AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS VS ASTROS

October 13, 2022

Luis Castillo

Minute Maid Park

Seattle Mariners

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Houston Astros - 4, Seattle Mariners - 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Luis.

Q. You retired Álvarez twice. What was your plan going into that third at-bat when he got the homer? It looked like it wasn't even a strike. It was well off the plate.

LUIS CASTILLO: You know, it's what every pitcher wants, to retire the batter. I took the ball, a good pitch right out of the zone, and he was able to make contact with it. It happened.

Q. The Jeremy Peña single that gets right in front of Julio Rodríguez, could you describe what that moment was like for you to take that in and what it was like to refocus and get back to it?

LUIS CASTILLO: You know, nothing really happened, in my mind. I mean, it's something that happens in baseball. It can happen to anybody. I wasn't frustrated or anything like that. I just kept calm and was able to finish my outing and I feel like I had a good outing.

Q. As hot as Álvarez is right now, how tough is he to pitch to and what was your game plan going into the game facing him?

LUIS CASTILLO: You know, it's not just him, it's against any batter. I always go with that mindset. If you're good, I'm good too. I came with the same plan of just getting him out and he was able to make contact with that ball. But like I said, I'm going out there to get any batter out.

Q. Could you believe he covered that sinker off the plate? It was about 4 or 5 inches off the plate. Could you believe that he was able to get the barrel to it? And I would imagine you just, you kind of mentioned it, but you want to compete against him. You don't want to try and pitch around him. You want to compete and go right at him, don't ya?

LUIS CASTILLO: It was surprising. It was surprising on where the pitch was. All merit to him. He was able to contact it and score a home run, put 'em up 3-2. But I think that we did a very good job against him.

Q. How tough was this lineup to go against them, get strikes? And how is the team going into the momentum knowing that they're going to start in Seattle?

LUIS CASTILLO: You know, just like I said, I'm not intimidated by any lineup. When I go up on the mound, I go up there to compete. And if we're going home, we're going home. Home is home and there's still a lot of ball games left to play.

Q. Can you talk about the matchup you had with Diaz late in the game when there was like I think a 10-pitch count before he ended up eventually getting a double. Take us through that at-bat, if you would.

LUIS CASTILLO: It was a very good battle. I kept throwing 'em the pitches and varying the zones that I wanted to. He made a lot of contacts, a lot of fouls, and merit to him. He was able to get a double off it.