Luis Castillo continues recent turnaround with strong outing

It was a disappointing loss for the Seattle Mariners, who squandered a late lead and suffered a 5-4 walkoff defeat to the Detroit Tigers in Sunday afternoon’s series rubber match.

But one major bright spot was Luis Castillo.

M’s blow late lead as Tigers rally for 5-4 walkoff win

Castillo continued his recent turnaround with another strong outing, tossing 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball. The three-time All-Star right-hander struck out five batters, while allowing just two hits and one walk on 100 pitches. His lone blemish was a solo home run surrendered to Kevin McGonigle in the fourth inning.

The 33-year-old Castillo endured a rocky beginning to the season, struggling to a 6.34 ERA through his first nine starts.

But since then, Castillo has logged a 2.12 ERA and 0.82 WHIP over his past four outings, with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings.

The first three of those outings came in a “piggyback” role with Bryce Miller – a strategy the club went with to address having six healthy starting pitchers following Miller’s return from the injured list in mid-May.

Related: We can stop thinking Mariners’ piggyback was a bad idea

But with the Mariners currently in a stretch of 16 games in 17 games, they are instead going with a six-man rotation for the next two weeks.

That meant Miller and Castillo each got traditional starts this weekend for the first time since mid-May.

Miller tossed a gem on Saturday, spinning six scoreless innings of one-hit ball in Seattle’s 4-0 win. After missing the first seven weeks of the season with a strained oblique, the 27-year-old right-hander has a 1.33 ERA and 0.78 WHIP through his first five outings, along with 29 strikeouts and just five walks in 27 innings.

Castillo then followed with another quality outing on Sunday, showcasing yet again the depth of Seattle’s talented rotation.

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