SEATTLE -- Cal Raleigh homered again on Tuesday night, making it four over his past two games and five on the homestand.
And it wasn’t even the Mariners' most critical performance in a 4-1 win over the Phillies.
No, this one was a George Kirby special -- featuring the utter brilliance, efficiency and overpowering stuff that shows just how high of a ceiling the uber competitive right-hander reaches on his very best days.
Raleigh gave his batterymate an early cushion, yanking a solo homer off Phils workhorse Aaron Nola in the second inning. It was Raleigh’s fourth deep fly in a span of five plate appearances, coupled with his first career three-homer night in the series opener.
Raleigh also homered on Friday, bringing his total for the homestand to five. Up to that point, through the season’s first four months, he had just 13.
Kirby also flashed that “Furious George” persona when his night ended, upon being relieved with two outs in the eighth inning and the club clinging to a three-run lead. Kirby had just surrendered a single to Bryce Harper past the outstretched glove of a diving Brock Rodden, ending a stretch of 15 straight retired.
That brought Kirby’s pitch count to 92 and brought out Mariners manager Dan Wilson, who quickly turned to José A. Ferrer for a left-on-left matchup against Luis Arraez, opting for the very best matchup to seize a victory that was firmly in their grasp.
Such are the stakes for Seattle these days, which has been under .500 since July 22, is seeing the schedule shrink -- yet firmly remains in both the American League West and Wild Card races.
In clinching their second straight series on this homestand, and against another National League contender, the Mariners pulled to within 2 1/2 games of both the division lead and final Wild Card spot.
Kirby carved through a stacked Philly lineup through 7 2/3 innings, with just one earned run allowed on six hits and one walk, paired with nine strikeouts. It was more so the efficiency that stood out, however, as he returned to the mound for the eighth at just 79 pitches.
And it’s likely he would’ve been yanked at that point had Dominic Canzone not ripped a two-run single moments earlier to give Wilson more breathing room in his decision.
Ferrer wound up generating a quick groundout to Arraez to escape that mini jam, then Andrés Muñoz locked things down in the ninth, pitching for the first time since Friday, when he surrendered a game-tying homer to Alex Bregman that pushed that eventual Mariners win to extras.