Kirby’s fish fry: Mariners roast Marlins with 9-3 win, take first series win since late May
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Building some consistency and stacking quality wins is something that Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais has been looking for from his team, and he was able to get just that as his ballclub followed up yesterday’s blowout win over the Miami marlins with another tonight. George Kirby had another strong effort this season, getting back on track after a few rough outings, to guide Seattle to their first series win since late May against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is fixed for the Mariners, who face an important stretch of the season ahead of the All-Star break, but it’s a great sign if they can maintain this.
“Back to back really good games. Starting pitching again, George: nice bounce back, not surprised at all. George pitched a little bit differently tonight, I think you saw it. He really used the secondary pitches well. Took command of all those pitches, but when you start mixing it, the fastball even plays better than it does without it. And certainly they were not on it tonight, obviously, going back and forth, curveball early, some sliders late, and then the fastball to kind of finish guys off, so it was great to see. Cal did an outstanding job, our pitching coaches recognizing how he needed to make a few adjustments, he went out and executed it to perfection. Nice night there. Obviously big hit by Cal Raleigh, Cal had a rough road trip. It was tough for him to get much going but credit to him, our hitting coaches, spent a lot of time yesterday trying to get back into what makes Cal really good. And I think the biggest thing on the road trip was just his timing was off, went back a little bit, a lot of video, tried a few different things and got great results tonight. Good for Mike Ford. You know, obviously starting the season on a tear in AAA. He’d been with us in the past, but I think he’s got a little bit different attitude about his opportunity here this time and it’s starting to show. Mike has always produced at the minor league level and he’s been given a shot. He just needs to stay with the same approach at the big league levell, and he was really good tonight. He’s got power, he’s good fastball hitter. He’s got a good eye at the plate and put some good swings on the ball tonight. Bg thing also, I think we got all of our production at the bottom of the lineup tonight. We talked about our team, at times had been top heavy. But tonight it was all about the guys at the bottom. We got big hits, got on-base, created havoc, we ran the bases very aggressively tonight, did a nice job. Good ballgame. It’s two in a row. Luis Castillo on the mound tomorrow, see if we can get a sweep.”
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby pitched six innings of three hit, one run (unearned) ball (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Kirby turns Marlins into Crystal Shards
Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby, coming off two of his last three starts seeing him give up five or more runs, was looking to get back to the All-Star level start to the year. Kirby heavily leaned on his fastball tonight, using it 47% of the time while mixing in his sinker a solid amount and sprinkling in his slider and curveball to generate 20 swings and misses while topping out at 99 MPH. His heater generated 12 of those 20 swings and misses, getting Kirby back to the sort of pitcher we’ve seen for most of the year, and that’s a top end of the rotation starter. The only run that came against Kirby was unearned, as Marlins centerfielder Garrett Hampson singled for his team's first run of the night and then advanced to second on a passed ball before being driven in by a Jorge Soler single.
With injuries hitting the Mariners pitching staff as of late, and the news of Marco Gonzales not setting a timeline for his return, it’ll be big for Seattle to get continued quality outings out of their starters that are still making the scheduled starts. Over the past few series, particularly the Yankees and Rangers series, the Mariners rotation has largely been thumped hard. While those two offenses are good, allowing the amount of runs that the rotation had is bad, and uncharacteristic of Kirby to see that sort of struggle. With the sort of competitor that the Elon alum is, it’s no surprise that Kirby bounced back in a big way against a solid Marlins team.
“It’s when they’re most vulnerable. All of us listen a little bit more but George is really smart. He understands it. He’s got really good stuff, got a good fastball and if they’re getting on your fastball, we’re going to mix more and I thought in Cal did a really good job. I also think they did a nice job of expanding the strike zone with two strikes, George has given up some hits in 0-2, 1-2, just not really putting the ball in areas where you need to put it to finish guys off and giving them a chance. He executed very well tonight. I’m really excited, I thought that was the combination of his pitches is the best we’ve seen at any point all season... He’s got such good command. It’s just about changing your sights a little bit. I thought Cal did a nice job getting off the edges, you know setting up giving your targets, making the plate a little bit wider, or a little bit taller, north south wise. They talked about going into the game, you still got to get ahead in the count before you go there. But fortunately for us, George has the ability to do all those things... Just loved the usage of the curveball tonight, early in the game, the curveball is really the pitch that tunnels so well off his fastball. And we kind of got in the habit of getting the slider a lot. The slider is a pitch that hasn’t gotten a ton of whiff against. It’s his pitch to kind of get back into counts. But the curveball was great to see tonight, I think his curve was really improved. I know it’s something that’s worked on here throughout the course of the year to get more bite on that and to get it look like a fastball and to tunnel it really well with his heater. So it worked very well”
The Seattle Mariners racked up eight hits, including three homers, en route to a nine-run performance (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Seattle bats are Kirby’s star allies with another big night
Once again, after yesterday’s eight run effort, the Mariners bats came to life against a solid Marlins pitcher. Although they came two hits short of yesterday’s total of ten, Seattle’s bats capitalized when they needed to and cashed in for the big spots to push the base runners along and over home plate. That includes three homers (One from Cal Raleigh and two from Mike Ford) and a triple from Jose Caballero, who cleared the loaded bases with that hit down the third base line. Seattle was also able to cause some havoc on the base paths, as they stole three bases tonight including Caballero nabbing two bags. Despite the top four Mariners batters going hitless (which typically means your best hitters, the top of the lineup), Seattle was able to get great production and left less runners on base than the Marlins did tonight.
Seattle Mariners designated hitter Mike Ford mashed two-homers for his second career multi-homer game (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Mike Ford mashes baseballs
Mariners designated hitter Mike Ford had an excellent game in this win, mashing two-homers and adding a third base hit. It was Ford’s second ever multi-homer game, his first one coming as a member of the New York Yankees back in 2019, when the Bronx Bombers were here at T-Mobile Park. Ford has largely been a career journeyman to this point of his team in the majors, and started this season down in AAA with the Rainiers before recently being called up. Although he’s relatively limited in comparison to the versatility that Seattle looks for with bench players, Ford hits the ball well and the Mariners sure as hell need that. Since being called up (seven games), Ford has six hits in 22 plate appearances for a .273 batting average with four of those hits being homers. It’s a small sample size and a limited role, but that’s relatively solid for what Seattle needs. If Ford can keep that up, let alone keep the power up, he’ll have a place on the big league roster. With other bench players sitting relatively quiet at the plate, Ford will continue to take the designated hitter spot for the large majority of games unless he gives Servais and the staff a reason for him not to.
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh blasted a homer into right field to get the scoring going (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Avalanche of offense a sign of things to come?
One of the biggest issues for the Mariners offense has been finding a consistent stride to keep rolling forward, and it’s only two games, but this might be a big sign that they’ve found some of that. Seattle has had big outbursts of offensive attack in games, but it’ll last in just that game and not carry over throughout the next game or the series. Far too often, a Mariners batter will have a hot night (typically one of them that has struggled throughout the course of this season), and either the rest of the lineup at large will fall flat on their face or fail to move said batter along when they’re on the base paths. Another key that manager Scott Servais has pointed out is having smarter plate appearances and being better when running the bases, in order to knock out their opponents starting pitcher. Seattle has done just that these past two games, and will need to do that again tomorrow when they face a tough young pitcher. Even, for example, today against Edward Cabrera. Cabrera has incredible stuff at a pitcher, but struggles with command and his walks, and Seattle was able to work that against him in order to chase him out after four innings. The Mariners are putting the pieces of the puzzle together right now, but they must continue to remain focused and continue to make smarter decisions.
“It certainly feels a little different. Just on the production we’ve had offensively from different parts of the lineup, everybody contributing. And it feels different in the clubhouse, I think the players understand they needed to make some adjustments and we have. We’re starting to get the results from it. We’ve got to stay with it, day after day after day to grind through it. And again, I’ve brought this up before, the exciting thing for me is we’re getting the pressure on the starting pitcher on the other team. Early in the game, you see the pitch count get up and all of a sudden you look it’s fourth-fifth inning and they’re gone. That’s a really good sign. That’s how we’re used to playing, we get deep in counts, we take some walks, it’s back to back nights with single digit strikeouts by us. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but t’s a big deal. We’re getting the ball in play. We’re just having good at bats up and down the lineup.”
The Seattle Mariners celebrate their 9-3 victory over the Miami Marlins, and the series win (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Quick notes
The Mariners secured a series win over the Marlins with tonight’s 9-3 win… they improve their home series record this season to 6-5 as they return to .500 (33-33) on the year.
Seattle is 9-3 over its last 12 games at T-Mobile Park since May 22.
Mike Ford went 3-for-4 with 3 runs, 2 home runs and 3 RBI… it was his 2nd career multi-HR game (last: 8/26/19 w/ NYY @ SEA) and the 5th time in his career he has recorded a 3+ RBI night (last: 8/16/20 w/ NYY vs. BOS).
Ford’s home run was his 1st at T-Mobile Park this season.
José Caballero went 2-for-3 with 1 triple, 1 walk, 3 RBI and 2 stolen bases in tonight’s game…the 2nd time this season he has had a 3+ RBI night (also: 5/22 @ OAK)
Caballero is the 1st Mariners player in team history with 2+ stolen bases, a triple and 3+ RBI in a game.
He is also the 4th player in MLB history with 2+ stolen bases, a triple and 3+ RBI out of the 9-spot in a game, joining Jimmy Callahan-CWS (7/24/1901), Charlie Moore-MIL (10/1/1980) & Jerry Dybzinksi-CWS (5/1/1984).
He stole his 8th and 9th bases of the year in the 2nd inning and 4th inning, respectively… Caballero trails only Julio Rodriguez (12 SB) for the most on the team so far this season.
Entering tonight’s game, the Mariners 9-hitters led the Major Leagues in walks drawn this season with 36.
Cal Raleigh went 1-for-3 with 2 runs, 1 home run, 1 walk and 3 RBI on the night.
Tonight was Raleigh’s 3rd game with 3+ RBIs this season (also: 4/30 @ TOR and 5/15 @ BOS)… in each game he has recorded 3+ RBIs Raleigh has hit at least 1 home run.
Following a walk in the 2nd inning, Teoscar Hernández has now reached base safely in every game in June… he has hit safely in 7 of 10 games, with 5 of those 7 being multi-hit games.
During the 10 games this month, Hernández is batting .361 (13x36) with 5 runs, 1 double, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 8 RBI and 5 walks.
Ty France reached base safely on a walk in the 5th inning… he extends his on-base streak to 9 consecutive games (5/22-c), hitting safely in the last 8 games… tonight he snapped his 8-game hitting streak.
During France’s 9-game span, he is batting .417 (15x36) with 5 doubles, 1 home run, 6 RBI and 1 walk.
Jarred Kelenic went 1-for-3 with 2 runs and drew 1 walk in tonight’s game… he has reached base safely in the last 5 games (6/7-c).
Kelenic picked up a stolen base in the 4th inning, his 8th of the season, and advanced to 3rd on an error on the throw.
Eugenio Suárez went 1-for-3 with 1 walk and scored 2 runs tonight.
In tonight’s outing, George Kirby threw 6.0 innings and allowed 1 run (0 ER), 0 walks, 10 strikeouts over 92 pitches… he retired each of the first 13 batters he faced.
With 10 strikeouts on the night, Kirby notched a new career high… he also recorded his 200th career strikeout on a swinging strikeout to Miami’s Garrett Cooper in the 5th inning.
Tonight marked Kirby’s 10th quality start this season… he currently leads Mariners starting pitchers in quality starts in 2023.
Kirby’s 10 quality starts also ties him for 2nd most in the Major leagues this season, trailing only Marcus Stroman-CHC with 12.
His 3 hits allowed tonight tied his season-low (min. 6.0 innings pitched) (also: 4/21 vs. STL).
Kirby also recorded the fastest thrown pitch of his career tonight at 99.4 MPH, surpassing a 99.1 MPH pitch on 5/31/23 vs. NYY.
The Mariners bullpen (Justin Topa, Chris Flexen, and Tayler Saucedo) combined for 3.0 innings and allowed 4 hits, 2 runs (2 ER), 2 walks, 1 HBP and 1 home run.
What’s next?
Tomorrow, Wednesday June 14th, the Mariners look to get the brooms out for a sweep of the Marlins when the two teams meet for a third time with a first pitch of 6:40PM PST. Seattle will have pitcher Luis Castillo on the mound, looking to bounce back from a few rough outings as well, as he’ll duel against young Miami starter Eury Perez. It should be an exciting pitching duel as Castillo looks to return to form and the 20-year-old Perez aims to continue his hot-start to 2023. The Mariners will be hosting “Life Beyond Cancer” night presented by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center as the first 10,000 fans inside of T-Mobile Park will get a special T-Shirt.