Mariners’ bats silent in 2-1, 12-inning loss to rival Astros

There are brutal, agonizing, gut-punch, shield-your-eyes losses.

And then there’s what happened to the Mariners on Tuesday night.

It’s April. It’s early April. A lot can and will happen over the next six months, and every major-league baseball team at some point in a season will go through challenging stretches with ugly losses.

But if there’s a game that can neatly encapsulate the experience of Mariners baseball — if there’s one game that can define an entire era — we submit this April 8, 2025 monstrosity as the pinnacle of offensive futility.

With the tying run at third base in the bottom of the 12th inning, Astros reliever Steven Okert struck out Luke Raley and Ryan Bliss to end the game and give Houston a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Park.

Best thing you can say about this game is … it’s over.

That the Mariners’ pitching was again nearly flawless, and that the defense produced several incredible plays, only extended and exacerbated the offensive ugliness that has overshadowed everything else this franchise has done the past several years.

The Mariners (4-8) wasted a strong start from Luis Castillo, and they’ll now turn to Luis F. Castillo for his second major-league start Wednesday in hopes of avoiding their third straight series loss.

The Mariners struck out 19 times and finished 1 for 19 with runners in scoring position Tuesday, continuing an ugly trend in both categories early in the season.

Through 11 games, the Mariners had entered Tuesday dead last among the 30 MLB teams with a .139 batting average with runners in scoring position.

“To me, it was one of those nights and we weren’t able to convert,” manager Dan Wilson said. “When you have opportunities to do it, you’ve got to take advantage of it. And tonight, we just weren’t able to do it.”

Asked several follow-up questions about how he might address the team’s ongoing and glaring issues of situational hitting, Wilson didn’t offer specifics.

“These guys are trying to make their adjustments,” he said. 
“And, you know, all we can do now is get ready for tomorrow and be ready for those situations tomorrow.”

Through 12 games, this Mariners team looks little like the team that finished 21-13 under Wilson to end the 2024 season.

“I’ve seen a lot of the same characteristics in our club and the fight in our club. That’s what I’ve seen,” Wilson said. “We’ve had some opportunities, but it’s still very early. I think that what we’ve seen in terms of how they fought, how they’ve played, how they’ve pressed on and stayed the course — I mean, I think they’re still in a good spot. We just got to capitalize on opportunities that we get.”

Victor Caratini single through the left side of the infield to score the automatic runner, Brendan Rodgers, from third base off Jesse Hahn in the top of the 12th for the winning run.

Dylan Moore went from goat to potential hero when he made an incredible play at third base in the top of the 11th inning with the bases loaded.

Moore initially bobbled a 108-mph ground ball off the bat of Rodgers, but Moore was able to corral the ball in his right hand as he ran to third, then touched the base as he threw off-balance to Luke Raley at first base for an improbably 5-3 inning-ending double play.

But the Mariners couldn’t capitalize in the bottom of the 11th after Julio Rodriguez advanced to third on Cal Raleigh’s deep fly ball to left field.

Mitch Garver ended the inning with a 6-4-3 double play.

Luis Castillo pitched a gem for the Mariners, allowing no runs pitching into the sixth inning. He scattered five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Castillo escaped unscathed a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, but needed 35 pitches in the inning to do so.

The Astros’ Yainer Diaz scored their first run in the top of the seventh inning after a one-out error by Moore, the Mariners’ fill-in third baseman who one-hopped his throw across the diamond toward Donovan Solano, the fill-in first baseman who couldn’t handle the high bounce.

Diaz scored when rookie right fielder Cam Smith, the Astros’ prized return in the blockbuster trade with the Cubs for star slugger Kyle Tucker, tripled down the left-field line off Collin Snider for his first big-league RBI. That made it 1-0.

Framber Valdez foiled the Mariners over six scoreless innings. He struck out eight and with one walk, effectively mixing in his signature curveball and sinker to limit them to two hits over six sharp innings.