Homers by Robles, Rodríguez and Arozarena lead Castillo and Mariners past Rays 6-2

SEATTLE (AP) — Victor Robles and Julio Rodríguez each hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning as the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 on Wednesday.

Randy Arozarena went deep against his former team again and Luis Castillo pitched 5 2/3 solid innings to help the Mariners win two of three in the series. Seattle stayed 3 1/2 games back of first-place Houston in the AL West.

It’s the first time the Mariners have won consecutive series since mid-June, when they took three of four games from the Chicago White Sox and followed that with a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers.

Robles and Rodríguez both connected with two outs against lefty reliever Tyler Alexander (5-4), giving the struggling Mariners offense a much-needed boost.

Dylan Moore doubled before Robles launched a 385-foot shot into the Tampa Bay bullpen. J.P. Crawford walked and then Rodríguez hit one 356 feet into Edgar’s Cantina in left field.

Josh Lowe put the Rays ahead in the second inning with a solo homer off Castillo, but the Mariners tied it in the bottom half when Arozarena scored on Luke Raley's sacrifice fly against opener Drew Rasmussen.

Castillo (11-12) settled in after Lowe's homer and didn’t allow another hit until the fifth. The right-hander was pulled in favor of Austin Voth after giving up Dylan Carlson's RBI single in the sixth. Castillo allowed two runs and six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Arozarena added a solo homer in the eighth, his second longball of the series. The 2021 AL Rookie of the Year spent the past 4 1/2 seasons with the Rays before they traded him to Seattle late last month.

Voth and Collin Snider combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, and Andrés Muñoz pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save.