Mariners walk off Diamondbacks on Victor Robles' broken-bat infield single

Farewell, to the Mariners piggyback … for now. You were awkwardly executed and oddly effective.

The Mariners ran out their pitching combo of Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo for the final time - for the time being - Sunday afternoon in the series finale against Arizona. And like the previous two times the Mariners used this odd pairing, it was highly successful.

Both these guys deserve a huge pat on the back for the way they've approached it and just been selfless in a lot of ways," M's manager Dan Wilson said.

Miller tossed five shutout innings before giving way to Castillo, who allowed one earned run in five innings as the M's beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 in 10 innings to complete a three-game sweep before 41,897 at T-Mobile Park.

Victor Robles delivered the winning hit in the 10th with a broken-bat infield single that scored Randy Arozarena with one out, the second time in the series the M's celebrated a walkoff in extras after Arozarena delivered the game-winning hit Friday night.

The M's won their sixth straight, their longest win streak of this season and longest since winning seven consecutive games during their September charge last season. They hit two more home runs - this time from Cole Young and Dominic Canzone - giving them 10 longballs in the three-game set.

And for however strangely structured and at times poorly communicated this piggyback situation was, the raw numbers say it worked. The pair worked 27 total innings pitched over the three starts where they combined efforts and allowed five earned runs for a 1.67 ERA.

Miller tried to be pragmatic about the entire situation and considered the bigger picture of what the M's are hoping to accomplish several months from now.

"The piggyback thing hasn't been ideal for all of us so far, but it's also like it could be a blessing in disguise, saving us a few pitches here and there, a few innings here and there," Miller said. "Hopefully it works out at the end of the year we're feeling fresh and ready to go into the postseason."

The piggyback is ending for now. With the M's in the beginning stages of playing 16 games in 17 days, the rotation will go to a six-man setup the next time through. Both Miller and Castillo are likely to make starts next weekend in Detroit.

After that? It'll depend on many factors, with the health of the entire rotation likely at the top of the list. But at least for the next couple of weeks, we can now retire the piggyback phrase.

"Both of them have continued to throw the ball extremely well and that was the hope," Wilson said. "They've stayed stretched out quite a bit, and we're in a good spot."

This time, it was Miller going first and he continued to be overpowering since returning from the injured list. Miller pitched five scoreless inning and has allowed four earned runs total over 21 innings since making his season debut May 13 in Houston. He struck out six and allowed only one hit. In four of his five innings Sunday, Miller didn't allow a base runner. His entire arsenal of pitches seemed to be working, getting strikeouts with the splitter, fastball, sweeper and slider.

Miller needed only 71 pitches to get through his five innings. In every other circumstance, Miller would have kept going, but Castillo took the mound in the sixth.

"I always want to go as long as I can, but we had a plan going into it. I knew when I was coming out," Miller said.

And while Miller cruised, Castillo twice ran into trouble and wasn't helped by his defense either time.

Arizona pulled even in the sixth after Ketel Marte walked and went to third with one out on Corbin Carroll's ground-ball double to center field. Young and J.P. Crawford both hesitated going after the grounder and Julio Rodríguez was late getting to it.

Crawford nabbed Geraldo Perdomo's grounder and threw out Marte at home, but a wayward slider by Castillo to Nolan Arenado skipped under Jhonny Pereda's glove and allowed Carroll to score the tying run.

In the eighth, Josh Naylor threw Tim Tawa's sacrifice bunt attempt into center field after Gabriel Moreno led off with a bloop single. It was a poor decision and Marte's sacrifice fly pulled Arizona even. Young did help limit the damage with a leaping grab on Perdomo's liner to end the inning.

The M's stayed with Castillo in the 10th inning and after a sac bunt and walk put runners at the corners with one out, Castillo struck out Adrian Del Castillo and Marte grounded out.

"There were a couple obstacles, but the good thing for me is that we were able to overcome them," Castillo said via team interpreter Freddy Llanos. "The important thing for me is that I'm healthy and we're throwing the ball right."

Castillo's final line: five innings, two hits, one earned run and three strikeouts. And in a way even the M's couldn't have scripted, both pitchers threw five innings and exactly 71 pitches.

"Pretty ironic, I think, in some ways, but both did an incredible job, Wilson said.

For most of the series, the M's offense came via the home run. Young clobbered his first home run since April 25 with a solo shot leading off the second inning, and Canzone added a homer for the second straight game in the bottom of the sixth.

Canzone's homer was the 10th in the series by the M's. The last time the M's homered 10 times in a three-game series was September in Atlanta, which consisted of consecutive five-homer games.

The M's open a three-game series against the Mets beginning Monday night with Emerson Hancock getting the start.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 5:10 PM.