HOUSTON -- As dispiriting as the day started for the Mariners, it finished on a high note.
In the aftermath of Cal Raleigh being placed on the injured list for the first time in his career with a right oblique strain, Seattle ran away to an 8-3 win over the Astros on Thursday afternoon to win this four-game series and cap a 4-3 road trip.
And with it, the haunted have become the haunters.
Because the Mariners don’t just own their former house of horrors at Daikin Park. They’ve also owned the Astros overall -- wherever they play -- having now defeated their division rivals a whopping 10 times in their past 11 meetings, the lone exception being Wednesday's walk-off loss in the 10th inning.
Seattle (22-23) is still looking to truly get going in its quest to defend the American League West title. But despite its shortcomings in 2026, the tides have firmly shifted in a once-heavyweight rivalry with Houston (17-28). It’s only May 14, and the Mariners have already clinched the season series.
Raleigh’s injury brings legitimate concern, immediate and long-term.
Obliques are tricky, can linger and come with pronounced pain. And we truly won’t know more about his prognosis until after a more thorough evaluation with team doctors upon returning to Seattle.
And he preferred not to speak on the situation until then.
“First and foremost, we just want him to get healthy,” said Mitch Garver, Raleigh’s backup and who picked the right time to hit his first homer of ‘26. “It's not fun being hurt. I know he doesn't really have experience with that. It's not fun.”
Garver himself also gave the Mariners another scare, when his back tightened upon landing awkwardly on his right knee, when attempting to corral a popout behind the plate. But he remained in the game after a brief conferral with assistant athletic trainer Taylor Bennett, and said “it should be fine.”
Also, Julio Rodríguez was moved from center field to designated hitter moments before first pitch. He’d fouled one hard off left foot late on Wednesday.
Aside from those dents, for the most part, the club chartered home on the high of mostly everything else going right on Thursday.
Luis Castillo turned in what Garver called the “most important start he's had for us all year,” coming one out shy of clearing the sixth inning. His day ended after his season-high 108th pitch, which turned into a two-run double to Braden Shewmake, after a single to Yordan Alvarez and walk to Christian Walker.
But up to that point, Castillo was mostly solid and overcame shaky command early. The lone true blemish against him was a 422-foot homer to Alvarez in the third, on an 0-1 fastball over the heart of the plate.
This outing at least tempered Castillo’s very hot-topic status within Seattle’s rotation, which moved to a six-man this week following Bryce Miller’s return.
Castillo was up to 97.6 mph on his heaters, and he brought back his changeup more often than since 2024, throwing it 24 times and for two strikeouts.
“It's huge, because in the past, it's been like my second best pitch,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “And so I've worked a lot with the pitching coach to improve it. And when I have it working, it really is [good].”
And though the Astros’ lineup outside of Alvarez isn’t exactly imposing, this is what the front office needed to see from its most seasoned and expensive arm.
“He threw the heck out of the baseball,” Garver said. “I couldn’t be happier with where we were, and the offense supported it.”
Indeed, Castillo was operating with a lead from the outset.
Luke Raley sliced a three-run homer into the Crawford Boxes in the first inning to extend his team lead to 10. And from there, the Mariners were off and running.
Brendan Donovan finished a homer shy of the cycle, and Cole Young yanked a two-run double into the right-field corner that gave him 24 RBIs (three behind Raley for the team lead). That number matched Young’s output for his entire rookie season, in 81 fewer plate appearances.
Those were among the Mariners’ season-high seven extra-base hits. And they avoided using most of their leverage arms within a bullpen that was a player short, as José A. Ferrer is not expected to rejoin the club until Friday.
Ferrer was activated from the paternity list on Thursday, but it didn’t make sense for him to travel here overnight, hours after he and his wife welcomed the birth of their first child.