TORONTO — After striking out the side in the seventh inning in his seemingly effortless fashion, whipping triple-digit fastballs with terrifying movement past hitters, freezing them with knee-buckling sliders and mixing in a few shake-your-head change-ups just because he could, Luis Castillo flashed a grin, removing his hat and offering his trademark fist pump that looks like a celebratory uppercut.
This is why the Mariners made acquiring the 29-year-old right-hander their priority at the Major League Baseball trade deadline — this setting, this moment, this performance.
Always at ease on the mound regardless of the situation with a heartbeat that seems to remain at resting level, Castillo delivered the best postseason pitching performance in Mariners team history. And this is an organization that had Randy Johnson.
Castillo became the first Mariners pitcher to toss seven-plus shutout innings in a postseason game, dominating and demoralizing a stacked Blue Jays lineup in the process, while leading the Mariners to a stunning 4-0 victory in Game 1 of the American League wild-card series.
With the win, the Mariners are a victory from going to the American League Division Series and guaranteeing at least one postseason game at T-Mobile Park.
Left-hander Robbie Ray will get the start for Seattle against his former team, and Toronto is now forced to start right-hander Kevin Gausman, who eschewed an offer from the Mariners to replace Ray in the Blue Jays rotation.
Castillo threw 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing six hits with no walks, a hit batter and five strikeouts.
When the trade was finalized and announced July 29, there was some lamentations that the Mariners gave up too much in prospect capital.
And as Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners president of baseball operations, admitted the feeling was “something more aggressive” than hurt to part with four prospects, including his top two shortstop prospects — Noelvi Marte and Edwin Arroyo.
But playoff performances mean more than prospect potential and future production.
When Castillo tossed up a pair of clunker outings against the A’s, there were some grumblings about whether he was really worth it, forgetting about his performances against the Yankees and Padres.
But in the bright lights and intense microscope of the postseason, he was at his best. Not since Felix Hernandez’s prime have the Mariners had a starting pitcher with the ability to overwhelm hitters like Castillo can.
Given a 3-0 lead in the first inning, Castillo could be even more aggressive against the Blue Jays hitters, using his video-game movement and four-pitch repertoire.
After retiring Whit Merrifield to start the eighth inning, Castillo let a 98-mph fastball ride up and in on George Springer. The ball struck Springer on the hand.
Not wanting to take any chances with Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. facing Castillo for a fourth time, manager Scott Servais went to his bullpen. He called on Andres Munoz to finish the frame. Munoz throwing 93-mph sliders and 103-mph fastballs got Bichette to fly out to right and Guerrero to ground out to shortstop to end the threat. Munoz returned for the ninth inning.
In his prestart news conference Wednesday afternoon, the Blue Jays’ Alek Manoah was asked about the pressure of pitching in the first playoff game of his MLB career.
“I’ve had some coaches who have said pressure is what you put in your tires,” Manoah said.
Those “wise” words from his coaches weren’t necessarily correct, you actually put air in your tires and the pressure is the measured amount of inflated air.
For Manoah, pressure is what the Mariners put on him and the Blue Jays in the first inning, as he struggled to harness his adrenaline and emotions.
It was noticeable when he got up 0-2 to Julio Rodriguez. After Rodriguez fouled off a sinker that was supposed to be thrown low and away and ended up well above the strike zone, Manoah threw another fastball that rode up and in, hitting Rodriguez on his left hand, where he was wearing a protective pad.
After Ty France’s ground ball to first base moved Rodriguez to second base, Eugenio Suarez took advantage of a 95-mph fastball left in the middle of the plate, lacing a double to right field to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
As Rodriguez raced home, the earsplitting din of the 47,402 fans in attendance had been silenced, and the cheers from the Mariners dugouts and the fans intermittently dispersed throughout the stadium could be heard.
It brought Cal Raleigh to the plate. A week ago he hit the biggest homer in recent Mariners history, a walk-off shot that clinched the team’s first playoff spot in 21 years. That moment, which will be immortalized on highlight reels telling the Mariners history was the biggest of his career … until now.
Down 1-2 in the count, he worked his way back into the at-bat by refusing to chase two very poor offerings from Manoah meant to get him to swing. Neither was very close.
When Manoah left a 3-2 sinker in the middle of the plate at his belt, Raleigh crushed a homer similar to his week-ago walk-off. The towering blast stayed inside the right-field foul pole and landed in the second deck of stunned and silenced Blue Jays fans.
Where would this team be without the somewhat unexpected performances of Suarez and Raleigh? The Mariners would probably be watching the postseason for the 22nd straight season instead.
Manoah ended Seattle’s fun, getting Mitch Haniger to ground out to third and striking out Carlos Santana. As he stalked off the mound. A disgusted Manoah knew that he might have turfed his team’s chances before they’d even seen a pitch from Castillo.
As expected, Manoah was able to settle in and find the command that made him one of the top pitchers in the American League. But Seattle picked up an key insurance run in the fifth inning. With one out, he hit Rodriguez with a pitch for the second time in the game. Ty France followed with a single to right field and Rodriguez was able to advance to third base. Suarez drove in his second run of the game with soft bouncer that wouldn’t allow third baseman Matt Chapman to throw home or turn a double play. The Mariners led 4-0.
Manoah exited the game with two outs in the sixth inning, having allowed the four runs on just four hits with a walk, two hit batters and four strikeouts. Manoah had allowed just four earned runs in his last six starts and 41 innings pitched in the month of September.
