The Seattle Mariners placed veteran starting pitcher Luis Castillo on the injured list on Tuesday, just two days after he departed his Sunday start against the St. Louis Cardinals with what the team later termed a left hamstring strain. The Mariners have since categorized the strain as being of the "Grade 2" variety. Castillo has received a PRP injection and is hopeful that he'll be able to return after the mandatory 15-day inactive period is over.
Castillo exited after three innings of work in which he allowed two earned runs and struck out three against one walk (SEA-STL GameTracker). This season, the 31-year-old Castillo has pitched to a 3.64 ERA over 30 starts. It's at least possible, given the dwindling amount of time remaining on MLB's schedule, that Castillo has thrown his last pitch this season. We won't know for sure until he's had more time to rest and recover.
The loss of Castillo for any length of time probably may not materially alter the Mariners' arc this season. Coming into Tuesday's contest, the M's have a record of 73-71, and they trail the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West by 4 1/2 games. On the wild-card front, the Mariners are 3 games out of the third and final spot and are tied with both the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Not surprisingly, SportsLine gives the M's just a 12.1% chance of making the playoffs.
Those are disappointing straits for a team that as recently as June 18 was 13 games over .500 and had a 10-game lead in the division. More ordinary play by Seattle in tandem with a reassertion of Houston's authority undid all that work, and now the M's are likely to miss the postseason for a second straight year. That trajectory already cost Scott Servais his job as manager, but president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto may be safe even if the Mariners miss the playoffs. Given the club's current spot in the standings and the loss of one of their rotation stalwarts in Castillo, Dipoto may need every ounce of whatever job security he has.
