CLEVELAND -- Nearly everything went right for the Mariners in their series opener against the Guardians on Friday night. Their offense scored four runs in the first seven batters of the game. George Kirby found his groove on the mound and allowed just two runs across seven innings.
Then things began to unravel. After leading the Guardians for most of the game, the Mariners’ bullpen allowed three runs over the last two innings, which led to Cleveland picking up a 5-4 walk-off win on a Steven Kwan sacrifice fly against Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning.
“Tough one to lose tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said.
While the Guardians’ comeback against Seattle’s bullpen wasn’t built on the back of hard-hit balls, they had enough timely (and bloop) hitting to get the job done.
In the eighth inning, Matt Brash issued back-to-back walks to José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo before Ramírez came around to score on an infield single from Angel Martínez that dribbled between Eugenio Suárez and J.P. Crawford.
It left Martínez's bat at just 38.6 mph, making it the weakest-hit ball put in play all game.
“Nothing [was] hit particularly hard, but you want to avoid the traffic because it can hurt you like it did tonight,” Wilson said.
The Guardians needed just three batters to end the game in the ninth inning, as Nolan Jones started the inning with a double in the left-field gap before coming around to score a batter later on an RBI single from Brayan Rocchio. The play ended with Rocchio at third base after Julio Rodríguez’s throw to the plate skirted past Cal Raleigh.
Rocchio scored a batter later on Kwan’s sacrifice fly.
Although Muñoz still has a 1.72 ERA this year, he’s now allowed runs in back-to-back outings and has allowed 18 baserunners in 12 innings in August.
Muñoz’s fastball averaged 96.9 mph on Friday, which is a tick below his season average of 98.3 mph. He was unavailable after the game.
“Nothing was hit particularly hard off him,” Wilson said. “The double found a spot between the outfielder and the infielders were in on [Rocchio’s blooper].”
Two innings before the Guardians were celebrating in the middle of the infield, Wilson went to the mound and did something he doesn’t do often. He left the mound without making a pitching change.
With the Mariners leading, Wilson went out to the mound to talk to Kirby. And, instead of pulling the right-hander, Wilson walked back to the dugout and left the rest of the inning in Kirby’s hands. And Kirby rewarded him by getting Kwan to line out to end the inning.
Although he surrendered solo home runs to Manzardo and Jones in the outing, Kirby was largely untouchable outside of those two swings.
“He still had some in the tank, and I thought he still felt pretty strong and the way he had thrown the ball and kept this lineup in check he deserved one more crack at it,” Wilson said.
While part of the thinking for the decision to keep Kirby in was due to lefty reliever Gabe Speier being down, Wilson also wanted to push him to finish the inning.
“I’m glad he kept me in,” Kirby added.
In total, Kirby allowed two runs across seven innings with six hits, seven strikeouts and no walks. It’s the 35th time he’s gone six-plus innings and allowed no walks in a start since 2022, which leads the Majors in that time frame.
“I just did a better job of getting ahead tonight and controlling the count,” Kirby said. “I utilized the curveball down in the zone tonight. I got behind on the two home runs and I’d like those back. … Tip my cap to them.”
Seattle's four-run outburst in the first inning was highlighted by a two-run home run from Jorge Polanco.
Polanco’s homer (his 21st this season) upped his RBI total to 61, making him the fourth Mariner to drive in 60-plus runs this year along with Raleigh, Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena.
That also ended up being the last time the Mariners had a runner cross the plate -- a fact that would prove costly about two hours later.
“Giving up a couple runs late and not being able to add on really hurt us,” Wilson said.