George Kirby beats Pirates for first win since May

Kirby struck out seven and allowed no runs over the final five innings of his second eight-inning start of the year. He’s turned in four straight quality starts while trading four-seamers for sinkers of late. That’s especially been the case his last two starts, both of which were wins. With the Mariners having Wednesday and Monday off, Kirby might not start again until next Tuesday. Or it’s possible he’ll be part of a piggyback tandem on Sunday.

We need to come up with a better term than piggybacking. Seriously. Gilbert takes the ball for a traditional start with Hancock doing the same for Sunday’s series finale. The decision pushes George Kirby back to Monday’s opener against the Angels. The whole Mariners rotation situation is challenging to understand and remains a massive headache for fantasy managers. There have to be some changes coming from a personnel standpoint after next month’s All-Star break because this seems too chaotic to work as a strategic approach for an extended period.

That’s the same line he had in losing to the Orioles in Baltimore last week. It makes four times this season that Kirby has turned in a quality start and lost anyway. That’s the most quality-start losses in MLB, and Dustin May and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the only other pitchers with three such games. Kirby will face the Pirates in Pittsburgh next time out.

There’s a lot to unpack here. According to Mariners general manager Justin Hollander, it was a unanimous decision by all six starters — Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo — to move to a schedule where each pitcher will rotate through and have piggyback days. Ironically, the arrangement will begin with Castillo piggybacking out of the bullpen with Miller during Friday’s series opener against the Red Sox. The decision will have a significant fantasy impact simply by reducing the overall volume for each starter over the next few weeks. The unorthodox arrangement feels like a temporary stopgap solution until the arrival of top prospects Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan later this summer ultimately forces Seattle to move on from at least one of their veteran arms.

Kirby walked three in the 104-pitch outing. His 10 punchouts mark a season high as the right-hander hadn’t previously struck out more than seven in a game this season. Kirby had made it through five scoreless before allowing three runs in the sixth, but he at least escaped with a quality start intact. He draws a rematch with the Orioles next time out, this one at home.

Kirby’s struggles continue. The wheels fell off for him during an ugly fourth inning where he allowed the Mets’ eight and nine hitters to reach base before three hits and a double-steal helped bring home four runs. He wasn’t sharp otherwise either, as the Mets put at least one runner on in all four of his frames. His command on both his sinker and knuckle-curve were way worse than we’re used to seeing and he’s now given up 17 earned runs across 21 innings during his last four starts. He’ll have a chance to get back on track next week against the Orioles.

Kirby had no issues over the first three innings, but fell apart late; something that has been a problem for the 28-year-old in his last few outings. He gave up a solo homer to Geraldo Perdomo, and four more runs came across in the sixth — three of them charged to Kirby — to erase the Mariners’ 5-1 lead. Kirby still possesses a solid 3.77 ERA on the season with a 59/17 K/BB over his 74 innings, but there have been some cracks in the armor as of late. He’ll try and put it all together against the Mets on Wednesday.

Kirby labored through the first inning, giving up three runs, one earned, on three hits and an error. He stranded a runner in the second, then gave up another run on two hits and a sacrifice fly in the third. Kirby tossed two more scoreless innings, then gave up a fifth run on two hits in the sixth. He’d complete the frame and end his day at 92 pitches. He struck out three. Kirby hasn’t been as sharp of late. And his 26.1 percent strikeout rate in 2025 is looking like an outlier. The 28-year-old right-hander owns a 3.54 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and a 55/16 K/BB ratio across 68 2/3 innings. He’ll look to get back on track against the Diamondbacks in Seattle on Friday.

Kirby initially had really good velocity tonight, averaging 98.8 mph with his fastball in the first inning. However, he was down to 96.2 mph by the sixth, when he gave up four of the six hits and runs he allowed on the night. If he had maintained his stuff a little longer, this was probably a quality start. Since he clearly hadn’t, Dan Wilson obviously shouldn’t have left him in as long as he did. Kirby will take a 5-3 record and a 3.45 ERA into his next start in Kansas City.

The Mariners prevailed tonight even though they were outhit nine to seven and outwalked three to one. Kirby struck out seven and walked two in moving to 5-2. His strikeout rate is down some, but he’s more than countered it by generating more grounders, and he’ll take a 2.84 ERA into his next start against the Padres.