Mariners announce starting pitchers for Games 3 and 4 vs. Blue Jays

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Oct 13, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — It seems with how the rotation and usage all slotted out, George Kirby is only going to make starts at T-Mobile Park this postseason.

Same appears true for Luis Castillo.

The Seattle Mariners will send Kirby to the mound in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series when it returns Wednesday evening to Seattle. That leaves Castillo as the starter for Game 4 on Thursday with the hope that Bryan Woo will be able to make his return for a potential Game 5, if necessary.

As it stands, that means each of Kirby and Castillo’s first three appearances this postseason will all come in the friendly confines of their home park, where the duo was dramatically better than on the road this season.

In 12 home starts this season, Kirby posted a 3.38 ERA versus 5.16 away from T-Mobile Park. Castillo’s numbers were even more dramatic — 2.60 ERA at home in 17 starts; 4.71 on the road in 15 starts.

“A lot of it was where we stacked up rest-wise, how everybody is feeling and it kind of made the most sense in terms of the matchups and whatever with Toronto here,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said before Game 2 on Monday.

Kirby started Games 1 and 5 at home in the ALDS against Detroit and allowed three earned runs over 10 total innings pitched with 14 strikeouts and only one walk. Kirby was especially pleased with his start in Game 5, when he limited the Tigers to one run and three hits over five innings.

“I was super proud of the way I threw. Gave the team a chance to win and had some good battles, getting out of some runners in scoring position-type stuff,” Kirby said. “But the guys that came in after me went out and did their job. A lot of guys came out on short rest, you know, Luis and Logan kind of doing something they'd never done before and just fighting to the last second.”

Kirby has made three career starts against the Blue Jays and the results haven’t turned out great: 6.28 ERA, 10 earned runs and 25 hits in 14 1/3 career innings. Kirby was still recovering from shoulder issues when the M’s played Toronto earlier this season, so his last time facing the Blue Jays was July 7, 2024, when he tossed six innings, allowed three runs and struck out eight at T-Mobile Park.

But his most memorable outing against Toronto lasted all of one inning, as a rookie when he threw one inning of relief and got the save in Game 2 of the 2022 AL wild-card series.

“There's nothing cooler than coming out to close a game, especially as a rookie,” Kirby said.

Castillo getting bumped to Game 4 also gives Kirby an extra day of rest, if the series ends up going the distance and another all-hands situation arises in the later games. Castillo will have five full days without pitching by the time he throws Thursday after coming out of the bullpen at the end of Game 5 of the ALDS against Detroit.

Initially, Castillo seemed the likely option for Game 2 as he threw less than Gilbert did in the 15-inning marathon against the Tigers. But when Gilbert let coaches know that he could pitch, the M’s opted to go that route and save Castillo to pitch at home.

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