SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle starting pitcher Luis Castillo had to do more than just try and shut down the Minnesota Twins from the mound on Sunday.
Castillo had to grab a bat and step in as a hitter after Seattle catcher Mitch Garver was injured by getting hit on the wrist and forcing a major reshuffling of the Mariners lineup in their 5-3 loss to the Twins.
With Cal Raleigh — Seattle's other catcher — already in the lineup as the designated hitter, the Mariners were forced to forfeit the DH when Raleigh entered the game in the third inning behind the plate. That meant Castillo had to be put into the lineup and in the fourth inning, he stepped to the plate for his first plate appearance since Oct. 1, 2021, while he was still with Cincinnati.
The bat never left Castillo’s shoulder as he struck out looking on three pitches.
“I just listened to what they told me to take the pitches,” Castillo said through and interpreter after the game. “It’s been a while since I stood there and was seeing a pitch like that close to me. I followed the orders they gave me and that’s what I did up there.”
He was the first pitcher to step to the plate at T-Mobile Park since Oakland’s Jason Hammel in 2014 and just the third Mariners pitcher to bat in a home game in franchise history.
Castillo is one of two pitchers in baseball to make a plate appearance this season joining Arizona's Scott McGough, who struck out in a loss to the New York Yankees on April 3.
But Seattle manager Scott Servais was more concerned about the big picture of the season and didn't want to risk anything with Castillo at the plate.
"Luis hasn’t had a bat in his hands for a couple of years. There is so much baseball yet and we need him to be a guy for us on the mound. You have to be really careful there,” Servais said.
Castillo ended up lasting only five innings because of the lineup shuffle. Castillo was lifted for pinch-hitter Ryan Bliss in the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Castillo allowed three runs and six hits and struck out three but threw only 77 pitches.
“You kind of have to understand the situation,” Castillo said. “It was tough but you kind of have to understand it.”
Garver was injured when a fastball from Minnesota starter Joe Ryan tailed inside and hit him on the right wrist leading off the second inning. Garver stayed in the game to run but was immediately replaced by Raleigh to start the next inning. The team said Garver had a right wrist contusion and X-rays were negative.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli — who managed Garver with Twins — was hopeful his former player was going to be OK and understood the difficulty losing the DH put on Servais.
“That is a terrible thing for any team to have to deal with,” Baldelli said. “I would probably tell my pitcher the exact same thing, just go up there and stand back and maybe they walk you.”
Seattle did have three catchers on the roster for a stretch with Seby Zavala serving as the backup to Raleigh while Garver primarily was the DH. But Zavala was recently designated for assignment, leaving only two possible catchers on the roster.
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Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo walks off the field after pitching through the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners' Luis Castillo reacts after being called out on strikes against the Minnesota Twins during the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Seattle. Castillo, the team's starting pitcher, was filling in for Mitch Garver, who left the game after being hit by a pitch during the second inning. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners catcher Mitch Garver is checked on by a trainer and manager Scott Servais after being hit by a pitch as Minnesota Twins catcher Christian Vázquez looks on during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Seattle. Garver would leave the game after the inning and was replaced in the batting order by Luis Castillo. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Seattle Mariners' Luis Castillo smiles as he comes up to bat in place of Mitch Garver, who left the game during the second inning after being hit by a pitch, as Minnesota Twins catcher Christian Vázquez looks on during the fourth inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until at least September after the judge agreed Tuesday to weigh the possible impact of a new Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump had been scheduled to face sentencing July 11 on his New York conviction on felony charges of falsifying business records. He denies any wrongdoing.
The postponement sets the sentencing for Sept. 18 at the earliest — if it happens at all, since Trump's lawyers are arguing that the Supreme Court ruling merits not only delaying the sentencing but tossing out his conviction.
The new date is well after this month's Republican National Convention, where Trump is set formally to accept the party’s nomination for president in this year’s race.
September, however, is far closer to Election Day, which could put the issue top-of-mind for voters just as they seriously tune into the race.
There was no immediate comment from Trump's campaign or Manhattan prosecutors, who brought the case.
The delay caps a string of political and legal wins for Trump in recent days, including the Supreme Court's immunity ruling and a debate widely seen as a disaster for Democratic President Joe Biden.
The immunity decision all but closed the door on the possibility that Trump could face trial in his 2020 election interference case in Washington before this November's vote. The timeline in itself is a victory for the former president, who has sought to delay his four criminal cases past the balloting.
An appeals court recently paused a separate election interference case against Trump, in Georgia; no trial date has been set. His federal classified documents case in Florida remains bogged down by pretrial disputes that have resulted in an indefinite cancelation of the trial date.
Monday's Supreme Court ruling granted broad immunity protections to presidents, while also restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.
Hours after it was issued, Trump’s attorney requested that New York Judge Juan M. Merchan set aside the jury’s guilty verdict and delay the sentencing to consider how the high court’s ruling could affect the hush money case.
Merchan wrote that he'll rule Sept. 6, and the next date in the case would be Sept. 18, “if such is still necessary.”
In their filing Monday, defense attorneys argued that Manhattan prosecutors had placed “highly prejudicial emphasis on official-acts evidence,” including Trump's social media posts and witness testimony about Oval Office meetings.
Prosecutors said before the judge's decision Tuesday that they believed those arguments were “without merit” but that they wouldn't oppose adjourning the sentencing for two weeks as the judge considers the matter.
Trump was convicted May 30 on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Trump has repeatedly denied that claim, saying at his June 27 debate with Biden: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.”
Prosecutors said the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have gone public during the campaign with embarrassing stories alleging Trump had extramarital sex. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.
Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed from Fort Pierce, Florida.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at 180 Church, June 15, 2024, in Detroit. Former President Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until Sept. 18. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
FILE - In this artist depiction Judge Juan Merchan presides over former President Donald Trump's trial in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. Former President Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until Sept. 18. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump enters at a campaign event, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. Former President Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until Sept. 18. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)
FILE - Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to the media after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, May 30, 2024, in New York. Bragg won't oppose delaying former President Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case after the Supreme Court immunity ruling. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Chesapeake, Va., Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
