Mariners Fast Facts: Seattle dominates playoff return, beats Blue Jays 4-0
Oct 7, 2022, 4:10 PM | Updated: 8:37 pm
Were the Mariners ready? Yeah, they were ready.
Mariners 4, Blue Jays 0: Box score | M’s take series lead – quotes and full recap
The M’s came out like a house of fire in their first postseason game since 2001, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 in Game 1 of their best-of-three American League Wild Card Series. Just like that, they are a win away from moving on to a meeting with the Houston Astros in the AL Division Series next week.
It was the kind of performance the Mariners have become known for this year.
They received a quality start from their starting pitcher, in this case an absolutely outstanding performance by Luis Castillo. They played clean defense. They rode an early lead after a huge homer in the first inning. And then the bullpen held it down in the end.
Luis Castillo does the nearly impossible as M’s silence Toronto
Here are full video highlights and the fast facts from Friday’s gigantic postseason win.
What you need to know
Luis Castillo was on another level on the mound for the Mariners, with their blockbuster trade deadline acquisition everything they could have hoped for when they swung the deal to get him from the Reds. He threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings, scattering six hits and allowing minimal hard contact. He finished with five strikeouts with his fastball living in the 99-100 mph range, and he had silly movement all game long.
Ace stuff from Luis Castillo. pic.twitter.com/EeCxbwrcCE
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2022
Castillo got all the run support he needed before he even stepped on the mound.
That’s because Cal Raleigh showed his flair for the dramatic once again.
Watch: Mariners open return to playoffs with Cal Raleigh homer
A week after he became the first player in MLB history to hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run to clinch a postseason berth for his team, Raleigh crushed another big homer for the M’s. Hitting in the cleanup spot for just the second time as a major leaguer, he worked the count against Blue Jays All-Star Alek Manoah and got his pitch, drilling a two-run shot to right field to give Seattle a nearly immediate 3-0 lead in the first inning (he came up with the M’s already leading by a run).
Rookie phenom and leadoff man Julio Rodríguez showed the moment wasn’t too big for him, reaching base three times – twice being hit by Manoah pitches and then a single in the seventh – and scoring a pair of runs.
Eugenio Suárez began the scoring with an RBI double down the line in right field to score Rodríguez in the first inning. He added another RBI in the fifth and a single to lead off the eighth.
3 batters in and the @Mariners have a lead! #WildCard pic.twitter.com/iGRZAw7yf9
— MLB (@MLB) October 7, 2022
Ty France had a single with Rodríguez running from first base in the fifth, setting up Suárez’s RBI groundout. He also moved Rodríguez over to second with a groundout in the first right before Suárez’s double.
Mitch Haniger hit a double in the eighth inning.
Top reliever Andrés Muñoz took over with a runner on and one out in the eighth inning, and he got Seattle out safely by retiring All-Stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette. He stayed out for the final inning, striking out two more All-Stars – Teoscar Hernández and Alejandro Kirk – and working around a two-out double by Matt Chapman.
Up next
Game 2 is set for 1:07 p.m. Saturday on Seattle Sports 710 AM and streaming on SeattleSports.com and the Seattle Sports app. Pregame starts at noon, and a special broadcast featuring hosts Bob Stelton and Mike Salk along with Mariners analyst and former MLB pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith will air from 10 a.m. to noon live on Seattle Sports 710 AM. You can watch the broadcast live at Hatback Bar and Grille, located directly across the street from T-Mobile Park.
More Mariners coverage from Seattle Sports
• GM Justin Hollander: Mariners do 4 things that ‘drive postseason success’
• Drayer’s Mariners Notebook: Excitement, not nerves, evident for M’s in Toronto
• Mariners-Blue Jays a battle of strengths with Seattle’s arms and Toronto’s bats
• How Seattle’s starting rotation looks for Wild Card series
• The defining factors in playoff series between M’s and Blue Jays
