KANSAS CITY -- The Mariners will reach the one-third mark of their season on Sunday, and they’ll be searching once again for the start of a significant winning streak.
It has been awhile. There were a couple of four-game winning streaks in April, but not much stacking in the last month. Since April 26, the Mariners have not won more than two in a row. They arrived at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday hopeful for a three-game winning streak. But those hopes were quickly dashed as right-hander George Kirby surrendered three runs in the first against the Royals and the Mariners wound up taking a 5-0 loss.
Kirby allowed nine hits and five runs (three earned), with a first-inning error by second baseman Cole Young contributing to Kansas City’s quick start. It wasn’t a good day all-around for Seattle as the offense dried up against right-hander Stephen Kolek, who allowed just four hits in a complete-game shutout.
For Seattle, it’s a good thing Mitch Garver came through with a game-winning two-run homer on Friday, because that’s all the scoring the Mariners have done in the series.
“Tough afternoon,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “George deserved a better fate. In the first inning, there was a lot of soft contact and a couple of miscues on our part. Just weren’t able to get him out of it there without the three-run damage.”
Kirby did allow hard contact to leadoff hitter Maikel Garcia, who set the tone with a ringing double to center. But the next two hitters -- Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino -- put the ball in play weakly. Still, the Mariners could not record an out. Witt’s dribbler to third resulted in an infield single, and Pasquantino’s bouncer was fielded by Young moving hard to his right. The flip by Young to second hit the dirt, and shortstop J.P. Crawford couldn’t come up with the ball for a forceout.
With only one hard-hit ball, the Royals had a run in and two on with nobody out. They executed a double steal just before Kirby retired Salvador Perez. Then Carter Jensen hit a grounder wide of first, and Josh Naylor decided to race to the bag and take the sure out as another run scored. An RBI single by Jac Caglianone made it 3-0, and the Royals were well on their way to snapping a four-game losing streak.
“My job is to get balls on the ground,” Kirby said. “In those moments, you just have to stay in control. Just try not to let those things bother you and keep making pitches. I think I’m doing a pretty good job of it. Just wish some of those weaker balls put in play would go my way.”
A three-run deficit in the first seemed especially problematic because of the manner in which Kolek was wading through the Mariners’ lineup. Luke Raley had a 3-for-3 afternoon, but the rest of Seattle's lineup produced only one hit.
Kolek needed 108 pitches to give the Royals their first complete game since September 2020. That means Kansas City will have a fully rested bullpen for the series finale on Sunday.
“His offspeed stuff is good and he had a good changeup today,” Wilson said of Kolek. “He did a good job of moving it around and had a lot of weapons going. You don’t see complete games very often. He got some early outs because he was able to use all of his pitches and stay in the zone.”