Mariners lure Pirates onto Rocks, win 1-0
a lesson in seamanship
La Piedra was unstoppable tonight as he led the Seattle Mariners to a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
During the age of sail (take a shot), when two enemy ships met in a duel it would go one of three ways. One ship would try to flee, fail, and quickly surrender. This was the most common result. Or both ships would stand in to each other and they would begin a slugging match that would end either when one crew surrendered or boarded the other ship.
Or, the third possibility, one ship would make a chase of it, running across the sea, coaxing every knot of speed from the wind and waves, to try and make it to safety. Tonight, when the Mariners and Pirates met on the high seas, we got the third kind of battle.
At the helm of the good ship Mariner tonight was none other than Luis Castillo. The 32 year old veteran is having a return to form this year after an uncharacteristically tough 2024 campaign. While his BA against is still the same as it was last year, he’s simply refusing to let batters slug off of him.
And he started off the night as dominant as ever, retiring each of the first nine pirates in order. Although there was a bit of a scare in the first when Andrew McCutchen shot a cannon ball deep to centerfield. It arced through the air and threatened to do damage. But it splashed harmlessly down in the water. I mean Julio’s glove. Julio, for his part, crashed into the wall.
Up to the end of the third inning the ships of the Mariners and Pirates were running down on each other as quickly as their sails could take them. As they grew closer the bow chasers thundered out ranging shots that did little but anger Neptune. The Mariners got runners on in each of the first three innings, but failed to capitalize. But in the third inning the Pirates felt a shiver go through their timbers. They saw Cal Raleigh step up to the plate with J.P. on second and two outs and tacked as quickly as they could and issued Cal an intentional walk.
That maneuver was enough to get them out of danger in the third, as Randy was called out on strikes on a pitch a full baseball outside of the zone, but from then on the battle was to be a stern chase. La Piedra remained steadfast and kept the Mariners out of danger while bearing down on the Pirates. He gave up a single to lead off the fourth, which must have made him mad, as he rocked his four-seam and sinker up to 97 mph for the rest of the inning, striking out two.
In the fifth inning, the Mariners finally came within long cannon shot of the Pirates when Julio and Cal had back-to-back walks. Julio’s wasn’t particularly competitive, but Cal’s was a 9-pitch battle in which he simply refused to whiff, fouling off four pitches. But fortune favored the Pirates and carried them out of danger yet again when Randy struck out. Look, he’s had an incredible week. He’s allowed to K a little bit.
But that last close call sapped the last bit of strength from Pirates pitcher Mike Burrows, and with 85 pitches under his belt for the day, he was relieved of duty and replaced at the helm by Caleb Ferguson. But Ferguson wasn’t quite the steady hand, and quickly found himself in trouble.
Birthday boy Jorge Polanco led off the sixth inning with a double, his 999th career hit. Luke Raley moved him over to third on a groundout, but it was Ben Williamson, a mere midshipman, who aimed the cannon shot that would doom the Pirates. On a 3-1 pitch, he hit a 104.5 mph line drive into right-center that rolled all the way to the wall. Easily scoring Jorge and giving Ben enough time to make it to second base.
That cannon shot blasted away some of the rigging at the Pirate’s mizzenmast, hampering their speed and limiting their ability to tack. They were stuck on their course, unable to change their heading without falling prey to a broadside by the Mariners. Still leading the chase, they continued resolutely on, hoping to find some safety. But while they were in front, they weren’t in control. Luis had been pushing them onto the rocks the whole time.
Now with the lead, he came back out to pitch the seventh and shut down any hope the Pirates had of answering back. He battled with every hitter he faced, getting Bryan Reynolds to groundout and making Nick Gonzales swing through a fastball at the letters.
But Oneil Cruz refused to go down. With the 1-2 and 2-2 offerings, Castillo through a changeup and slider below the zone, pitches that Luis referred to as “perfect” after the game, but Cruz wasn’t chasing. In his head, Castillo knew that this was going to be his last inning. And with Cruz showing strong discipline there was only one thing for it. After the game he described his thought process: “I’m going to throw this four-seam fastball and I’m going to throw it as hard as I can.” And sometimes the simple answer is best.
Their doom all but assured, it was a simple matter for Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz to keep the Pirates from escaping their fate. Brash got into a tiny bit of trouble, walking Tommy Pham, but didn’t let the runner past first base.
Muñoz, on the other hand, wanted blood. He annihilated Spencer Horwitz on three pitches, capping the K with a slider a foot below the zone that Horwitz still couldn’t hold up on.
Then he decided to finesse McCutchen, getting him to swing and miss at three straight pitches in the zone. He went in for the kill with this 86 mph slider that dropped about 7 miles before making it to the plate.
And while he wasn’t able to get the immaculate inning as Bryan Reynolds actually managed to take a ball and even put it in play, Muñoz did get to show off his fastball when he pumped in this 100 mph heater right into the zone. This thing moved at a measurable percentage of the speed of light. Reynolds never saw it.
When Reynolds softly flew out to end the game, the Pirates, their ship wrecked on the rocks, hauled down their flag and surrendered. But they aren’t all captured yet. Some of them managed to slip away in shallow-draught rowboats before the Mariners could bring their ship around the shoals.
We’ll see if the Mariners will prevail against the Pirates yet again tomorrow afternoon as the M’s go for the sweep.