Tonight’s starting pitching matchup featured two pitchers who couldn’t be more dissimilar in mound presence. Luis Castillo is nicknamed The Rock for a reason; his composure is the same if the game is going well or poorly. He might make a location mistake, but he will rarely if ever make a mental mistake. Framber Valdez, on the other hand, is easily rattled; put pressure on him early, and hitters can jar him out of his routine, force him to fight his command, and fluster him on the mound. The counterpoint to that Achilles heel: if teams allow Valdez to fall into his rocking-chair rhythm of easy groundouts, they can be in for short trips back and forth between home plate and the dugout.
Lack of clutch hitting again dooms Mariners to extra-innings loss, 2-1
