Seattle Mariners manage one hit, allow two runs in 9th in 2-1 loss to White Sox

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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MAY 19: Luis Castillo #58 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox at T-Mobile Park on May 19, 2026 in Seattle, Washington.  (Maddy Grassy / Getty Images)

SEATTLE - The Seattle Mariners turned a baseball game into a calculus problem on Tuesday night and found themselves unable to solve for ‘X.'

The Mariners managed just one hit against the White Sox, and Luis Castillo allowed two runs in the ninth inning in a 2-1 loss to Chicago. It was the failed solution to Seattle's experiment to "piggyback" two starting pitchers with Bryce Miller followed by Castillo.

The experiment did look promising for eight innings. Miller was phenomenal for Seattle as he pitched scoreless into the sixth inning with just one hit and one walk allowed. Castillo was also strong for two innings, striking out the side in the seventh and working out of a little traffic in the eighth.

However, Castillo walked Munetaka Murakami and hit Miguel Vargas to lead-off the ninth inning as the Mariners ran into trouble. Castillo saw one more batter in Colson Montgomery and struck him out as manager Dan Wilson turned to Andrés Muñoz to try and close it out. Pinch-runner Derek Hill and Vargas executed a double-steal on Muñoz to put the runners in scoring position, which forced the infield to play in for a possible play at the plate.

Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi each singled off Muñoz as diving attempts from Josh Naylor at first base while drawn in were unsuccessful at keeping the runs from scoring. Neither hit likely would have gone down as such without the infield in.

Ultimately, the pitching plan will be the area that will face the biggest scrutiny. The Mariners have six healthy starters and five spots in their starting rotation. After briefly going to a six-man rotation, the team tried to find a way to work six starters into five rotation spots but combining Miller and Castillo together on Tuesday night.

Miller was scheduled to start and pitch 4-5 strong innings before Castillo would replace him to theoretically finish the game with multiple innings of relief himself.

But Miller's innings weren't just strong, they were terrific. Miller had a no-hitter rolling through five innings on just 63 pitches with just one walk allowed. Tristan Peters doubled to lead off the sixth inning for the only hit of the night allowed by Miller. After striking out Edgar Quero and getting Sam Antonacci to fly out, Wilson came to get Miller as José Ferrer came in to get the left-handed Murakami.

Castillo then took over to begin the seventh inning and looked great out of the gates, striking out Vargas, Montgomery and Meidroth. An infield hit to Jarred Kelenic and walk of Peters yielded no damage in the eighth inning either as Castillo returned to the mound in the ninth for his third inning of work with Seattle nursing a 1-0 lead.

Muñoz began to warm up in the bullpen to be on standby and quickly became needed when Castillo walked Murakami and hit Vargas to put two runners on. Pitching coach Pete Woodworth came out to chat with Castillo as Seattle tried to buy time for Muñoz to finish warming up. However, Wilson attempted to make the change immediately after with a second mound visit without Castillo throwing a pitch and was denied by umpire Ryan Blakney.

Castillo remained in to face Montgomery and got a strikeout before Wilton turned to Muñoz, who was unable to keep the inherited runners from scoring.

Of course, if Seattle had managed more than just one hit against the White Sox, the pitching decisions could have been moot. Two runs on four hits with three walks and 14 strikeouts over nine innings is more than enough to win a lot of baseball games. Just not this one. 

Julio Rodríguez singled in the second at-bat of the game for Seattle and that was the only hit they'd get in the game. White Sox starter Anthony Kay was wild early, walking three batters and hitting another over the first two innings. The Mariners loaded the bases twice against Kay in the first inning with Patrick Wisdom's RBI groundout to shortstop scoring the only run of the game for Seattle.

The Mariners were 0-for-11 with a walk and eight strikeouts against Chicago's bullpen over the final 3 ⅔ innings.

Whether it was Miller threatening to turn the start into a no-hit bid, or needing to decide whether to pull Castillo for Muñoz after just two innings of work on Miller's heels, none of the choices felt natural or obvious for the Mariners. And even though it nearly ‘worked,’ it felt unfair to everyone involved.

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