TAMPA – A day after holding a meeting, er, “open forum” to discuss what is needed and should be expected over the final month of the 2025 season, less than 24 hours after several key players leveled the blame and responsibility for correcting it directly at themselves, the Mariners went out and played one of their worst games of the season.
Yes, they’ve had more lopsided losses and sloppier efforts, but given the circumstances of their situation, Wednesday’s 9-4 drubbing by the Rays – an outcome more lopsided than the score – was abysmal.
Could this be the season’s nadir? The Mariners were swept in the three-game series at George M. Steinbrenner Field and have started this nine-game road trip with a 1-5 record. They get a much-needed off-day Thursday in Atlanta before opening a weekend series at Truist Park.
But for all of his belief in his team bouncing back on this road trip, it simply hasn’t happened.
“I think we all know what they have in them, and they know it too and it’s going to turn,” manager Dan Wilson said. “We have a chance tomorrow to regroup a little bit, and then go from there. We all know it’s going to turn and it’s going to turn quick. We’ve just got to keep grinding away at it.”
The Mariners (73-67) fell to four games back in the American League West with Houston (77-63) coming back to beat the Yankees. Seattle’s lead for the third wild card remained at 1 1/2 games over the Rangers (72-69) and 2 1/2 games over the Royals (70-69).
The top of the first didn’t exactly inspire belief of better things ahead. Facing starter Adrian Houser, Randy Arozarena lashed at the first pitch of the game – a 95-mph sinker down – producing a fly ball to right field for an out.
Cal Raleigh came to the plate and also swung at the first pitch – a 94-mph sinker on the outside edge of the plate. He lifted a flyball to the warning track in center field. The ball traveled 392 feet but was also an out.
Julio Rodríguez, the third batter of the inning, stepped to the plate. Would he take a pitch or two to at least prolong the inning? Nope. Rodríguez also swung at a first-pitch sinker, hitting a hard groundball to shortstop Carson Williams for the third out of the inning.
Three pitches and three outs for Houser.
It was a stark contrast in comparison to his outing at T-Mobile Park on August 10 when he needed 45 pitches to get through the first inning.
But that ultra-aggressive approach in the first inning wouldn’t even matter by the time they came to the plate in the top of the second.
Why?
Well, George Kirby would put them in a deficit that just kept growing when he was in the game.
The Mariners’ starter retired Chandler Simpson to start the game. But then allowed five consecutive hits:
• Yandy Diaz, double to right
• Brandon Lowe, single to left
• Junior Caminero, RBI single to right field
• Josh Lowe, RBU single to right field
• Jake Mangum, shift-beating RBI single to left
It looked like Kirby had stopped the merry-go-round of runners with help from Arozarena. Hunter Feduccia hit a fly ball to shallow left field that Arozarena caught and fired home with Josh Lowe tagging up and trying to score from third. Catcher Mitch Garver, who had allowed Lowe to advance to third on a passed ball, caught the one-hop throw, applied the tag, but couldn’t hold on to the ball. Instead of the inning ending with a double play, the Rays had a 4-0 lead.
“Just one of those games, I guess,” Kirby said. “I wasn’t really missing. Probably missed like two pitches, but they found every hole tonight. Yeah, I could have been better, but they just found every hole and I couldn’t really put an end to it.”
Kirby’s outing didn’t get any better in the second inning. He allowed singles to Bob Seymour, Simpson and Diaz to load the bases. Brandon Lowe made it 5-0 with a sac fly to deep center. Caminero, who has torched the Mariners all series, scalded a ball over the head of Rodríguez in center for a two-run double. Feduccia later came up with a two-out single to make it 8-0.
The Rays were something more than aggressive against Kirby, swinging at 32 of his 54 pitches. They whiffed on only eight of them.
With that much contact being made, it was logical to think Kirby might be tipping his pitches.
“It always crosses your mind when you have something like that and that’s something that we’ll continue to look into, but there was nothing we were aware of,” Wilson said.
Kirby had already been working with assistant coach Danny Farquhar last week on the very subject.
“I changed up my glove position literally last week, and Danny said it was great,” Kiriby said. “I don’t think it was that. They were just ready to hit and they just found every hole.”
Wilson opted to go to his bullpen for the third inning.
Kirby’s night was done after two innings – the shortest outing of his career. He allowed eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits with no walks, a strikeout and a hit batter.
“It just sucks,” Kirby said. “I don’t know how else to describe it, to be honest. But I will try to not let it discourage me for my next outing. I know I’m good and my stuff’s good. I feel great. I’ll peek at the video. But this is one that you flush and just forget about, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”
After the three-pitch gift in the first inning, Houser cruised through the next four innings, allowing just one hit.
Down 9-0, the Mariners finally got to Houser in the sixth. Dom Canzone led off with a single, J.P. Crawford worked a one-out walk and Raleigh singled to center to drive in Seattle ‘s first run. Moments later Rodríguez hammered a fastball over the wall in right field for a three-run homer. It was Rodríguez’s 28th long ball of the season. The nine-run lead had been trimmed to five.
But all the “battle” and “fight” that Wilson likes to preach wouldn’t allow the Mariners to overcome such a large deficit. The bullpen did a commendable job not allowing the game to get worse. Eduard Bazardo worked a scoreless inning, Emerson Hancock allowed one run over two innings and Tayler Saucedo tossed three scoreless frames.