George Kirby is bringing a hot streak into Monday night’s start against the Cincinnati Reds, and the Seattle Mariners are hoping it keeps rolling.
Kirby will take the ball in the opener of a three-game series at 6:40 p.m. PT after stringing together five straight quality starts. That run dates back to his June 10 outing against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, and he’ll be trying to make it six in a row against Cincinnati.
Seattle manager Dan Wilson pointed to Kirby’s sharper mindset and cleaner approach on the mound when asked about the run.
"I think he's done a great job continuing to refine his mindset, his mental approach on the mound," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a pregame interview Monday. "As we've said before, that's incredibly vital.
He's continued to that. His ability to attack the zone has been big.
I think he's found himself in better counts here, particularly in his last few starts. Just continued to work his heater. ...
And it's made his secondaries that much better. He's kind of putting a lot of things together."
The numbers back up the praise. During the five-start stretch, Kirby has posted a 3.09 ERA and struck out 34 batters in 32 innings. His most recent home start came June 29 against the Los Angeles Angels, when he worked eight innings, allowed two earned runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out seven.
That stretch looks even more impressive when stacked against what came before it. Prior to the current run, Kirby had a 4.04 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 78 innings over 13 starts. He also had six quality starts before this latest surge began.
For the season, the 2023 All-Star has a 3.76 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 110 innings across 18 outings, and his 11 quality starts lead Seattle’s rotation.
This time of year has been productive for Kirby before, too. From June 9, 2024-July 26, 2024, he put together nine consecutive quality starts, a stretch that set a franchise record. The current run is his longest since then.
"George is coming off a couple of really good outings," Wilson said. "One at here, one on the road.
He's been very consistent for us. ... He's been a complete pitcher for us the last several times and looking for more of that tonight."
The Mariners enter the series with three wins in their last four games, including two out of three against the San Francisco Giants over the weekend at T-Mobile Park.
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