3 Up, 3 Down: George Kirby Swallows Athletics Whole in Mariners' 2-1 Win

The Mariners' offense sputtered for the second game in a row, but George Kirby kept them in it as he posted his career-high in innings pitched. Ty Dane Gonzalez recaps the three best and worst individual performances from the 2-1 victory.

Author:
Ty Dane Gonzalez
Publish date:
Jul 2, 2022 9:16 PM EDT

In this story:

Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

While the Mariners pretended to field a legitimate offense on Wednesday and Thursday, the lack of depth they're currently working with has started to show up again. As a result, they dropped a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Athletics on Friday and nearly suffered a similar fate on Saturday against right-handed starter Paul Blackburn.

Thanks to a strong outing from its own starting pitcher, however, Seattle kept things within a run as it scraped together just four hits and a walk in 6.1 innings versus Blackburn. As was the case in Tuesday night's 2-0 win over the Orioles, it took all the way until the bottom of the eighth for the Mariners to finally break the ice and put a run on the board.

An inning later, Seattle walked Oakland off for a 2-1 win and couldn't have done it without some unlikely heroes. Let's go over who that was in this Saturday afternoon edition of "3 Up, 3 Down."

3 Up

RHP George Kirby

After surrendering a run in the first inning, Kirby settled in for one of his best starts as a big-leaguer. Going 7.0 innings for the first time in his career, the Elon product allowed three hits and tied his personal best with nine strikeouts while issuing just one walk. He packed the strike zone all afternoon long, throwing 71 strikes in 100 pitches with a called strike plus whiff rate of 37 percent. Really nice response from Kirby following his disastrous outing against the Orioles last Monday.

3B Abraham Toro

It's been a rough year overall for Toro, but he's quietly started to swing it a bit better as of late. He collected a pair of hits on the day, with both registering an exit velocity around 100 MPH or better, though the second of which far outweighs the first. Stepping into the batter's box with the bases loaded, no one out and the Athletics deploying a five-man infield, Toro worked a 2-0 count against right-handed reliever Lou Trivino before ripping a cutter into the right-center field gap for a loud walk-off single. He's now 10 for his last 36, as first pointed out by Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider.

RF Justin Upton

Baseball is truly something else. Upton, frankly, had given the Mariners very little heading into Saturday's game and was omitted from the starting lineup for the fifth day in a row. But with left-handed reliever A.J. Puk on the bump for Oakland in the bottom of the eighth, Seattle manager Scott Servais called upon Upton to pinch-hit for right fielder Sam Haggerty. To that point, the Mariners had been held scoreless and were trailing the Athletics by one, but Upton said "not anymore" as he deposited the first pitch he saw into Edgar's Cantina for a game-tying blast in his 7,631st career plate appearance. Why is this seemingly random number important to note, you may ask? Well, my dear reader, because none of the 7,630 PAs before it resulted in a pinch-hit home run. So yes, there truly is a first time for everything and everyone—even for 34-year old, multi-time All-Stars.

3 Down

SS Dylan Moore

Following a decent stretch in early-to-mid June, Moore has been scuffling at the plate again. He posted his 15th 0-fer in his last 19 games on Saturday, striking out twice and walking once.

LF Jesse Winker

Winker's hot stretch has cooled off a tad over the last two days. He went 0 for 4 with a strikeout in Saturday's win and seemed to roll his ankle while making a catch, though he remained in the game. His six-game suspension is expected to begin on Monday.

DH Eugenio Suárez

Suárez couldn't keep the good vibes rolling after a nice night at the dish on Friday. But while he went 0 for 3 with a strikeout, he did work a crucial five-pitch walk in the bottom of the ninth and was subbed out for pinch-runner Marcus Wilson, who proved to be the game-winning run.