Eugenio Suárez haunts old team as Reds halt Seattle Mariners' win streak

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Jul 22, 2026

Published in Baseball

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The first night of Eugenio Suárez’s return to Seattle was all warm and fuzzy feelings. A video montage of his playoff heroics from last year in a Mariners uniform. A standing ovation in his first at-bat. A hug from the catcher.

The second night was Suárez flashing what he still can do even at age 35 and why a contender might be interested in his bat and his glove sometime in the next couple of weeks.

The good vibes were mostly in the Cincinnati dugout on Tuesday night as Suárez homered and added a spectacular defensive play to rob Randy Arozarena of extra bases as the Mariners fell to the Reds 4-2 before 35,239 at T-Mobile Park.

The M’s three-game win streak was snapped after Luis Castillo allowed a pair of solo homers and Cincinnati starter Chase Burns allowed next to nothing. Burns, who signed a seven-year, $105 million contract extension last weekend, improved to 12-1 on the season and the Reds have won seven straight games he’s started.

The Mariners had chances against both Burns and the Reds’ bullpen, but were limited to only a pair of solo home runs. Weston Wilson homered with one out in the seventh inning and Julio Rodríguez, who was out of the lineup to start the day and came on as a pinch-hitter, led off the eighth inning with his 15th homer of the season.

But that’s all the M’s could manage as they went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and Nathaniel Lowe led off the ninth inning with a solo shot off reliever Michael Rucker. The Reds were also helped by terrific defensive plays by Suárez, Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl, two of which took away possible extra bases.

The two mistakes Castillo made had a theme — they both led off innings. De La Cruz led off the game with a solo shot off Castillo on a 3-2 pitch, a line drive that barely cleared the wall in right-center field.

In the fourth inning, Suárez did what a slugger should do with a 94-mph fastball left on a platter middle of the plate. Suárez drilled the pitch 405 feet into The ‘Pen in left-center field for his 13 th homer. Castillo was also bit by a leadoff walk in the fifth to No. 8 hitter Friedl, who eventually scored on a sacrifice fly.

But overall, Castillo’s performance was one of his best this season. He pitched seven innings for the first time since last September. He allowed just four hits and struck out three. The home runs were the only issues that spoiled his outing.

The one thing the M’s did against Burns was elevate his pitch count. He was done after just five innings and 91 pitches. Burns gave up only three hits, but his lack of efficiency led to an early call for the Cincinnati bullpen that wiggled out of jams in the sixth and seventh innings.

The M’s immediately threatened in the sixth, only for De La Cruz to potentially save a run by robbing Rodríguez of a base hit. Rodríguez, who left Monday’s game early with a leg issue, came on to hit for Luke Raley with runners at first and second and one out.

Rodríguez smoked a 3-2 pitch from Tejay Antone at 110.2 mph off the bat, but De La Cruz made a diving backhanded stop and threw from his rear to second base to get a force out. Victor Robles tapped back to the mound to end the inning.

The offense finally awoke in the bottom of the seventh when Wilson homered to deep left field with one out on a 1-2 pitch from Antone. Arozarena walked with two outs, and lefty reliever Brock Burke walked Dominic Canzone and Cal Raleigh to load the bases. But that rally died when Josh Naylor grounded out to first base.

Rodríguez led off the eighth inning by hitting the second pitch from Cincinnati reliever Julian Garcia 409 feet out to left-center. It was the first homer for Rodríguez since June 19 and just his third since the beginning of June.