SEATTLE -- The saying is that all good things must come to an end.
And for the Mariners, their eight-game win streak came to a screeching halt in Wednesday afternoon’s 7-1 loss at T-Mobile Park -- one that featured quite a few untidy plays in the field and a grind of a start from George Kirby.
Kirby was tagged for five runs (four earned) on nine hits and one walk while lasting just four innings, a threshold he needed 89 pitches to reach. Once the favorite within their rotation to earn an All-Star bid, he now has a 7.29 ERA over his past four starts, a stretch that’s raised his season ERA from 2.84 to 4.04.
It hasn’t necessarily been hard contact that’s been a culprit over the past few weeks, but the volume of contact that’s become a more pressing development.
“It's really annoying,” Kirby said. “I haven't really been getting ahead well, and yeah, I've just got to find ways to get some more swing-and-miss.”
Of the nine hits Kirby surrendered, eight were singles, and the lone outlier -- a double from Jared Young, his penultimate batter -- came amid a brutal break, when the chopper caromed off first base and into right field, capping a four-spot for the fourth inning.
Had it avoided the base, Josh Naylor was in position to field it cleanly and end the frustrating inning, which also included a first-and-third double steal that led to a run.
That play was far more in Seattle’s control, as Jhonny Pereda attempted to cut down the initiating runner (Juan Soto) at second base, which in turn allowed the lead runner (Carson Benge) to race home easily.
Soto is far from a speedster, which is why the Mariners made the predetermined call from the dugout for Pereda to throw should Soto take off. But Soto got a great jump and slid under the tag cleanly, a ruling that was upheld after a Seattle challenge.
The throw was a good one -- at 83.7 mph with a 1.92 second pop time, both plus grades for any catcher -- but Pereda was playing catchup, as the 0-1 offering from Kirby was a knuckle curve. The decision’s real risk, though, was that it came with two outs.
Essentially, the Mariners rolled the dice on allowing a potential run against having two runners in scoring position for Young, who wound up ripping the unlucky double off the first-base bag anyway.
“I thought we had him there,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Soto. “And I think if the out is recorded there, the run doesn't score. So just, again, like we say, sometimes those things go your way. Today, it didn't go our way.”
Young also hit one more directly to Naylor, in the first inning, and the first baseman attempted to ignite an inning-ending double play. But he sailed this throw to second base into left field, everyone was safe and the first run against Kirby scored.
The defensive lapses that compounded behind Kirby put him on a much thinner tightrope, because batted-ball luck -- good and bad -- tends to even out.
The bigger issue, Kirby said, has been falling behind early in counts, which throws off the rest of the at-bat. He’s never been an elite strikeout artist, but his 19.7% K rate and 20.7% whiff rate entering Wednesday were on pace for career lows.
“I’ve just got to get ahead, that’s first off,” Kirby said. “I've been really bad with it the last couple weeks. That'll allow me to get some opportunities to really go for that swing-and-miss once I get two strikes. So I think that's kind of the biggest focus right now.”
Kirby has given up just three homers during this four-start stretch -- including none on Wednesday -- yet opposing batters are still hitting .330 with an .870 OPS against him over 96 plate appearances.
Only six of the 17 balls in play from the Mets against him were hard-hit (95 mph or higher). Over these past four starts, his hard-hit rate surrendered has been 44.6%, above his 40.0% rate over his first nine starts.
Even elite starters go through rough spells over the sixth-month grind, and Kirby finds himself in one -- but believes he’s nearing answers for how to get out of it.