SEATTLE — The sold-out crowd of 45,268 at T-Mobile Park was on its feet in the eighth inning Thursday, screaming — begging, really — for a singular run on a night when the most prevailing storyline was pitching.
Standing in the batter’s box, Mariners first baseman Ty France felt a sense of déjà vu wash over him as the crowd got louder and louder. France knew exactly what it reminded him of.
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“It felt like October again,” France said, smiling.
The last time Seattle played in these parts was in October: Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Astros. Surely you remember that vexing 1-0 loss in 18 innings that ended Seattle’s season, right?
“It was like, ‘Holy cow, we’re going through this again,’” Mariners manager Scott Servais said.
Just when it seemed the Mariners’ season-opener against the Guardians was dangerously teetering toward scoreless oblivion, France’s three-run homer gave everyone a jolt. Seattle eventually prevailed 3-0.
France’s heroics and stout pitching from the Mariners, which included six scoreless innings from Luis Castillo, brought back some memories of how Seattle won a lot of its 90 games a year ago: a lot of pitching and just enough offense sprinkled in to make it all work.
On top of all that, Servais acknowledged another key factor in the victory: the fans. That’s right, all 45,268 of them.
“The crowd changed the game,” he said. “The game got loud, and it got to their pitcher (reliever James Karinchak) a little bit. He was a little out of whack.”
In the eighth inning, and with the slow-working Karinchak on the mound, J.P. Crawford fell behind 0-2 in the count. But that’s when Karinchak was dinged for a ball on a pitch-clock violation.
Suddenly, the decibel levels in the ballpark shot through the roof. And then it got even louder when Karinchak airmailed a pitch to the backstop. He looked, well, rattled.
That free ball came back to haunt him, as he ended up walking Crawford. After Julio Rodríguez flew out to center field, Karinchak hit Kolten Wong with a pitch. Now there were two runners on base. Again, more and more decibels.
That brought up France, who had singled and doubled earlier in the game. He jumped on a 1-1 fastball high and away and drove it deep to the wall in right field. The ball kept carrying and finally settled over the fence as the crowd really erupted.
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“You got the feeling that when it got louder in the ballpark, stuff started to happen,” Servais said. “That’s really a tribute to the fans who were in the (ballpark) tonight.”
Whatever works, right?
Actually, a lot of things worked for the Mariners on Thursday, and it began with Castillo, the trade deadline acquisition a year ago from the Reds who has essentially been a godsend for Seattle.
Castillo struck out six, allowed one hit and got six strikeouts in a 76-pitch, six-inning outing. If it wasn’t March 30 and he was stretched out, Castillo would have surely stayed in the game longer.
TY FRANCE IS HIM
3-Run blast to give the Mariners the lead! pic.twitter.com/CxiYsOm2Sw
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 31, 2023
The night wasn’t without some peril for Castillo, though. In the third inning, Cleveland’s Will Brennan lined a ball up the middle — at 96 mph, no less — that hit Castillo flush on the side of the head.
“I was a little worried when I went out there (to the mound),” Servais said.
Turns out there was nothing to worry about. Castillo picked up his hat, tossed a few warmup pitches and then proceeded to, well, shove against the Guardians.
Not only did Castillo strike out the next batters in the inning — yes, after he was hit in the head — but, better still, he set down the final 12 hitters he faced after taking one to the noggin.
“It’s scary,” Castillo said through translator Freddy Llanos. “When the ball hit me, I realized I was OK right away. Normally, you get hit and you feel dizzy or something. But I felt good.”
After Castillo’s six innings, Servais and the Mariners turned the game over to the bullpen. Matt Brash, Paul Sewald and Andrés Muñoz combined for the final nine outs, locking down a win on Opening Day.
The Mariners spent all of spring training talking about moving on from their dreamy 2022 season, one that ended with the club’s first postseason trip in two decades. It’s a new year. They have new goals. But at the end of the day, they won the way they always seem to.
“It feels like we never left,” France said.
(Photo of Ty France celebrating his three-run homer with J.P. Crawford: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)