first postseason victory since 2001

Noelvi Marte spent August and September slashing .292/.397/.443 for Cincinnati’s Excessive-A affiliate, good for a 138 wRC+. And I’m nothing however pleased for him. The co-headliner in Seattle’s blockbuster trade-deadline deal for Luis Castillo can have a Corridor of Fame profession, and I’ll want him nothing however the perfect. That’s as a result of what Castillo gave me right this moment was a present I’ll treasure for the remainder of my life: 7.1 innings of shutout baseball in opposition to top-of-the-line hitting groups within the league to safe the Mariners’ first postseason victory since 2001.

To be truthful, Castillo wasn’t precisely in a strain cooker after what the Mariners’ hitters did to open the ball sport. In his first-ever postseason plate look, Julio Rodríguez received hit with a two-seamer. We ready to panic, however Julio appeared superb. With one out, Eugenio Suárez flipped a line drive down the fitting subject line for an RBI double. Cal Raleigh, ever the drama queen, then labored a full rely earlier than yanking a Beef Boy Bomb over the fitting subject fence to make the rating 3-0 within the first inning.

After that, the sport belonged to Luis Castillo. Staked to a three-run lead, he got here out and averaged 100 mph on each his sinker and his four-seamer within the backside of the primary. I’m going to repeat that as a result of it’s bananas. He averaged—averaged—100 mph on each—each— his sinker and his four-seamer. The nerds name {that a} Kobayashi Maru.

Castillo spent a lot of the sport pitching to contact and letting the Mariners protection do its factor. Alejandro Kirk led off the second inning with a base hit, nevertheless it was rapidly erased by a double play that Suárez made look simple regardless of getting the ball on an in-between hop. Within the third, George Springer hit a laser into the hole, however Mitch Haniger took the right path to get to the ball in time to maintain Springer to a single. Seeing as Bo Bichette adopted that up with one other base hit, Mitch’s play seemingly saved a run. By the point Castillo was by 4 innings, he’d solely thrown 51 pitches, strolling off the mound with all the arrogance of Arthur Fonzarelli.

The Mariners continued to piece issues collectively in opposition to an uncharacteristically wild Alek Manoah. Though he averages sliders only a quarter of the time, he bumped that as much as 37% right this moment, since he had no thought the place his fastballs have been going. Nowhere was this made extra clear than the highest of the fifth when broadcaster Dave Fleming started the inning by saying Manoah had settled in, and Manoah promptly throwing a ball on the opposite facet of the batter’s field. Listed below are Manoah’s fastballs:

In that fifth inning, Manoah hit Julio for a second time (mercifully only a graze). Ty moved him to 3rd, and Eugenio picked up an RBI fielder’s option to make the rating 4-0. The large righty would get pulled with two outs within the sixth when the Jays turned to southpaw Tim Mayza to retire the Mariners’ lefty stack of Kelenic-Frazier-Crawford over the sixth and seventh.

Within the backside of the seventh, Castillo lastly received Vanna White to disclose three Ks on the board, and left the inning at 99 pitches. However La Piedra wasn’t performed but. Respiratory the rarified air of the eighth inning, Castillo received Whit Merrifield to fly out harmlessly, and took Springer to 0-2 earlier than hitting Springer on the hand, and ending his afternoon.

The Blue Jays followers booed Castillo as he got here off the mound after hitting Springer, apparently having missed Manoah’s efficiency or unaware of the idea of irony (which might monitor, on condition that they’re Candian). The response in Mariner Nation couldn’t have been extra completely different. Grant Bronsdon experiences that Queen Anne Beer Corridor gave a standing ovation, and Eric Sanford tells me that the gang packed into T-Cell Park went completely bonkers. Castillo’s last line: 7.1 IP, 0 R, 6 H, 5 Okay, 0 BB, 19 whiffs, his quickest pitch of the 12 months (100.3), and 1 Solar Hat Award. This, this is why you commerce Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo.

Andrés Muñoz received the following 5 outs, and, courtesy of zachleft, I feel one of the simplest ways to know how that went is to take a peak into Blue Jays Reddit.

That 103 mph heater? It was the quickest postseason pitch in 5 years. That is the way you get away with throwing one thing within the heart of the strike zone.

Muñoz’s last line? 1.2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2K, 0 BB, 41% CSW. Each different arm stays recent for tomorrow, which, by the best way, is assured to not be the Mariners’ final playoff sport this 12 months. This, this is why you commerce Austin Nola, Dan Altavilla, Austin Adams, and Taylor Williams. (Ty France, Taylor Trammell, Luis Torrens, and Matt Brash are simply throw-ins.)

Pitching, protection, and a Beef Boy Bomb: the Mariners gained the Mariners manner. After which they danced. Can anybody inform me this wasn’t well worth the wait?