With the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers coming to Seattle for a three-game series starting Friday night, the Mariners decided to shuffle their starting rotation. Instead of throwing ace Luis Castillo (5-7, 3.35 ERA) in the finale of a four-game series against the lowly Chicago White Sox, they called up youngster Emerson Hancock to make a spot start Thursday. That pushed back all of Seattle’s rotation members so that the team’s Nos. 1-3 pitchers would face the Rangers.
“Looking forward to the weekend series; it should be fun,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Thursday’s 3-2 defeat to the White Sox in 10 innings. “If we’re going to win the division, we’re going to have to go through Texas and Houston.” Seattle enters Friday’s games with a 5 1/2-game lead over the Rangers in the American League West, with the Astros eight games back in third. “It’s a long season,” Servais said. “It’s a grind. I know everybody gets so high and so low based on little increments … but (we’re) playing the long haul, as I’ve said all along, and I’m not going to change. It’s our starting pitching that we really lean on. They drive the train here, and we want to keep riding that train.”
The Mariners had just three hits and struck out 19 times Thursday. They nearly pulled off another late rally as Julio Rodriguez homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extra innings. Seattle’s other run came in the fifth on a solo shot by rookie Tyler Locklear, his first major league homer. “It’s hard to do it every night, but Julio gave us a chance,” Servais said.
