PETERSBURG, Fla. — George Kirby is in the midst of the most frustrating stretch of his young big-league career.
And he didn't hold back his frustration after the Mariners' 7-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night.
The 25-year-old Kirby, with his pitch count at 93 through six innings, and the Mariners trying to protect a 4-2 lead, questioned manager Scott Servais' decision to send him back out to pitch the seventh inning.
"I wish I wasn't out there for the seventh, to be honest," Kirby said. "I was at [more than] 90 pitches. I didn't think I needed to go any more. But it is what it is."
In a follow-up question, Kirby was asked if he'd had any kind of conversation in the dugout about that decision.
"There'll be a conversation soon," Kirby said.
Servais, in his postgame interview before Kirby spoke to reporters, spoke encouragingly about Kirby's start.
Asked specifically about sending Kirby out to pitch the seventh, Servais intimated he didn't hesitate.
"George was — basically, you're at the bottom of the order, 7-8-9. He'd done a really good job handling those guys at that point," Servais said. "We were thin in the bullpen tonight, so you're just trying to stretch [him] a bit. But he had plenty in the tank."
It backfired.
Jose Siri doubled off Kirby with one out in the seventh, and No. 9 hitter Rene Pinto turned on an inside fastball — Kirby's 102nd and final pitch of the night — and sent it well out to left field, 380 feet, to tie the score at 4-4.
Kirby had gotten ahead of Pinto 0-2 in the count.
"I didn't execute," Kirby said. "He hit a good pitch."
There was enough uncertainty already about the Mariners' young pitchers. Their other young pitchers, that is.
Servais announced after the game Friday that rookie Bryan Woo, in line to start next, will have his turn in the rotation skipped Saturday as the club manages his workload. It will be a bullpen day Saturday against the Rays.
Kirby's sudden downturn, at just the wrong time, has opened the door to a different level of questions about the Mariners' starting pitching.
For most of the season, he's been one of the top pitchers in the American League, and he'd pencil in to start Game 2 of any potential playoff series.
It has been a strange few weeks for Kirby.
His last four starts have all come on he road — three of them in humid conditions in Kansas City, Chicago and New York — and he's 0-1 with three no-decisions and a 6.00 ERA in those starts (14 earned runs in 21 innings).
He also missed one start at home because of an undisclosed illness and pitched a season-low three innings in a loss to the Mets last weekend.
Despite the results Friday — as unlucky as they might have been — Servais, again, spoke positively of Kirby's start.
"His stuff was really good — awesome job to get us where we got to in the ballgame with the lead,"
Kirby was unusually erratic in the first inning.
The best control pitcher in the majors walked two batters and hit another in the first, and the Rays ended up scoring two runs after left fielder Dominic Canzone lost sight of a routine pop fly in the dome roof.
"I felt really good," Kirby said. "I just can't catch a break."
Kirby did settle down after the first, retiring 18 of the next 20 batters through the sixth inning.
At various times this season, Kirby has talked about his between-starts preparation. After the rare bad start, he has said he takes pride in being able to move on to the next day and the next start. He's said he doesn't dwell and doesn't bother watching video of the previous outing.
He'll have to try to do that again.
"Just keep attacking," he said. "Hopefully it turns around. I'm not going to stray away from being in the [strike] zone or whatever. Hopefully luck turns around at some point."
Harold Ramirez hit the go-ahead homer off Isaiah Campbell later in the seventh to complete the Rays' comeback Friday.
Eugenio Suarez, Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh had all homered — all solo shots — as the Mariners took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning.
Campbell, who struck out the side in the seventh inning Thursday night, came in and walked the first batter he faced, Yandy Diaz, on four pitches.
Campbell got Brandon Lowe to ground into a fielder's choice, but Ramirez followed with a first-pitch homer to left, pulling a 93-mph fastball just in off the plate 376 feet out.
Isaac Paredes added a solo homer off Mariners reliever Dominic Leone in the eighth.
The Mariners (79-62) fell to 3-5 on this 10-day, 10-game road trip.
