Home runs hurt Mariners, George Kirby in loss to Twins

MINNEAPOLIS – Their starting pitcher didn’t provide the somewhat typical quality start and the bullpen couldn’t keep their rally hopes alive. They failed to make a difficult play on defense when needed. And they didn’t do much in generating offense, striking out way too much … again.

Not even Cal Raleigh could rescue the Mariners from their overall mediocrity and looming defeat, although he sure tried and came close.

But Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to the Twins offered a glimpse into how the Mariners successful start to the 2024 season can be considered flawed and doubted despite their recent success.

Given their tepid offense, inconsistent run production and propensity to strike out so often, the Mariners are almost totally reliant on the starting pitching to be somewhere from great to outstanding every game. The bullpen must be almost flawless while working with minimal margin for error while the defense must be mistake-free in its execution to back the pitching.

It’s a tough way to survive in Major League Baseball and an even more difficult to stay atop a division or in a playoff race.

Sure, the Mariners’ offense has provided one-off exceptions to this trend of baseball, including a win 24 hours earlier when they scored 10 runs. But that sort of production, or even slightly less than that, has been rare and sporadic.

“Normally, our pitching does a great job to keep us in games,” M’s manager Scott Servais said. “But you’re gonna have to score runs, especially on the road. We’ve often talked about to win games and series on the road, you have to score. We had a big night (Tuesday) night, but we just couldn’t carry over any of that momentum to early in the game tonight.”

M’s starter George Kirby struggled to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate, giving up hard contact and more runs than normal. The offense generated 10 hits, but also struck out 13 times and stranded a small village of base runners, going 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. It was the 25th time this season Seattle struck out 10 or more times. They are 13-12 in those games.

Of the 13 strikeouts, eight of them came with a runner on base. The Mariners came into the game with a 27.1 % strikeout rate with runners on base – the worst in MLB – and 24% with runners in scoring position.

“The strikeouts have been frustrating all year long,” Servais said. “It’s really hard to get rallies going and sustain any momentum without putting the ball in play. When you put ball in play, you get good results. It’s different guys at different times in key spots in the game. And you can’t get any momentum going.”

Even after Raleigh pulled the team within a run thanks to a two-run double in the seventh inning, the bullpen and defense allowed two late runs that made a comeback impossible against the Twins’ relievers.

Seattle’s streak of six series wins ended with the loss. The Mariners will try to salvage a split in the four-game series with an afternoon game Thursday to close out the road trip. Right-hander Logan Gilbert will get the start for Seattle while the Twins will start their best pitcher, Pablo Lopez, a one-time M’s pitching prospect.

Kirby took the loss and was pulled after five innings and 70 pitches. He allowed four runs on four hits, with a walk and four strikeouts. Three of those hits were solo homers and two came in the first inning to back-to-back hitters. Servais was adamant that pulling Kirby with such few pitches thrown wasn’t due to a lingering knee issue. Kirby also said he felt fine.

“There’s nothing physically wrong with George,” Servais said. “Everybody’s got all these ideas, whatever. It was just not coming out right. He’s had this happen before at different times. It was my call to take him out the game. George wanted to go back out there and there was no problem at all physically. With where we’re at, he’s going to make consecutive starts here on normal rest, we’re playing the long game.”

With one out, Carlos Correa jumped on a 1-1 curveball that hung over the middle of the plate, sending a deep drive into the Twins’ bullpen beyond the wall in left-center.

Two pitches later, Trevor Larnach yanked a 0-1 slider into the right-field seats to make it 2-0.

Kirby served up the third solo blast in the second inning. With one out, he left a 95-mph fastball in the middle of the plate. Willi Castro jumped on the mistake, sending a deep blast into the second deck in right field to make it 3-0.

“I was definitely a little off,” Kirby said. “I didn’t execute the way I wanted to. The mistakes I have been making, they haven’t been resulting in three home runs. I was pitching behind counts, and that’s when you lose some battles, but I’m just excited for next week, for my work this week and kind of flush this one.”

Twins right-hander Chris Paddack, once a touted pitching prospect in the Padres’ system before having a second Tommy John surgery, delivered a strong if not lengthy outing. He pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing one run on eight hits with a walk and 10 strikeouts. He struck seven in the first three innings.

The Mariners’ lone run off him came in the fourth when Mitch Garver hit a solo blast to right field. But Minnesota answered back in the bottom of the inning. Kirby issued a one-out walk and Castro hit a triple into the right-field corner to make it 4-1.

It looked like Raleigh would have at least an RBI single off Paddack in the fifth. With two outs and runners on first and second, he hit a hard ground ball up the middle that was gloved on a diving stop by second baseman Edouard Julien, who scrambled to his feet and fired to first for the final out.

With two outs in the seventh, Mitch Haniger worked a walk after getting behind 0-2 to reliever Griffin Jax. It brought Raleigh to the plate. He jumped on a first-pitch change-up to right field. The blast hit high off the tall wall and went for a double.