Wong tweaks approach, taps into something as bat heats up

SEATTLE -- Kolten Wong was feeling the moment. After clearing the bases with a three-run double to the right-center gap in the fifth inning against the Astros, Wong stood on second base and gave a huge fist pump before the third run had even crossed home plate.

Even though the Mariners ended up falling to the Astros, 6-4, on Friday night at T-Mobile Park, Wong’s big moment provided a reason for optimism, especially after the start of his Seattle career was marked by offensive frustration.

With the bases loaded and the Mariners trailing by four runs, Wong quickly fell behind in the count against Cristian Javier before hitting just his second extra-base hit of the season.

“It was just a big situation,” Wong said. “Got down 0-2 quick, and we were down 4-0 at the time. It was a big situation, big swing of events. I definitely got a little excited, for sure.”

Wong, one of the Mariners’ biggest offseason acquisitions in a trade from the Brewers, had zero runs batted in at the end of April. Two games into May, he has five RBIs and is one of the hottest hitters in Seattle’s lineup. In the last seven games, Wong is 10-for-24.

He credits the turnaround in large part to getting rid of his leg kick, instead just tapping his toe to lead into his swing.

“I was missing the balls I should be hitting, so I got rid of that,” Wong said. “Got to the toe tap, and I’m just trying to find my rhythm. That’s the biggest thing. You know, it’s early, but you don’t want to continue to use that excuse day after day.”

Wong’s hit put Seattle back into a game after the Mariners had fallen behind on a big three-run homer Luis Castillo allowed to Yordan Alvarez in the third, and another run when Kyle Tucker scored from third in the fourth inning as Jeremy Peña was caught stealing second.

Castillo had another strong start for Seattle, lasting seven innings, with just a couple of costly mistakes in the third inning. With two outs he walked Alex Bregman to bring up Alvarez, and then he put a changeup right over the middle of the plate for Alvarez.

“It was one bad pitch that I left there,” Castillo said. “After that, I was able to adjust myself and attack the zone.”

Castillo did regroup, retiring the final 11 batters he faced. The four runs allowed were a season high, and after giving up just two runs total in his first four starts, Castillo has allowed nine runs over his last three.

Eugenio Suárez also had a big hit, driving in the tying run with a single in the eighth, before Tucker gave the Astros the lead with a ninth-inning homer. Although the Mariners didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning, Seattle manager Scott Servais said he saw a lot of strong at-bats late in the game as they battled back.

“Those are all really positive signs. We had not seen that out of our offense anytime recently, guys just taking what they’re giving you,” Servais said. “If we continue to do that, our offense will be right back on track. We saw a lot of good things today.”

Servais thought the Mariners had struck out Tucker on the pitch before the homer, a 2-2 slider from reliever Matt Brash that appeared to catch the outside of the plate. Home-plate umpire Shane Livensparger didn’t agree, and Tucker put Brash’s next slider over the center-field wall. Servais was ejected a little while later during a Seattle pitching change for arguing the call.

“It probably should not have happened. I thought he had Tucker struck out. He made a really good pitch on him, but unfortunately we did not get the call,” Servais said. “You hate to say it comes down to one pitch, the outcome of a game, but it really did tonight. He missed it. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Unfortunately it happens. Some of those will go our way eventually. We needed it tonight and it didn’t work out. It’s very frustrating.”