Mariners: Kirby excels and offense comes out of slump in Detroit

George Kirby continues to show he’s the real deal, while the Mariners offense comes alive during the third inning against the Tigers.

Following a hard-fought but well-earned series win over the Guardians, the Mariners were ‘rewarded’ with a trip to Detroit. Facing a struggling Tigers team, Seattle won 9-3 on Tuesday night and went a season-high 13 games above .500.

You can have your pick for the star of the night, but let’s begin with George Kirby. He continues to prove he’s the real deal after another impressive outing.

Kirby threw five innings versus the Tigers, as the Mariners decided to limit him to between 80-85 pitches. This was in large part due to having no extra off-day before his next scheduled start on Saturday.

Kirby shines again

In the end, the 24-year-old threw 79 pitches — including 56 strikes — as he allowed just two hits, no runs and struck out five. He also gave up just one walk, extending his Major League record of one or fewer walks to 19 games to begin a career.

Kirby was coming off setting another Major League record in his previous outing, with 24 consecutive strikes to start a game. He also entered the night with the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio among MLB pitchers with at least 90 innings.

There will be some who would prefer the Mariners let Kirby off the leash, rather than monitoring his workload. However, you can certainly understand their approach, especially as they want him fresh heading into crunch time in the season.

The Rye, New York native’s biggest challenge came in the fifth, when he loaded the bases with one out. He managed to escape the inning without allowing a run, but this probably helped the decision to take him out.

Kirby discussed his outing afterwards with the media, and seemed happy enough with his performance. He said:

“I was really able to get that two-seam in today, a lot of heaters. I thought I actually did pretty well … I gave a strong five innings and gave my team a chance to win.”

The Mariners’ bats wake up

As much as Kirby didn’t need much help per se, the offense put in an excellent effort with nine runs off 11 hits. It marked a welcome outbreak for a team which didn’t score more than four runs in any of their previous eight games.

The Mariners did the majority of their damage in the third inning, with a six-run scoring blitz. Tigers starter Matt Manning didn’t make it out of the inning, after allowing seven hits and seven earned runs, while only striking out one.

Nearly everyone contributed, but the majority of the credit must go to Ty France. On the night, he had a trio of hits, two RBI and three runs.

The display was also a welcome one for France. Prior to Sunday’s series finale versus Cleveland, he had gone seven consecutive games without a hit.

Even with fellow All-Star Julio Rodriguez in the lineup, France is still arguably the team’s best pure hitter. He leads all Mariners in hits, batting average and OBP.

The 28-year-old was asked afterwards what he did to deal with his recent slump. He said:

“It just goes to show I’m feeling better. I’m seeing pitches well … We definitely went back and watched film. I don’t say it was one particular thing, I think it was just the body was out of sync. We got on the velo machine and I think that helped.”

A financially lucrative appearance

Another person worth mentioning — with an emphasis on ‘worth’ — is Chris Flexen. With Kirby leaving after five innings, the decision was made to give him a long relief appearance.

It would be easy to point to five allowed hits and three earned runs in four innings as not very effective. However, Flexen likely had some rust after not pitching for 10 days.

In any event the move came at a good time, when considering Kirby’s pitch count. Combined with having a 9-0 lead and wanting to give the bullpen a rest, it proved to be a smart decision.

In addition, the appearance took Flexen past 300 innings over the 2021-22 season combined. As a result, it triggered an $8 million vesting option on his contract which locks him in for next year.

It is well deserved for the Mariners’ 2021 Pitcher of the Year. Speaking about the situation afterwards, he said:

“I knew where I was at of course, but I was just happy to be back out there and helping the bullpen out and pick up a win … It’s exciting. I’m happy to be here and I want to be here.”

Manger Scott Servais was complimentary of both Kirby and Flexen, but he was extremely happy about the bats, and understandably so. He said:

“That’s a great, great way to start the trip. We haven’t swung the bat like that in quite some time.”

With the win, the Mariners remain in the second AL wild card spot, half a game behind the Rays and half a game ahead of the Blue Jays. They’ll send Marco Gonzales to the mound on Wednesday, in the hope of clinching the series with a game to spare.

Do you agree with the decision to keep monitoring Kirby’s workload? Or do you think the Mariners should let him off the leash? Let us know in the comments section below.