ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — By the time George Kirby left the mound for good Sunday, the rangy right-hander had turned his season around in a superb overall performance.
A couple of innings later, the Seattle Mariners were also headed in the right direction again with the end of their five-game losing streak.
Kirby dominated the Los Angeles Angels during , racking up a career high in strikeouts without walking a batter over seven innings of two-hit, two-run ball.
“That’s about as good as I’ve seen George,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “He was filling up the zone, but with quality strikes. He just had everything going. … Pretty exceptional work right there.”
Kirby (1-3) matched Miami’s Max Meyer for the most strikeouts in a game by a major leaguer this season while earning his first victory of 2025. He retired his first 11 batters and his final 10 while issuing no walks while basically throwing only two pitches — his four-seam fastball and his slider.
“We needed a big one today, and hopefully this sets the tone for us,” Kirby said. “Hopefully we keep rolling. It’s always good when you go out there and give your team the best chance to win after a couple of losses.”
The Mariners had been losing — and so had Kirby, whose season didn’t even begin until May because of a shoulder injury.
He lost all three of his previous starts this season, and Tuesday against Baltimore, although he was fine. Kirby lowered his season ERA from 8.56 to 6.53 with this outing while looking more like the player who made the AL All-Star team in 2023 and won 27 games over the past two seasons as a workhorse starter in a rotation currently plagued with injuries.
“Everything was working really well today, so it’s just a great sign as I’m progressing through the season,” Kirby said.
Kirby had only one blip in the entire afternoon: Mike Trout delivered a two-out single in the fourth, and on a slider that wasn’t exactly where Kirby wanted it.
But Kirby gathered himself and struck out Chris Taylor with a slider on the corner to end the fourth — and then he finished with three consecutive 1-2-3 innings. His seventh was particularly satisfying because he struck out Trout and Ward looking.
“After the game, Dan came to shake my hand (and said), ‘Hell yeah, the two guys that got you before, you finished them off,’” Kirby said. “That’s awesome. I’m just really glad I was able to go out there and finish the seventh.”
Seattle got another boost because Andrés Muñoz survived the ninth inning, striking out Trout with a runner on first to end it. The closer also got himself headed in the right direction again after blowing back-to-back save opportunities and subsequently getting the past week off.
The Mariners are headed to Arizona for a three-game series, and they’re hoping Kirby’s leadership carries over.
“It’s probably one of the most important starts we’ve had, with the way our pitching is going and George being able to come out and put on really the performance of his career,” catcher Mitch Garver said. “We know who George is, and that’s the guy.”
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