SEATTLE — He allowed his emotions to get the best of him, saying regrettable things that were atypical of everything he’d shown in his brief big-league career.
He had his toughness and commitment questioned by former big-leaguers because of those comments.
He struggled to do what has always come so natural to him since he was a kid growing up in Rye, New York — make a baseball go where he wanted.
And as he was trying to put up a sixth scoreless innings Tuesday night, he was stunned when a foul ball off the bat of Kyle Tucker that landed in the stands, was returned back to him by a teenage fan, who caught it and then fired it back toward the mound, hitting Kirby.
But on a night when losing wasn’t an option for his team and he needed to be something better than he’s been in the month of September, Furious George returned to his strike-throwing ways and wouldn’t let any of that stop him from leading the Mariners to 6-2 victory over the Astros.
Right-hander George Kirby tossed six scoreless innings, looking dominant for most of it, and setting the tone in a win that snapped a four-game losing streak and kept the Mariners’ postseason hopes alive.
With the win, the Mariners (85-72) moved back to within a half-game of Houston (86-72) in the race for the third American League wild-card spot and two games behind the Blue Jays (87-70), who lost to the Yankees.
This isn’t the first time Kirby has walked onto the mound of T-Mobile Park in a must-win game.
Just over a year ago, as a rookie making his first postseason start in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, he delivered a brilliant outing, pitching seven scoreless innings against the Astros in what ultimately be a 1-0 loss in 18 innings.
But early in the top of the first, Kirby seemed to be trending toward another frustrating outing when Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman each produced singles after falling behind in the count. Kirby got the always-dangerous Yordan Alvarez to ground out to second base. With runners on second and third and one out, Kirby wouldn’t give in to the left-handed hitting Kyle Tucker. He fired three balls just out of the zone to see if Tucker would chase. When he didn’t, the Mariners opted to intentionally walk the Astros All-Star and load the bases for Jose Abreu with one out.
A 96-mph sinker produced a ground ball to third base that Eugenio Suarez fielded and fired to home for the force out. With two outs, Kirby got Yainer Diaz to ground into a force out at second to end the inning.
It took 26 pitches, but Kirby walked off the mound having kept the Astros without a run. It would get easier as he retired the next 11 batters in a row and stabilizing his pitch count.
As for that intentional walk, it was the first in his professional career. The last time, Kirby intentionally walked a batter of any sort was on March 1, 2017, when he was a freshman pitcher at Elon University. Playing against East Carolina, Kirby intentionally walked a hitter named Spencer Brickhouse.
Meanwhile Kirby’s teammates rewarded his effort by providing above-average run support, taking advantage of three Houston errors, and scoring five runs in the first five innings.
Houston starter Christian Javier retired the first six hitters in order.
But back-to-back singles from the speed duo of Mike Ford and Ty France got the Mariners going.
After Kyle Tucker made a brilliant leaping grab on Josh Rojas’ line drive to right field, Altuve inexplicably tried to throw out Ford, who had tagged up on the play, at third base. Altuve’s throw sailed over the head of Alex Bregman and into the camera well, allowing Ford to trot home and France to advance to third base. Julio Rodriguez drove in the second run of the inning with a fly ball to deep left field.
The Mariners knocked Javier out of the game and roughed up an old friend in the fifth inning.
Rojas doubled to left field and Javier pitched around Rodriguez with a base open, walking him on five off-speed pitches.
Houston brought in Rafael Montero, the other pitcher in the infamous Kendall Graveman, to try and get the final out. He left the game four batters later without record an out.
Cal Raleigh dumped an RBI single to right that scored Rojas. Tucker’s throw to third base rolled into the Astros dugout, allowing Rodriguez to trot home and Raleigh to advance to third. Hernandez followed with an RBI single to left to make it 5-0.
