Nothing goes right for Mariners in 8-0 loss to Guardians

SEATTLE – One pitch in, and you could already see the steam popping out of George Kirby’s ears.

OK, so not literal steam, but the Mariners starting pitcher was visibly irked after the first pitch of the game Wednesday afternoon.

And the cartoonish image of the steam does serve as an apt representation of the Mariners’ “Looney Tunes” performance in their 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.

The Mariners’ defense was abysmal, and Kirby suffered through the worst start of his MLB career, surrendering eight runs (all earned) in 3⅔ innings as the Mariners closed out their opening homestead of the season with back-to-back ugly losses.

“That was not any fun,” manager Scott Servais said. “We did not have a good effort today.”

Officially, the Mariners (3-4) were not charged with any defensive errors on Wednesday, but the lapses all over the field contributed heavily into Kirby’s short outing.

By the fourth inning, things got so bad in the infield that shortstop J.P. Crawford and new second baseman Jorge Polanco awkwardly crashed into each other on a soft groundball near second base.

Crawford took a cleat to the back of his head, the Guardians were awarded a hit and their merry-go-’round adventure on the basepaths rolled along.

The Mariners spend as much time as any team working on defensive drills before every game, and they’ve prided themselves on being a run-prevention roster the past few years. Which has made all their defensive miscues on this homestand all the more vexing.

“Usually, we play much better defense. That’s the thing you scratch your head at,” Servais said.

Fittingly, three pitches later, Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez turned on a Kirby fastball and laced it off the wall in right field for a run-scoring double, his second such hit off Kirby, to push the Guardians’ lead to 6-0.

If it could go wrong, it did for the Mariners in the top of the first inning.

Cleveland’s leadoff hitter Steven Kwan hit a weak ground ball – 86.8 mph off the bat – through a hole in the left side for an opposite-field single on the first pitch Kirby threw.

Kirby stared at the play and shook his head, annoyed.

The next batter, Andres Gimenez, reached base when Kirby hit him with a 0-2 pitch – a wayward splitter that plunked Gimenez in the foot.

“Yeah, 0-2 right there, that’s a huge pitch that could kind of make or break the inning right there,” Kirby said.

That brought up Ramirez, one of the league’s best hitters, and he turned on a 95-mph fastball for his first RBI double off the wall in right. Josh Naylor followed with a ground ball to first baseman Ty France, who got the force out at first base but bobbled the ball as he attempted to make a throw home. The bobble allowed Gimenez to score easily.

Ramirez then scored from third base when Polanco – with the infield drawn in – missed a routine ground ball at second base, allowing Ramirez to score easily. That made it 3-0.

Polanco was initially charged with an error, but that play was later changed, awarding Will Brennan a single and an RBI.

Kirby was able to get a strike-three swinging from the next batter, Bo Naylor, but he still reached first base after Kirby’s splitter in the dirt got past Mariners catcher Seby Zavala and kicked all the way to the backstop. The dropped third strike was ruled a wild pitch.

“It’s tough when you’ve got a team (in Cleveland) that really swings a lot and makes good contact,” Kirby said. And for me, living in the zone a lot, I run into those types of games. It was hard to get in a rhythm, but I’m not going to stray away from what I do well and fill up the zone.”

The Mariners offense was shut out for the first time this season, held down by Cleveland left-hander Logan Allen, who scattered four hits over 6.2 innings, with three walks and six strikeouts.

As a team, the Mariners are hitting .196 with OPS of .550 that ranks dead last among 30 teams in the MLB.

The three hitters at the top of their lineup – Crawford, Julio Rodriguez and Polanco – combined to go 12 for 79 (.152) with 27 strikeouts and five walks on the homestand.

“We’re capable of much better, and we need to pick it up,” Servais said. “… One thing we felt really good about this team when we put it together – I thought the lineup was going to be a lot deeper than it had been here in a while. And it looks great on paper. (Now) you gotta go out and do it. And our guys will get it done. I really believe it.”

After a day off Thursday, the Mariners begin their first road series of the season Friday in Milwaukee.

“It is such a long season, gang,” Servais said. “I think in an NFL season, we’re not even to halftime in the first game yet. Put that in perspective. So everybody wants to jump off (the bandwagon), and it’s halftime of the first game of an NFL seasons is where we’re at. We have a lot of baseball yet ahead of us.”