George Kirby-led Mariners go back-to-back against Marlins
They’ve won back-to-backs on numerous occasions, even though it hasn’t always felt that way with their back-and-forth inconsistency. They’ve swept the Athletics, who were hapless at the time and hard to beat in the last week, in a four-game series. There was a three-game sweep of the Rockies, who are on their way to being one of the worst teams in the National League.
But with Tuesday night’s decisive, 9-3 victory over the Marlins, whose 37-31 record this season is much better than the reputation of the organization, the Mariners not only guaranteed a series win, but they’ve played two of their best games of the season on consecutive nights.
Dare they go for three in a row on Wednesday evening?
In Monday’s series opener, Seattle rode a strong bounce-back start from Bryce Miller and explosive offensive production from the top of the order, including eight hits, to roll to an easy 8-1 win.
The Mariners followed that performance up in similar fashion on Tuesday, getting a strong bounce-back performance from starter George Kirby and heavy production from the bottom of the order, including three homers and all nine runs driven in, to put the game out of reach early.
Five days ago, Kirby slogged his way through his worst outing of the season, allowing the Padres to rack up 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Given his nasty competitive streak that belies his certified public accountant appearance, it seemed unlikely he’d have a second straight subpar showing.
That intent was evident in the first inning when he struck out Luis Arraez, the most productive pitcher in baseball, and fired a pair of 99-mph fastballs while getting Jorge Soler to bounce out and striking out Bryan De La Cruz swinging.
It was a sign of things to come.
Kirby pitched six innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits with no walks and career-high 10 strikeouts.
He flirted with perfection into the fifth inning, retiring the first 13 batters he faced. But with one out in the fifth, Yuli Gurriel laced a low liner into left field that Jarred Kelenic couldn’t quite commit to making a diving play on. The ball skipped by him for an error.
With his first base runner allowed in scoring position, Kirby struck out Jean Segura and Jon Berti to end the inning.
His only run allowed came in the sixth inning. He allowed a one-out single to Garrett Hampson, who later advanced to second on a passed ball. With two outs, Jorge Soler took advantage of a first-pitch curveball that hung in the zone, singling up the middle to score Hampson to cut the lead to 5-1.
The Mariners provided him plenty of run support.
Mired in an offensive slump and hitless in his last 21 at-bats, Cal Raleigh crushed a three-run homer into the right-field seats off Marlins starter Edward Cabrera in the second inning.
Raleigh’s ninth homer of the season was his first since May 28.
While Cabrera has nasty stuff, including a changeup that somehow registers in the low 90s and a biting curveball, the Mariners made him work to get outs.
In the fourth inning, Mike Ford stayed on a low changeup, golfing it over the wall in right-center for a two-run homer and a 5-0 lead.
Having thrown 85 pitches in the first four innings, Cabrera wouldn’t come back out for the fifth.
Seattle tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs for Jose Caballero, who continued his magical run this season. He pulled a ground ball down the third-base line and into the left-field corner for a bases-clearing triple.