George Kirby’s season debut falls flat as Mariners get blown out of [squints] Daikon Park?
What could have been a fun night in Texas as the Mariners took on the division rivals Astros quickly devolved into a terrible night at the newly-christened Daikin Park that ended with the Mariners getting blown out, 9-2.
Maybe we expected too much from George Kirby in his season debut after not having a spring training, but he didn’t have his same sharpness, going just 3.2 innings and giving up five runs with six hits. Some of those runs were due to bad-luck sequencing, but others were just results of what looked like Kirby shaking off the rust; he hit Jeremy Peña twice, walked a hitter, got into long battles, and missed his spots a few times, things we’re not accustomed to seeing from Kirby. On the bright side, Kirby did hit almost 99 and seemed to take his first outing in stride, appreciating what he’d done well but also being clear about where he wants to improve for his next time out.
“Didn’t go the way tonight I wanted it to, but it was a great first step in getting back with the boys. My heater felt awesome, but execution—in certain situations with two strikes, two outs, just gotta be able to put guys away.”
The Mariners started off well, getting two early runs and running up Lance McCullers Jr.’s pitch count early. But despite a two-out hit from Rowdy Tellez that got the Mariners on the board first in the first inning and a solo homer from Dylan Moore in the second, the Mariners couldn’t capitalize. Chiefly at fault here were Jorge Polanco, who had a bad night with three strikeouts, and Cal Raleigh; both struck out in the two at-bats they had in the first two innings, and their back-to-back strikeouts in the second killed a hopeful rally where both Ben Williamson and J.P. Crawford had reached on back-to-back base hits.
After that, McCullers settled in, working his longest outing of the season, into the fifth inning, with eight strikeouts in just 4.1 innings. The Mariners struck out a total of 15 times tonight, another troubling indication that they haven’t entirely solved their high-strikeout ways from last season.
More troublingly, Julio Rodríguez was a late scratch from tonight’s game, and Bryan Woo looked to have suffered a hit when a foul ball hit by Isaac Paredes caromed into the dugout. According to Dan Wilson, Julio’s back tightened up on him during BP, so he sat out of an abundance of caution, but he’s expected to be day-to-day. For Woo, the foul ball got him in the lower leg, and he’s bruised, but should be fine; Wilson isn’t concerned about his ability to start on Saturday.
Some comfort, then, on a night that was overall bad and frustrating for the Mariners. None of Kirby’s replacements from the bullpen were able to get quick outs with the exception of Collin Snider, necessitating Eduard Bazardo, Jesse Hahn, Snider, and eventually Gabe Speier to cover an inning apiece (Bazardo went 1.1). Speier in a blowout is unfamiliar territory, but as the Astros have basically no lefties in their lineup with Yordan Álvarez on the IL and Kyle Tucker gone to Chicago, he probably wouldn’t have seen much work this series anyway. The bullpen gave up another four runs, although most of the damage (three runs) came against Jesse Hahn, who is literally here to eat innings.
More disappointing was the lack of anything convincing from the lineup. Three hitters—J.P. Crawford, Polanco, and Raleigh—struck out three times apiece, and Leody Taveras struck out twice. One of those strikeouts came when the Mariners stranded the bases loaded in the fifth, after chasing McCullers, followed by Dylan Moore popping out harmlessly to end the inning. Another potential rally was quashed in the seventh, when pinch-hitter Donovan Solano—in for Tellez, who had one of the Mariners’ two RBI on the day—grounded into an inning-ending double play, a phrase I’m very sick of typing.
The highlight of tonight’s game, besides Kirby’s return, was for me personally a Very Good Sandwich I made for dinner: carne asada-style grilled steak with cilantro-lime mayo, tomato, avocado, and jalapeño, all on a nice lightly grilled baguette. Good bread is so important to a sandwich. It is hard to feel grumpy when eating a very good sandwich, no matter how badly the team plays. Please feel free to share your favorite sandwiches in the comments—for when, inevitably, there’s another Night Like This.