Luis Castillo’s dominant start, Jarred Kelenic’s clutch catch give M’s series sweep of Rockies

Once the final out of a tense seventh inning was secured, Luis Castillo whirled around and hopped off the T-Mobile Park pitching mound, offering up one of his vintage fist pumps as he made his way back toward the home dugout.

There was a little more juice behind this celebration, and for good reason.

Castillo wasn’t perfect Sunday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies. Not quite.

But for six dominant innings, the Mariners ace had many of the 23,585 fans in attendance thinking that anything was possible as he retired the first 18 Rockies in order and set the tone in the Mariners’ 1-0 victory.

Castillo himself said the idea of a perfect game dawned on him midway through the game.

“It came into my mind around the fifth inning when I looked up at the scoreboard and realized nobody’s gotten on base,” Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. “I remember going in the dugout and everyone was just quiet.”

Castillo’s perfect-game bid was broken up in the seventh inning, but his continued dominance on the mound has been one of the most encouraging signs of the Mariners’ up-and-down start to the season.

The other notable bright spot has been Jarred Kelenic, who broke up a scoreless game with a scorching RBI single in the sixth inning and then made a diving catch with two outs near the right-field line in the eighth inning to protect that 1-0 lead as the Mariners (8-8) completed the three-game series sweep of the Rockies (5-11).

The Mariners have won four in a row to move to .500.

“Pitching and good defense,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “There’s no substitute for it.”

Colorado’s Jurickson Profar ended Castillo’s perfect-game bid by leading off the seventh inning with a soft single to left field.

Kris Bryant followed with a dying infield single – a hit that registered just 55 mph off the bat – to put two runners on with no outs.

Castillo shut down the heart of the Rockies’ lineup after that.

Charlie Blackmon, Colorado’s veteran No. 3 hitter, whiffed at an 88-mph changeup for a third strike.

C.J. Cron, the Rockies’ slugging cleanup hitter, grounded out to Ty France at first. That moved Profar to third and Bryant to second as the potential go-ahead run.

Ryan McMahon followed with the hardest-hit ball of the inning for the Rockies – a line drive that registered at just 82 mph off the bat and hit right at Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, who jumped and stretched his glove over his head, catching the ball in his palm for the third out.

That prompted the celebration from Castillo, his day complete.

“He’s always electric,” Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh said, “but he was on today, for sure. … He throws great one game and then seems to go do it again and you’re like, ‘That might have been the best he’s ever thrown.’ And then he goes out and does it again.”

Felix Hernandez remains the last MLB pitcher to throw a perfect game, on Aug. 15, 2012, in Seattle.

Castillo finished with seven shutout innings and just two hits allowed, with no walks and nine strikeouts on 91 pitches.

“The thing about Luis is, he’s not afraid of anybody,” Servais said. “He’s going to go right after you. He will challenge you.”

In four starts this season, Castillo has been one of baseball’s best pitchers, allowing just two runs – both in his last start against the Cubs in Chicago – across 24 2/3 innings pitched.

He has 26 strikeouts and just four walks. His 0.73 ERA ranks fourth among all MLB pitchers. And, yes, it’s very early in the season, but it’s not far-fetched to think Castillo could be in line to start for the American League when the All-Star Game returns to Seattle this summer.

“Of course,” he said, “that’s the goal.”

Kelenic extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his 107-mph single off Brad Hand, the Rockies’ veteran left-handed reliever called upon to face the left-handed-hitting Kelenic with two outs in the sixth.

It didn’t work. Kelenic got ahead in the count and then laced a 93 mph fastball from Hand to right field, scoring France from second base, just ahead of the throw from Blackmon.

In the eighth inning, with Justin Topa pitching in relief for the Mariners, Kelenic made a full-stretch diving catch to rob pinch-hitter Elias Diaz for the final out of the inning – stranding Alan Trejo at second base and preserving the Mariners’ 1-0 lead.

Kelenic was positioned a little closer to the line in right field, and he was anticipating the kind of slicing drive he saw from the right-handed Diaz.

“I got a good jump,” he said. “I knew it would be slicing away from me, and I just had to beat it to the spot. When those balls are tailing like that, you’ve got to out-run it. That was my mentality, and I was just trying to save that run there.”

Kelenic continues to be one of baseball’s most fascinating stories of the early season, and that he’s contributing in so many ways – hitting, hitting for power, stealing bases, playing strong defense – is another positive sign of his development and maturity.

“And oh by the way, he’s 23 years old,” Servais said.

Paul Sewald closed the door in the ninth inning, striking out Profar, Bryant and Blackmon for his fourth save.