Luis Castillo tosses 7 scoreless innings as Mariners hand Pirates 2nd consecutive shutout

The offense that propelled the Pittsburgh Pirates to score 47 runs in a six-game homestand has gone scoreless in Seattle.

Mariners starter Luis Castillo recorded eight strikeouts in seven shutout innings, as the Pirates failed to advance a runner past first base for the first time in four seasons.

Jorge Polanco hit a leadoff double in the sixth inning and scored on a double by Ben Williamson as the Mariners beat the Pirates, 1-0, on Saturday night at T-Mobile Park.

After three consecutive shutouts of the St. Louis Cardinals in a series sweep, the Pirates (38-52) were held without a run in back-to-back games for the first time this season.

The Pirates dropped to 12-31 away from PNC Park this season — the second-most road losses in the National League and third-most in the majors — and manager Don Kelly is hoping they can rediscover the scoring touch they showed at home in the series finale Sunday.

“We definitely do. It’s tough right now,” Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “Castillo threw the ball well. When you see the two-seamer, the four-seamer, he was able to mix it up and throw his off-speed in there. Veteran guy that kept us off balance and used his two fastballs really well against us.”

Castillo has allowed only one run over 13 innings in his past two starts. The right-hander allowed only two hits, both singles by Spencer Horwitz. The Pirates’ best scoring threat came in the first inning, when Andrew McCutchen hit a 400-foot shot to center only for Julio Rodriguez to make a catch while crashing into the wall.

“We hit some balls hard,” Kelly said. “McCutchen had two, especially that first one. Rodriguez made a heck of a play.”

Pirates rookie Mike Burrows held the Mariners scoreless through five innings, recording six strikeouts and allowed three hits and four walks, three of which came against Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh.

After scoring all of their runs in Friday’s 6-0 win on four home runs, the Mariners put a runner in scoring position for the first time in the series when J.P. Crawford hit a ground-rule double down the left field line in the third inning.

With two outs, Raleigh came to bat. Raleigh homered twice Friday to increase his MLB-leading total to 35, so the Pirates didn’t take any chances and intentionally walked the slugging catcher. Burrows fell behind the count against Randy Arozarena but got him to foul off a 3-1 fastball, then got a favorable called-third strike from home plate umpire Chris Guccione on a slider that was outside the zone.

Burrows got out of another two-out jam in the fifth, when he issued back-to-back walks of Rodriguez and Raleigh, the latter in a nine-pitch at-bat. Rodriguez stole third to put runners on the corners but Burrows got Arozarena looking for the third time on a full-count changeup to keep the game scoreless.

“He stayed in the moment really well and had good command,” Kelly said of Burrows. “The changeup was an elite pitch. He was able to land the breaking ball and use the fastball effectively. He had a great outing.”

The Mariners finally scored in the sixth against lefty Caleb Ferguson, one of the Pirates’ most reliable relievers. Polanco doubled to left and advanced to third base on Luke Raley’s groundout to first. Ferguson, who had allowed one run in 20 innings over his last 18 appearances, got Donovan Solano to ground out to third but Williamson hit an RBI double to right-center for a 1-0 lead. It marked the first time Ferguson had allowed two extra-base hits in one inning since July 2, 2024.

Ferguson then hit North Allegheny alum Cole Young with a pitch and walked Crawford to load the bases. That prompted Pirates manager Don Kelly to turn to righty Isaac Mattson, who fired six consecutive four-seam fastballs and got Rodriguez swinging for a strikeout.

Castillo finished his outing by getting Nick Gonzales swinging and Oneil Cruz looking at a full-count fastball in the seventh. Matt Brash relieved Castillo in the eighth, issuing a full-count walk to Tommy Pham but forcing a pair of groundouts to prevent the Pirates from rallying. Mariners All-Star closer Andres Munoz retired the top of the order in the ninth to earn his 20th save.