By Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA – In the game that followed one of their more frustrating defeats of the 2023 season, the Seattle Mariners resiliency was on display once again. In front of a 40,035-person crowd at T-Mobile Park, Seattle used a much better place approach to jump on Houston starting pitcher Cristian Javier and build a strong lead. The Mariners were the ones getting ahead early, and they were able to hold onto that lead was George Kirby returned to form after an unusually poor run leading into this start. Seattle’s pitching staff got the job done, their offense looked much better than it has for much of the month of September, and the Mariners dropped their playoff magic number to six. While it’s fun now, Seattle must maintain this momentum and continue to bring this version to themselves to the ballpark for the remaining five games of the regular season.

The Houston Astros bats struggled against Seattle Mariners starting pitcher in tonight’s game (Photos by Bryan Saldana)

A joyous return to dreamland for Kirby

Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby came into this ballgame looking to snap out of the worst stretch of his young career. In the six outings for George since his nine-inning masterclass on Felix Hernandez’s Mariners Hall of Fame induction game, Kirby hasn’t particularly been bad but hasn’t quite been the dominant version that we’ve been able to see for the first year and a half of his career. That George returned today, as Kirby threw six innings of scoreless ball to help his team get some length out of his start and avoid the early deficit that they had seen in every game of their four-game losing streak. George faced trouble early into the ballgame when he had the bases loaded in the first inning and only one out, but an excellent play by third baseman Eugenio Suarez before getting Yainer Diaz to ground out. Kirby retired the next nine batters that he faced and was able to mitigate the one runner in scoring position that he surrendered the rest of the way.

Looking at the statistics from Kirby’s outing, George threw 84 total pitches and deployed five pitch types: Slider, Sinker, Fastball, splitter, and curveball. Kirby drew 10 whiffs out of the Astros in tonight’s game which is good for second best on the night in this game. All five of those pitch types from George saw upticks in velocity, while only the splitter and curveball saw an increase in spin rate. A great indication of how good Kirby’s game was lies within the number of hard-hit balls that Houston had off him, as only five of the 18 that the Astros hit into fair territory were labeled as hit hard. His performance tonight got him a game score of 65 from ESPN.

This kind of return to form for George is huge, and it came in the biggest game of the season for the Mariners. Seattle likely couldn’t at all afford a loss in this situation, considering not only where they currently sit in the Wild Card chase but also where Houston themselves sit. Getting a dominant, lock down performance from Kirby was exactly what the Mariners were going to need to be able to get momentum back on their side following a nightmarish four-game losing streak, as their season seemingly fell apart, and George was the one to deliver. Comments made regarding what Kirby said in the heat of the moment after a start a few weeks ago are tacky and ill-informed, as those still showing hate towards George seem to have forgotten the sort of pitcher that he is. Whether it be the numerous lengthy games he’s pitched for Seattle, the start in game three of the ALDS last season against this Astros team, you can pick from the growing mountain of stats. Kirby is the ace of the future for this team, and outside of that poor run lately, he’s been that this season.

The Seattle Mariners offense got things going at the plate, finding themselves in a much better situation throughout the game than during their four-game losing streak that was snapped with this victory (Photos by Bryan Saldana)

Reigniting the offense

The Seattle offense got big efforts in the third and fifth inning and could have tacked on more production, but the five runs that they got in that three-inning span were enough to beat Houston in tonight’s game as Kirby spun a gem on the other side of things for the Mariners. The first two innings seemed like a potential disaster brewing, as Seattle went down in order for those frames before the third inning saw the gears start turning. Designated hitter Mike Ford and Ty France both singled to begin the inning, before a Josh Rojas fly out helped get things going. Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker relayed a throw to second baseman Jose Altuve, and Altuve’s throw went high and over the head of third baseman Alex Bregman as Ford ran into third base, before that error allowed Ford to score. Julio Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to score France, before J.P. Crawford and Cal Raleigh walked to cause more traffic on the bases but Teoscar Hernandez struck out to end the inning.

In the fifth, Josh Rojas singled after Ty France struck out to begin the frame, and J.P. Crawford went down on strikes to make it seem as though there wasn’t going to be any more production coming. The next four Seattle batters reached as Julio walked, Cal Raleigh dropped a bloop single into right field to score two as another Houston throwing error pushed Cal to third. Teoscar Hernandez singled to score Cal, while Jarred Kelenic singled and Eugenio Suarez walked to load the bases. Trouble was brewing for the Astros with the bases loaded and former Mariner Rafael Montero unable to find his control, but a pinch-hitting Dylan Moore chased after a pitch low and away to strikeout and quash that.

***Seattle Mariners first baseman Ty France celebrates his eighth inning home run with the teams home run trident (Photo by Bryan Saldana)***

From France, with love

Seattle first baseman Ty France hasn’t had the season that he or anybody has envisioned of him. Once looking like the hitting machine with excellent defense that was going to be holding down first base for the future for the Mariners, is now largely still stellar on defense while being incredibly mediocre at the plate. While cries for him to be traded or DFA’d are silly and largely uneducated, there are undoubtable struggles for France at the plate and his decent power has been gone as the first baseman hasn’t hit a homer in more than a month. That changed tonight, as the Southern California native tagged a heater near the bottom of the zone and delivered it kindly to those partaking in adult beverages in the ‘pen, extending the Mariners lead late and ensuring that there wouldn’t be any sort of Astros comeback while also hopefully helping him return to the sort of form at the plate that this Seattle team will need if they’re going to the playoffs.

***Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Andres Munoz had some trouble to begin the ninth inning, but got the final three outs of the game to secure the victory (Photo by Bryan Saldana)***

‘Pen report

After Kirby’s six run strong night, Seattle turned to their three highest-leverage relievers to finish this game off. Considering how things had gone for them score wise during that four-game losing streak, the Mariners hadn’t really needed to go to those high-leverage guys and thus gave them plenty of rest for when a necessary situation arose, and that came in this ballgame. Justin Topa came in during the seventh and promptly loaded the bases, showing an unfortunate and uncharacteristic lack of control during this outing which caused Seattle to bring in Matt Brash. Just like his intro music from the bullpen, Matt Brash put out the fire to minimize the damage and even pitched the eighth inning, shutting things down and keeping the Astros out of comeback distance to turn things over to Andres Munoz in the ninth. Munoz struggled with his command at first, hitting Chas McCormick in the small of his back with a ball that had perhaps too much ride, but was able to secure the final three outs and give Seattle their biggest win of the season to this point.

Not going quietly into the night, yet

After last night’s loss to Houston, the situation for Seattle looked very bleak. No offense or real strong approach at the plate, especially given some of the games during their losing streak where the opposing starting pitcher didn’t have their control to start the game, and the pitching staff had struggled in those games to prevent an early lead. Going against the Rangers, that’s a tough ask for the pitching staff to be completely shut down, but the larger issue lied in the fact that the Mariners just didn’t get their bats going until it was too late, or they were still missing out on cashing in during big situations. Seattle isn’t built to go punch for punch with Texas on offense, at least not currently, so those early deficits were a bad sign from the jump. I’ll hold my opinion that the Mariners can hang with the Rangers quiet for now, as more issues arose in the aforementioned loss to Houston yesterday. Seattle had the chance to get things going early with the bases loaded before Julio Rodriguez grounded into a double play, and then went silent on offense for nearly the rest of the night.

As stated in yesterday’s recap, it is going to be difficult for the Mariners to pull themselves out of the hole that they created. But, despite all that negativity and pessimism about their chances, it’s still very much possible for them to clinch a playoff berth and there is little hope remaining that they could possibly clinch the division title. They’re going to need outside help as mentioned before, considering that they fumbled the bag in terms of controlling their own destiny, but if they’re able to handle their own business and get hot now, it’s hard to think that Seattle doesn’t somehow chaotically find themselves in October with a nice position to make a playoff run. It’ll need to start with the same sort of strong and focused plate approach tomorrow and a critical start from Bryce Miller, who is coming off getting shelled in the first game of the recent series at the Rangers, but those two things aren’t crazy to think about.

Quick notes

The Mariners won tonight’s game against the Astros 6-2…the series is now split at 1-1 and Seattle’s record against Houston this season improves to 9-3.
- With tonight’s win, Seattle is now 2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the 2nd Wild Card spot, a 0.5 game back from Houston for the 3rd Wild Card spot and 3 games back from the Texas Rangers for 1st place in the AL West.
- Every batter in the Mariners starting lineup reached base safely tonight, the 18th time Seattle hitters have done so this season and the first time since 8/26 vs. KC.
In his 30th start of the season, George Kirby threw 6.0 innings and allowed 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk (1 IBB) and struck out 4 over 84 pitches…he retired 12 straight batters from the 1st inning until the 5th inning.
- Kirby recorded his 19th quality start of the year tonight, the most by any Mariners starter this season and tied for 5th most by any American League starter in 2023 (also: Kevin Gausman-TOR).
- Tonight marked the 21st game this season in which Kirby has pitched 5.0+ innings and allowed 1-or-fewer walks, the 3rd most among all Major League starters this season, trailing only Logan Webb-SF (23 G) and Zach Eflin-TB (22 G).
- He picked up his 5th scoreless start of 6.0+ innings tonight, the 2nd most by a Mariners starter this year trailing only Luis Castillo’s 7 such games…he has not allowed more than 1 walk in each of those 5 outings.
Cal Raleigh went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and 1 walk tonight…it marked his 31st multi-hit game and the 13th game reaching base 3+ times.
- Raleigh recorded his 24th catcher caught stealing tonight after throwing out Jermy Peña at 2nd base in the 5th inning…he now leads the American League in catcher caught stealing, ranking ahead of Shea Langeliers-OAK who has 23.
- He has now caught 10 of the last 14 attempted base stealers since 9/4.
Ty France picked up 1 single and hit his 11th home run of the year in tonight’s game to record his 40th multi-hit game of 2023.
- France’s home run in the 8th inning was his 3rd home run hit on the first pitch this season.
- Over the last 10 games (9/16-c), he is batting .282 (11x39) with 3 runs, 1 double, 1 home run and 1 walk.
Julio Rodríguez drew 1 walk, scored 1 run and picked up 1 RBI tonight…he recorded his team-leading 102 RBI on a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning to score Ty France from 3rd base.
- Rodríguez has recorded a sacrifice fly in each game of the series so far…it is the first time in his career he has hit sacrifice flies in back-to-back games.
J.P Crawford drew his 90th walk of the season in the 3rd inning…he has reached base safely in each of the last 5 games (9/22-c).
- Crawford’s 90 walks tie for 2nd most in the American League this season (also: Nathaniel Lowe-TEX and Alex Bregman-HOU) and rank 2nd in the Majors among shortstops.
Mike Ford recorded the Mariners first hit of the night on a single to lead off the 3rd inning…he went on to score the first run of the game after advancing to 3rd on Josh Rojas’ flyout and advancing to home on an error.
Josh Rojas picked up 1 single and stole his 12th stolen base in the 5th inning …during the current series, Rojas is 3-for-7 with 1 run and 1 double.
Teoscar Hernández drove in 1 run on a single in the 5th inning tonight, scoring Raleigh from 3rd…it marked his 93rd RBI of the season.
Jarred Kelenic and Eugenio Suárez each reached safely tonight on a single and walk, respectively.
The Mariners bullpen (Justin Topa, Matt Brash and Andrés Muñoz) combined for 3.0 innings and allowed 5 hits, 2 runs (2 ER) and struck out 2.
- Brash threw the fastest pitch of his career, a 100.8 mph fastball, to retire Bregman in the 7th inning (previously: 100.6, 2x, last: 8/5 at LAA).

The Seattle Mariners celebrate their 6-2 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday, September 26th, 2023 (Photos by Bryan Saldana)

What’s next?

Following the current series split between Houston and Seattle following tonight’s Mariners loss, these teams will meet for the rubber match tomorrow, Wednesday, September 27th with a first pitch time of 6:40PM PST. The game will be broadcast on Root Sports locally, with it also being shown on MLB Network. The Mariners will have young Bryce Miller on the mound to battle the Astros, a team that he’s done a solid job against in the two previous times that he’s faced them. Across from the young Texan, Houston will have Framber Valdez on the mound, who has had an impressive season which includes a no-hitter back in August. It’s a crucial rubber match for both teams as the season winds down and with the AL Wild Card race as tight as it is.

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