Defense sparkles behind Kirby, but missed chances costly in shutout loss

MIAMI — The Mariners headed east to Florida for their final road trip before the All-Star break, and they certainly hoped for a better start.

Thus far, it has been the Marlins spoiling things.

On Wednesday night, Miami scored twice through the third inning and used some great pitching late to hand the Mariners a 2-0 loss at loanDepot park.

The Marlins won the first two games of this series, and they go for the sweep on Thursday.

Seattle had won five of its past six before coming to Miami.

The Marlins, meanwhile, have won five straight and 11 of their past 14 games.

“Offensively, we had a lot of chances,” Seattle manager Dan Wilson said. “Had a couple of hits in the first, had some baserunners on. The first through fifth inning, we had chances, got the traffic we wanted, just couldn’t get anyone in. … A frustrating night offensively, for sure.”

On Tuesday, the Mariners struggled offensively against Miami early in the game before getting things rolling in the latter stages, rallying from a four-run deficit before losing, 6-5, in 10.

Wednesday, the Mariners appeared to be picking up where they left off against the Marlins, putting runners in scoring position in the first and fourth innings and threatening to score both times.

Only they did not.

And from the final out of the fourth inning on, Miami pitching shut things down, sitting down 16 of 17 batters.

Seattle had seen 14 straight batters go down before Josh Naylor singled with one out in the ninth.

With two outs, Naylor took second on defensive indifference and third on a wild pitch. But he was stranded there when Miami closer Pete Fairbanks struck out Cole Young to end it.

“That was the frustrating part,” Wilson said. “I thought [Miami’s] bullpen threw the ball pretty well against us. We just weren’t able to get anything consistent going. That’s the tough part; you’re trying to get back into the game and just are not able to do so. We’ve just got to come back tomorrow, salvage that last game of the series.”

Seattle’s loss overshadowed a nice start from George Kirby (7-8), who went six innings and struck out seven.

Miami opened the scoring in the second on a leadoff homer to center by Kyle Stowers before making it 2-0 in the third.

A couple of defensive gems kept Miami from scoring a couple more runs, including a diving catch by Luke Raley in right.

Miami’s Javier Sanoja had led off the third with a double to left, but he was doubled up when he took off and assumed Raley wouldn’t come up with the catch on Liam Hicks' fly ball. Raley did make a great catch, and while Sanoja circled third and headed for home, Raley casually tossed the ball back to shortstop Colt Emerson at second for the second out in the inning.

“I thought [Kirby] threw the ball exceptionally well,” Wilson said. “The defense behind him was excellent.”

The Marlins had a chance to make it 3-0 in the fifth when Otto Lopez doubled with two outs. Lopez raced home on a single from Xavier Edwards, only center fielder Victor Robles came up firing and hit catcher Cal Raleigh to deny Lopez and end the inning.

“[Raley] making that play was huge,” Kirby said, “and then [Robles], obviously, at home plate. Tip my cap to those guys. It could have gotten out of hand a little bit. I’m really glad they came up big in those moments.”