Recent Mariners bullpen contributor claimed on waivers

One contributor to the Seattle Mariners’ recent stellar bullpen run has a new team.

Left-hander José Castillo was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

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Castillo was a waiver claim by the Mariners themselves on Sept. 3, with the 29-year-old coming to Seattle after a stint with the New York Mets.

The Mariners turned to the 6-foot-6 southpaw three times, and he allowed just three hits, two walks and an unearned run over three innings. He also logged one strikeout.

Castillo appeared once in each of series during the Mariners’ current nine-game win streak: Sept. 7 at Atlanta, Sept. 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals and Sept. 11 against the Los Angeles Angels. The unearned run that scored against him was the inherited runner to begin the 12th inning of a 7-6 Seattle win over the Angels last Thursday.

The Mariners using Castillo on back-to-back days spelled the end of his time with the team. He was designated for assignment by the Mariners on Friday when they recalled right-hander Casey Legumina from Triple-A Tacoma to add a fresh arm to the bullpen.

Castillo pitched in five games for the Arizona Diamondbacks and 16 for the Mets this year before joining the Mariners. He previously appeared in 40 games between 2018-23 with the San Diego Padres.

Over the Mariners’ nine-game win streak, the bullpen has allowed just a single earned run while pitching 38 innings, equaling out to a 0.24 ERA that is the best in baseball over that stretch by a wide margin (second-best is Cleveland’s 1.74 ERA).

Seattle’s relievers also have an MLB-best .151 opponent average and 0.66 WHIP over that stretch, despite having thrown the third-most innings in the game, just 1 1/3 innings less than the 39 1/3 thrown by the Angels that is most in baseball.

Mariners’ bullpen ‘finding something extra’ during stellar run

The Mariners will return to action at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday when they begin a six-game road trip with the first of three games against the Kansas City Royals. Radio coverage on Seattle Sports of Tuesday’s game will begin at 3:30 with the pregame show.

The M’s (82-68) enter the week with sole possession of first place in the AL West with just 12 games remaining in the regular season. It is the latest in any season that the Mariners have held first place since 2001.

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