With the clouds diminishing and the sun making Wednesday afternoon pleasant and the evening comfortable, the Mariners' respite from baseball — their first in almost two weeks — started with postgame handshakes and a standing ovation from most of the 31,250 that enjoyed day baseball and a 3-2 victory over the Angels.
With no game Thursday and a 7:10 p.m. start Friday to open a three-game series vs. the Dodgers, they will have more than just an off-day to rest and recover from a stretch of 13 games in 13 days.
"We need a day off," manager Scott Servais said. "It's been 13 consecutive days. It has been a grind."
That stretch, which started Sept. 1 in New York to open a forgettable 10-game road trip, ended with taking two of three in a series win against the Angels. Going 5-8 in those 13 games wasn't ideal, and it dropped the Mariners from the top of the American League West down to the third wild-card spot.
"This was a series that we needed to win," Servais said. "We didn't start off that great, and we let the game Monday night get away from us. But credit to our guys, we just show up every day and get ready to compete. Whatever the game calls for, we have a group that really responds to that."
With the win, the Mariners improved to 81-65 and won't lose any ground in the postseason race.
"It's never easy," Servais said. "It's not easy winning series in September. It doesn't matter if you are playing playoff teams or other teams with young players trying to prove something."
The Angels, who were without Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, fall into the latter category.
The framework of the victory started with yet another quality outing from right-hander Luis Castillo. Making his 30th start of the season, he pitched six innings, allowing two runs on three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts to improve to 13-7.
"What Luis Castillo has done for us, since we acquired him, has just been off the charts," Servais said. "He's changed the whole mindset with our pitching staff and his attack mode that he's always in. It's really helped our young pitchers, as well. You watch him go out there and compete the way he does, and he just does not change."
Castillo set preseason goals of being the Mariners' opening-day starter, making the American League All-Star team and winning the Cy Young. He's accomplished two of them. While New York's Gerrit Cole is the favorite to win the Cy Young, Castillo will likely finish in the top three.
"I set those goals in the beginning of spring training, but I don't think about accomplishing the goals that I set for myself," he said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. "If it happens, it happens. But I'm not thinking about it."
Castillo was mildly irked when he allowed a solo homer to Brett Phillips in the third inning, but his teammates answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. Julio Rodriguez scalded a line drive off the wall in left field for a double that scored Josh Rojas from second.
The Angels retook the lead in the fourth. With Zach Neto running on the pitch, Brandon Drury dumped a ball into left field for a run-scoring double.
The Angels' bullpen, which started and finished the game, couldn't hold the lead. Ty France started off the fifth inning by wearing a fastball from lefty Jose Suarez off the elbow pad to give the Mariners a leadoff base runner.
Suarez came back to strike out pinch-hitter Dylan Moore and J.P. Crawford, and it looked like they might remain scoreless in the inning.
With Rodriguez coming to the plate and his team holding a 2-1 lead, Angels manager Phil Nevin opted to intentionally walk him to put the go-ahead run on base and move the tying run to second. He also brought in right-hander Jimmy Herget to face switch-hitter Cal Raleigh, who was batting behind Rodriguez.
"Rodriguez has been swinging it good; he has been one of the best in the game," Nevin said. "I'm not going to let him beat us. I know exactly what situation is coming up."
Rodriguez smiled when he was told to head to first base.
"They'd rather face somebody else," he said. "I was ready to compete. But I trust the guys behind me. I feel like we always prepare each other, we are always ready because we always put in the work here. I feel like every single batter that comes behind me is going to get it done. That's what happened too."
The move backfired as Raleigh lined a single to right, allowing France to score from second, just beating the throw home with a nifty slide.
"It was surprising," Raleigh said. "But Julio's been on a tear, and I don't blame them at all. I was just there trying to find a hole and not do too much. That guy has kind of had my number the last few times I faced him."
Teoscar Hernandez put the Mariners ahead with a hard one-hop ground ball up the middle that Drury, who was playing second base, couldn't handle. The ball hopped off his glove and into center field while Rodriguez raced home.
The Mariners' bullpen covered the final three innings without allowing a run, despite plenty of traffic. Right-hander Justin Topa executed a quality pickoff move to second base to catch Jordyn Adams being over-aggressive for a key out. Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz worked around base runners for scoreless frames.
