George Kirby's six scoreless innings carry Mariners to 6-2 win over Astros
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 26: George Kirby #68 of the Seattle Mariners pitches during the first inning against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on September 26, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
SEATTLE - George Kirby survived an early bases loaded jam in the first inning to pitch six scoreless innings to carry the Seattle Mariners to a critical 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night that kept the team firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot with five games left to play.
The Mariners took advantage of three Houston errors and scored four runs off Astros starter Cristian Javier to help snap a four-game losing streak and close back to within a half game of Houston in the chase for the final Wild Card spot in the American League.
"We needed to have the game tonight. It really makes it interesting tomorrow night," manager Scott Servais said. "And that's the way it's going to be down the stretch here. We've got to come out tomorrow with the same kind of fire in our belly. Because it was there today."
While the Mariners would have remained mathematically alive for the playoffs with a loss Tuesday night, the path to getting there would have become much harder. In the biggest moment of the season so far, Kirby stepped up to deliver a gem.
"I love it. Big games. I always want the ball," Kirby said. "I love pitching against the Astros and it always fires you up a little more. Yeah, I love it."
The early resilience of Kirby along with some defensive help allowed the Mariners to punch back in the series after being shutdown by Justin Verlander in a 5-1 loss to Houston on Monday night.
José Altuve and Alex Bregman each reached on singles to leadoff the game for Houston and a groundout from Yordan Álvarez put two runners in scoring position with just one out. Kirby intentionally walked Kyle Tucker after falling behind 3-0 in the at-bat to load the bases.
But Eugenio Suárez came up with a big defensive play by fielding a José Abreu chopper and throwing Altuve out at the plate to keep a run off the board.
"That was huge. That was big. That was a close play and he made a great throw right there," Kirby said.
Kirby then got out of the jam by getting Yainer Diaz to groundout to shortstop to keep the game scoreless.
Mike Ford and Ty France each singled to lead off the third inning to give Seattle their first baserunners of the night. Josh Rojas followed with a drive deep to right field that required a terrific running catch from Kyle Tucker to save an extra-base hit. However, Ford tagged up on the play and took off for third base with José Altuve's relay throw saying high over third base to allow Ford to score to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Julio Rodríguez followed with a sacrifice fly to deep left field that allowed France to score for a 2-0 lead.
Rojas began another Mariners surge with a one-out single in the fifth inning. A two-out walk of Rodríguez by Javier brought his start to a close with Houston turning to Rafael Montero in relief. The former Mariner reliever couldn't get a single out against Seattle as the Mariners stretched their lead.
Cal Raleigh attempted to ambush a 3-0 pitch from Montero and dumped a hit into right field that scored Rojas from second. Tucker's throw to third base got away from Bregman and went into the Houston dugout to allow Rodríguez to score for a 4-0 lead as Raleigh advanced to third on the play. Teoscar Hernandez followed with a single that scored Raleigh for a 5-0 advantage.
"Big Dumper likes the big moment. We've seen it. Huge hit in the game. Certainly 3-0 pitch, he didn't smoke it by any means but it hit in the right spot and we were due to catch a break and that was a huge hit in the ball game," Servais said.
Jarred Kelenic singled and Suárez walked against Montero to end his day after four batters without recording an out. However, pinch-hitter Dylan Moore meekly struck out against left-hander Bennett Sousa to limit any further damage for the Astros.
Kirby relied much more heavily on his sinker and slider against the Astros. A normally fastball-heavy pitcher, Kirby adjusted to throw just 24 fastballs in the outing with 26 sinkers and sliders each to counter-attack a strong fastball hitting team in Houston.
"George leans on his fastball so much and it's an outstanding fastball. That's an outstanding fastball hitting team. So I thought it was really critical. He got the off speed pitches going early in the game today," Servais said.
Kirby finished the outing with five hits allowed and four strikeouts with just the lone intentional walk to Tucker.
But just as Montero couldn't record an out in his stint in relief for Houston, Justin Topa was unable to record an out in facing three Houston batters in the seventh inning. Topa hit Diaz with a pitch to leadoff the inning, and Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña each singled to load the bases with no outs.
Matt Brash came in to save the day for the Mariners as he worked out of the jam. Pinch-hitter Jon Singleton scored Diaz on a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the Seattle lead to 5-1, but Brash then struck out Altuve looking at a slider on the inside corner and Bregman grounded out to third base to end the Houston threat.
Brash worked around a one-out double from Tucker in the eighth inning as he picked up six big outs for the Mariners in his longest outing of the season.
"What a season Matt Brash has had. Where would we be without him? I don't want to think about it. Thank God we've got him," Servais said. "Since midseason he has just turned it on. His strike throwing has gotten better. Obviously the wipeout slider has always been his pitch but he's added something to get a little bit more movement on his fastball and it is paying off. He got in on some righties tonight against some really good hitters and really saved us picking us up giving us two innings."
Ty France delivered a two-out home run in the eighth inning for his 11th of the season to add a little more insurance for Seattle.
The insurance was a welcome sight for Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning. Muñoz hit McCormick with a pitch and Peña singled for the third time in the game to apply pressure. A one-out single from Altuve scored pinch-runner Grae Kessinger to cut the lead to 6-2. Bregman hit into a fielder's choice to third and Álvarez flew out to center to secure the victory for Seattle.
With the victory, the Mariners close back up to within a half game of the Astros for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. They also pull within two games of the Toronto Blue Jays for the second Wild Card spot after their 2-0 loss to the New York Yankees earlier in the evening.
Additionally, the Mariners remain within reach of the division lead as well after the Texas Rangers lost 9-3 to the Los Angeles Angels. Seattle is three games back of Texas with a four-game weekend series to close out the regular season between the two teams set for the weekend.