Mariners split series with Twins behind Kirby’s masterclass and homers from Hernandez, Ford
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Following two frustrating losses and the news of Jarred Kelenic’s injury this morning, things seemed to be headed downhill at a rapid pace for the Seattle Mariners. Their 2023 season, with expectations stacked high considering the team ending their 20+ year playoff drought and coming just a few swings of the bat short of the ALCS, looked like it was headed into free fall. It still very well could end up in major disappointment for the Mariners considering their continued lack of consistency at the plate and the injuries that they face, but at least in today’s matters, Seattle had a bright spot. With today’s 5-0 shutout victory over the Twins, they split the series with Minnesota and looked like the best version of themselves. George Kirby’s stellar outing and homers from Teoscar Hernandez and Mike Ford represented the best of this era of Mariners baseball: great pitching and homers.
The Minnesota Twins lineup struggled with George Kirby all day long as he twirled his sixth ultra quality start of the season (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
A return to dream land for Kirby
In his second start since the Midsummer Classic where he earned his first career All-Star nod, Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby looked like top of the rotation material. For most of the season Kirby has shown that he has what it takes to be the Mariners ace, and he continue to look like that with outings such as today where he recorded his sixth ultra quality start of the season and 15th quality start of the season, the latter of which is tied for the best in all of baseball. Kirby’s mixture of his pitching arsenal, tossed in with the high velocity that he possesses makes him a dangerous pitcher against any team. After a tough loss against the Tigers where he struggled a bit, Kirby bounced back and showed that once again. The fun part to think about, if you want a long-term spin on it, is that Kirby is only in his second year in the big leagues and grows seemingly every outing that he has.
While Kirby’s pitching arsenal wasn’t necessarily evenly mixed up, it was how George used his selection that fooled the Twins hitters all seven innings long. Taking advantage of a Minnesota team that leads the Majors in strikeouts, Kirby was in line for a big game as one of the best in all of baseball at avoiding walks and striking batters out. Outside of a couple hits allowed towards the end of his outing, including a triple into the right-center gap, Kirby was stellar in this game and gave Seattle more than a chance to win, he was a major reason that they won this ballgame.
The Seattle Mariners offense found a few different ways to attack the Twins pitching staff, including homers from Teoscar Hernandez and Mike Ford (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
Power matched with patience
The Seattle offense got clicking early in this ballgame, like yesterday, as JP Crawford and Julio Rodriguez singled to lead off before Eugenio Suarez drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Designated hitter Mike Ford struck out disappointingly, and doubt started to creep in that the Mariners were going to be able to get anything done with this golden opportunity fresh into the game. While both Cal Raleigh and Ty France struck out after him, Teoscar Hernandez ensured that Seattle wasn’t going to come away with nothing at all as he belted a single into left field to drive JP in. There were pros and cons to take away from that inning, as the Mariners drove up the pitch count of Twins starter Pablo Lopez, but only came away with the one run and all of their strikes were strikeouts. Raleigh’s and France’s were on looking strike threes, which were clear strikes. That’s on those two to get the bat off their shoulder and put the ball in play.
The scoring picked up again in the fourth inning as Teoscar Hernandez decided that he wanted to be a big part of the offense today, sending a solo shot into straightaway center to double the lead that he created in the first inning for Seattle. After that, though, the Mariners were back on their offensive drought behavior before the eighth inning brought a big blast and some tomfoolery. Eugenio Suarez singled before being brought home by a Mike Ford tank shot into right field to double the lead once again, and after that is where things got odd. Minnesota reliever Jorge Lopez hit three batters to load the bases up, and his Twins teammate Cole Sands came in afterwards to throw a wild pitch that scored Cal Raleigh. An odd way to add their final run, but it’s a run regardless at the end of the day.
The Seattle Mariners celebrate their win after Paul Sewald pitched the ninth inning (Photos by Bryan Saldana)
‘Pen report
Unlike the past two games that the Mariners played against these Twins, Seattle was able to give their bullpen a bit of a break in this ballgame because of George Kirby’s strong outing that saw him go deep into the ballgame. Take those seven innings, plus the Mariners bats providing some actual run support, and it allows the Seattle bullpen to be somewhat rested for when the talented Blue Jays roster comes to town. A somewhat unheralded aspect of the Mariners strong pitching staff is the fact that because their starting rotation has been so good, it allows the bullpen to come in and executive when they’re called upon because they aren’t being drained when the starter doesn’t pitch well.
In this ballgame, the Mariners called to the pen for high leverage relievers Matt Brash and Paul Sewald, each putting in an inning of work in this game. Neither Brash nor Sewald saw much danger at all besides a Donovan Solano single that the latter allowed with one out. Two of the highest leverage relievers that the Mariners will deploy, outside of Andres Munoz, both Brash and Sewald have been rock solid for Seattle since they joined the bullpen. While Brash had a rough stretch way back in April (yes, that long ago) and Sewald has the occasionally homer against, they’ve been a big boost to what the Mariners are and how good the pitching staff has been. Getting that sort of value out of relievers on a consistent basis isn’t common, so I think that it’s only fair to acknowledge when they’re doing well.
Quick notes
Seattle beat the Minnesota Twin s 5-0 in today’s game splitting the series at 2-2.
The Mariners move back to .500 with today’s win…they are now 48-48 on the season and 10-6 in July.
Today marked the Mariners 7th shutout of the season.
Seattle’s pitching staff has 12 games with no walks this year, T1st in MLB (other: SF)…SEA is 10-2 in those G.
Starting pitcher George Kirby matched his career-high with 10 strikeouts in today’s game…this was his second time this season he has recorded 10 strikeouts (also: June 13 against Miami).
He recorded his 100th strikeout of the season in the 4th inning of today’s game after he struck out Byron Buxton.
Kirby pitched 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed just 4 hits on 99 pitches, 73 strikes.
This was Kirby’s 15 quality start of the season which gives him the American League lead and ties him for the MLB lead with Marcus Stroman-CHC and Logan Webb-SFG.
Kirby’s 10 strikeouts today come after Luis Castillo recorded 11 strikeouts in last night’s game…they became the first Mariners duo to record 10+ strikeouts in back-to-back team games since Roenis Elías & Taijuan Walker on June 19-20, 2015.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the 1st inning after Teoscar Hernández singled to left field scoring J.P. Crawford on the play.
Hernández also homered in the 4th inning to drive in the Mariners second run of the day…this was his first home run this month.
He finished the day at 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, 1 run and 1 home run.
Mike Ford added 2 more runs for the Mariners in the 8th inning after he homered to right field… Eugenio Suárez scored on the play.
The Mariners would add another run in the 8th inning after Cal Raleigh scored on a wild pitch by Cole Sands.
J.P. Crawford led off the 1st inning with a single to right field…he now has a leadoff hit in 4 of his last 5 games and has reached base safely in the 1st inning 5 of his last 6 games…Crawford has a .379 on-base percentage to lead off games, reaching base in 22 of 58 plate appearances this season.
He finished the game 2-for-5 with 1 run…this was his 2nd consecutive multi-hit game, his 6th in July and his 22nd of the season.
With his walk in the 1st inning Eugenio Suárez has now reached base safely in 11-consecutive games (7/6-c)…he also doubled in the 5th inning and singled in the 8th to extend his hitting streak to 4 games.
During his 11-game on base streak he is batting .294 (10x34) with 2 doubles, 5 home runs, 9 RBI and 8 walks.
Center fielder Julio Rodríguez singled to right field in the 1st inning…in 15 July games Julio is batting .290 (18x62) with 4 doubles, 8 RBI, 5 walks and 4 stolen bases.
Rodríguez also made a 5-star catch in the 5th inning after chasing down a ball that only had a 25% catch probability…Statcast considers outs on 0-25% catch probability to be a 5-star catch.
Outfielder Cade Marlowe made his Major League debut today, starting in left field…he drew a walk in his second at-bat of the game.
Mariners relievers Matt Brash and Paul Sewald combined for 2.0 innings pitched and allowed just 1 hit with 3 strikeouts.
In the 8th inning 3 Mariners batters were hit by a pitch…this marks the first time in franchise history where Seattle has 3+ hit-by-pitches in the same inning.
What’s next?
Following today’s shutout win over the Twins that splits the series with Minnesota, the Mariners will begin the final series of their ten-game homestand tomorrow, Friday, July 21st when the Toronto Blue Jays come into town. It’s a big series and weekend for multiple reasons in the SoDo area, as the Mariners continue to battle to keep their limited shreds of playoff hope alive while a third place in the American League East team that’s won seven of their last ten come into Seattle. Outside of the play on the field for either team, this series at T-Mobile Park is always a big event considering how many Canadians come down to the Emerald City to watch their Blue Jays play. Add that, plus the numerous events that are taking place around town (Taylor Swift, Ballard FC, Bite of Seattle, amongst the many others), and you’ve got the city of Seattle ready to burst at the seams with activity.