8/8/25

(Seattle, WA) Like Cage the Elephant said, “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and that was the case for the Seattle Mariners on Friday night. After needing 11 innings on Thursday to sweep the Chicago White Sox, the Mariners had to reset for a series against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team desperate to cling to playoff contention amidst their summer slide. On top of that, it would be a packed house for all three games at T-Mobile Park as Ichiro would be honored all weekend long and have his #51 retired by the Mariners.

None of the pitching matchups in this series give much hope to the offenses as the series will likely feature three, low-scoring games. In the opener, two veterans would square off as Luis Castillo took the mound for the Mariners against Drew Rasmussen for the Rays.

Mariners 3, Rays 2 (Game One)

It didn’t take too long for Tampa Bay to get to Luis Castillo as his issues with the home run ball continued to pop up in this one. Brandon Lowe came to the plate as the second batter of the game and he added to his career season in power. A long ten-pitch battle between the two ended when Castillo fired a fastball at the top of the zone. Lowe was prepared and drove it out to right center for his 21st home run of the season. The solo blast quickly gave Tampa Bay a lead, 1-0.

Seattle really struggled against Drew Rasmussen who carved up the Mariners order from the very beginning. Rasmussen pitched six innings and faced the minimum in three of those innings with only former teammate Randy Arozarena getting to him. Seattle did tag Rasmussen for four singles but couldn’t manufacture a run against the Rays starter who did not allow a walk either while striking out four.

In Luis Castillo’s penultimate inning in the 6th, Tampa Bay would add on to their lead in the low-scoring battle. With the bases empty and two outs, the Home Run Derby runner-up stepped to the plate and got a tiny bit of revenge against Cal Raleigh and his team. Junior Caminero was all over a fastball up and in and smoked it 105.2-mph down the left field line and gone for a solo shot. It was the All-Star’s 31st home run of the season and extended the Rays lead to 2-0.

Outside of a couple of solo shots, Luis Castillo was once again solid and gave the Mariners a chance to win the game. While he is not the same strikeout pitcher he once was, Castillo moves the ball around the zone constantly, making for an uncomfortable at-bat and lots of weak contact. La Piedra gave the bullpen a bit of rest after playing 11 innings the day before as the veteran went seven innings and allowed just two runs on five hits without a walk and five strikeouts.

Seattle would have to mount a comeback against Tampa Bay’s revamped bullpen. That comeback wouldn’t come against Garrett Clevinger who pitched a 1-2-3 7th and then Griffin Jax would come in for the 8th. The former Twin was Tampa Bay’s big deadline acquisition and he showed why with a quick strikeout of Donovan Solano. J.P. Crawford would bring the tying run to the plate with a single to center and Cole Young passed the baton with his own base hit to right. Randy Arozarena would pop out for a huge second out. That would bring Cal Raleigh to the plate and as the Mariner faithful held on to hope, started to rain down “MVP” chants to the beloved catcher. Raleigh wasn’t going to disappoint. A 2-0 sweeper at the very bottom of the zone was hammered out to right center as T-Mobile Park erupted. It was a no-doubter as Raleigh’s MLB-leading 43rd home run of the season flew out in another clutch moment for Cal. Down to their final four outs, Seattle turned to their MVP who came up big to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead.

With Andrés Muñoz unavailable, Dan Wilson turned to Matt Brash to try to lock down the comeback win. While Brandon Lowe, Junior Caminero, and Josh Lowe all ran the count full, none could get the ball in play off of Brash. In his best outing of the year, Brash struck out the side in order to complete the comeback and send T-Mobile Park into a frenzy. Seattle stayed red hot, winning their fifth straight game, in dramatic fashion, defeating Tampa Bay in the opener 3-2.

Notable Performances

Rays

Mariners

• Cal Raleigh- 1-4, HR, 3 RBI, R
• Randy Arozarena- 2-4
• Luis Castillo (ND)- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO

What’s Next

Seattle (64-53) now owns the longest winning streak in the American League with their fifth consecutive victory. On Friday night, Houston defeated New York in extra innings while Boston blew out San Diego, Texas got blown out by Philadelphia, and Cleveland won their fourth straight over the Chicago White Sox. With all those results, Seattle still trails Houston by 1 1/2 games in the AL West and trails Boston for the top Wild Card spot by a game. The Mariners do extend their lead over the Yankees for the second Wild Card up to 2 1/2 games while Cleveland is just half of a game behind the Yankees for the final playoff spot and Texas sits 1 1/2 back.

The Mariners will attempt to run that winning streak to tie a season-high six games which they did back at the end of April into the beginning of May. The pressure will be on Logan Evans (5-4, 4.30 ERA) to do just that. Evans is coming off a strong start on Sunday when he outdueled Jacob deGrom to earn the Mariners the series win. In that game, Evans allowed three runs on five hits over five innings with no walks and three strikeouts. For Tampa Bay, they will turn to long reliever turned starter Joe Boyle (1-1, 2.30 ERA) to try to even the series. In his three starts this season, Boyle has allowed just four earned runs over 13 1/3 innings with 15 strikeouts to 7 walks and 7 hits allowed.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:40pm but make sure to tune in early as the Mariners retire Ichiro’s #51 with a special pregame ceremony. That ceremony is scheduled to start at 6pm and will be broadcast in its entirety on ROOT Sports.

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