Mariners come crashing back down to earth in 11-6 loss to Pirates

George Kirby has his worst outing of the year and the Pirates tie a club record, as the Mariners fall to a 11-6 defeat at T-Mobile Park.

Following a four-game sweep of the Athletics, the Mariners entered Friday night with renewed confidence. Two games above .500 for the first time this season, they felt primed to get right back into the wild card race.

Unfortunately for everyone concerned, Pittsburgh had other ideas. Combined with arguably the worst start of George Kirby‘s Major League career, Seattle lost the series-opener 11-6.

Kirby entered Friday’s game on a run of eight quality starts and had the lowest ERA in the Mariners starting rotation. This would soon change on a night he will want to forget quickly.

A rare poor outing for Kirby

As much as the 25-year-old clearly didn’t have his A-game, he had managed to get through four innings with the game tied at 2-2. This speaks volumes about the mental fortitude and work ethic of the young pitcher.

It all fell apart in the fourth inning however, as a Bryan Reynolds triple scored two runs to give the visitors a 4-2 lead. This ignited Pittsburgh, who could taste blood and duly took advantage to finish Kirby off.

The Pirates added two home runs in the inning, to make it four off of Kirby on the night. For some context, the righty had only allowed three homers combined on the season entering the game.

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Down 7-2, the Mariners made the change on the mound. The 4.2 innings pitched by Kirby represented his shortest outing since 4.1 innings in his first start of the season.

It was just one of those games for the 2019 first round pick. The nine hits tied a career-high, while the seven earned runs were his most given up in two years as a Major League pitcher.

Afterwards, Kirby talked about the game plan entering the night and what went wrong. He said:

“Most of the lineup, we talked about, they’re pretty patient. So just kind of just get ahead. They just hit the ball well tonight. I don’t know what to say. None of (the homers) were terrible spots. I think they just put better swings on it today.”

Mariners manager Scott Servais discussed what was a very uncharacteristic performance by Kirby. He said:

“They came out swinging it. They were on George. He got some balls up in the middle of the plate and they certainly have some power in the middle of their lineup. They took advantage of it tonight.”

Talking about just how consistently good Kirby has been, Servais was surprised by how things played out. He said:

“He’s been so good. He just has not gotten banged around like that. He is the epitome of precision command. He’s always on the edges, locating the ball where he wants and executing in big spots. He just wasn’t able to do it tonight.”

No stopping the Pittsburgh bats

Even after Kirby departed, the Pirates continued to produce despite facing one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. They scored four more times, as they finished with 11 runs off 15 hits.

Into the bargain, Pittsburgh also matched a franchise single-game record of seven home runs. They had previously reached this mark on three occasions, with the first time way back in 1901.

Servais offered another aspect which contributed to the outcome, albeit not as an excuse. He said:

“With the warm weather, the ball is carrying better. But we left too many balls up to a team that hits the high fastball.”

Of course a rare-off night for the Mariners’ pitching coincided with a game when the offense actually scored six runs. J.P. Crawford continued to thrive in the lead-off spot, with a couple of hits and two RBI.

One of the only positive for the Mariners

On a night of few positives, Julio Rodriguez continued his recent revival after previously struggling offensively. The 2022 AL Rookie of the Year contributed two hits versus Pittsburgh, which resulted in three RBI and a run of his own.

Rodriguez is on a run of 10 hits in five games. As a result, he has seen his batting average shoot up from .204 to .233.

While Rodriguez still has more to give, at least he is headed in the right direction. As Servais said:

“You’re starting to see (the real) Julio. His timing is so much better. Lots of good signs from him.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the Mariners’ historic bad-fortune in general, Rodriguez’s resurgence has coincided with a mini-slump by Jarred Kelenic. While not expected to be anything to worry about, he is on his first three-game hitless streak of the year.

Kelenic went 0-for-4 on Friday night, with his key at-bat coming in the bottom of the fifth. He represented the tying run in a 7-4 game at the time, but grounded out to end the inning.

Servais knows the Mariners were second-best on the night, but remains confident of getting back into the series. He said:

“We don’t see this team a lot. We saw them tonight. We need to make an adjustment here for the rest of the series, which we’re very capable of doing.”

With the loss, Seattle drops to 26-25 on the year, including a decidedly average 14-3 at home. Luis Castillo will take the mound on Saturday, as they aim to level the series with Pittsburgh.

What stood out for you most in the loss to the Pirates? Do you see the Mariners coming back to win the series, or does the defeat on Friday night show that the Athletics series was an aberration? Let us know in the comments section below.