The Mariners lost a super frustrating game today, dropping the series to the Tigers and letting a winnable game slip away from them, despite getting a strong start from Luis Castillo. But once again, the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead late and the offense failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities that could have opened up the game for the Mariners.

Castillo was strong in his first non-piggyback start in a while, working deep into the sixth inning and holding the velocity on his fastball well throughout. He also leaned heavily on his changeup today, using it as his main secondary pitch as a weapon against the Tigers’ lefty batters. Castillo’s location was excellent, working the edges of the zone and avoiding the middle of the plate, eliciting weak contact – of the 15 balls put in play against him only three were hit over 100 mph – and collecting five strikeouts. Unfortunately, the rest of his team let him down.

The Mariners had opportunities to open this game up at times but failed to hang a crooked number in any inning, partly due to some bad luck and partly due to their own failings. The Mariners made some hard contact against Tigers starter Jack Flaherty in the second – back-to-back-to-back exit velocities of 104.6, 107.8, and 102.7, but two of those found gloves and Patrick Wisdom, starting again at third base while J.P. Crawford remains down with a hand injury after being hit by a pitch, struck out to end the threat.

But the Mariners were able to scratch that run across in the third thanks to a Colt Emerson leadoff double, brought home by Cole Young, who made some more hard contact on a single. However, the Mariners couldn’t add on, and an inning later, the Tigers tied it up when Castillo made his lone mistake of the day, hanging a slider to Kevin McGonigle for a no-doubt, game-tying homer.

The Mariners went back ahead in the sixth, but could have had much more. Julio Rodríguez led off with a single, advancing to second on a poor throw from Riley Greene, and then Josh Naylor went after a fastball at the top of the zone, keeping it just fair down the right-field line to bring home Julio. The Mariners were in the position of breaking this game open after Randy Arozarena walked, prompting a pitching change where Hinch attempted to get Luke Raley out of the game by bringing in lefty Drew Sommers, but Dan Wilson let Raley stay in to lay down a sacrifice bunt, which he executed well, moving the runners to second and third.

Dominic Canzone, however, wasn’t so lucky, making way for Rob Refsnyder, who struck out despite the platoon advantage. The Tigers then walked the righty Wisdom to go after lefty Colt Emerson, putting the 20-year-old rookie in a tough situation. Emerson, to his credit, hung in there with a tough at-bat, eventually letting a pitch glance off his elbow to bring in a bases-loaded free base, but it was a squandered opportunity that would come back to bite the Mariners later.

The Tigers threatened back in Castillo’s last inning of work; Castillo got two outs in the sixth but also walked McGonigle, leaving a bit of a mess for Jose A. Ferrer. Ferrer, who had issued one walk in his last 17 appearances, didn’t have a solid handle on his stuff today, walking the bases loaded, but was able to keep the Tigers out of the scoring column, getting pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones to fly out harmlessly.

Julio and Randy teamed up in the seventh to give the Mariners another run; Julio singled off Kyle Finnegan, then stole second and third, and Randy brought him home with a single into right field. The Tigers brought in lefty Tyler Holton and Raley was given another opportunity against a lefty, this time parachuting a single into right field. But with runners on the corners and two outs, Refsnyder again couldn’t take advantage of a platoon advantage, grounding out to end the threat. Refsnyder’s -.11 WPA today was the lowest for any Mariners hitter and one wonders how much longer the Mariners can continue to hope the 35-year-old will turn his season around.

With a three-run lead, Dan Wilson went to Cooper Criswell in the seventh, and suddenly, all that work the Mariners had done to build a lead disappeared as Criswell’s groundball luck came up snake eyes, with back-to-back-to-back hits that squirted past Mariners infielders, the big blow being a Wenceel Pérez triple (xBA = .380) into the deep right field corner with no outs, scoring two runs. With the Mariners lead cut down to a run, Wilson brought in Gabe Speier, forcing Hinch to pull Kerry Carpenter for pinch-hitter Matt Vierling, who grounded out, bringing up the dangerous McGonigle, but Speier was able to get him to fly out shallowly in a left-on-left battle. Speier then went right after righty Gleyber Torres, striking him out on some high heat.

The Mariners had an opportunity to give Andrés Muñoz some extra cushion for the ninth but again couldn’t capitalize despite the first two runners reaching, making two outs on the bases as Josh Naylor was caught stealing (a curious choice considering he’d just fouled a ball off his foot and looked to be in obvious pain) and Arozarena was picked off first base. The mistakes continued as Muñoz couldn’t get a handle on his stuff, walking the eight and nine-hole before giving up the walkoff hit to McGonigle. It was a disappointing, sloppy effort from everyone but Castillo, the kind of mistake-ridden game that’s easier to wave away in April than it is in June. The Mariners will now head to Baltimore for the next leg of this long road trip.