Giolito Makes Season Debut for Padres against Mariners’ Kirby, Who Ranks Fourth in Wins in American League
Jason Benetti Joined in Booth by 2007 Cy Young Award Winner Jake Peavy and 5-Year MLB Pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith
Ahmed Fareed Hosts Sunday Night Baseball Pregame with 2016 World Series Champion and Four-Time Gold Glove First Baseman Anthony Rizzo, who will also Provide “Inside the Pitch” Commentary from Batter’s Perspective
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 17, 2026 – 2019 All-Star Lucas Giolito and the San Diego Padres face 2023 All-Star George Kirby and the Seattle Mariners in a top-tier pitching matchup on Sunday Night Baseball at T-Mobile Park tonight, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Giolito makes his season debut on the mound for the Padres, who are a half-game behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. Last year, Giolito had one of his best professional seasons with the Red Sox, posting a 10-4 record with a 3.41 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 26 starts. Kirby ranks fourth in the American League with five wins (5-2) has a 2.84 ERA, which is ninth best in the AL. He is also one of only five pitchers to throw a complete game this season.
2007 NL Cy Young Award and pitching “Triple Crown” winner Jake Peavy and former Major League pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith will join play-by-play voice Jason Benetti in the booth for tonight’s broadcast.
Ahmed Fareed will host the pregame show alongside Anthony Rizzo, who will also provide “Inside the Pitch” commentary from the batter’s perspective during the game.
Peavy spent the first seven years of his 15-season career (2002-2016) with the Padres before stops with the White Sox, Red Sox, and Giants. In 2007, he was named the unanimous NL Cy Young Award winner and won the pitching “Triple Crown”, posting a 19-6 record, 2.54 ERA, and 240 strikeouts. Peavy is the only pitching “Triple Crown” winner in Padres’ history. A three-time All-Star (2005, 2007, 2012), Peavy won back-to-back World Series titles with the Red Sox (2013) and Giants (2014). Peavy was a 2023 inductee in the Padres Hall of Fame after finishing his career as the franchise’s all-time leader in strikeouts and returned to the organization in 2025 to serve as a special assistant to the Padres CEO. He has served as an analyst for MLB Network since 2022.
Rowland-Smith spent four of his five MLB seasons with the Mariners (2007-2010) as both a starting pitcher and reliever. In 2017, Rowland-Smith joined Root Sports Northwest as an analyst, appearing on pregame and postgame coverage for Mariners broadcasts. Since then, he has been featured as a TV and radio analyst for select Mariners games for Mariners.TV and the Mariners Radio Network. Rowland-Smith has also been featured on MLB Network and hosts his weekly Mariners podcast “The Top Step”.
A three-time MLB All-Star and four-time Gold-Glove winning first baseman, Rizzo caught the final out of the 2016 World Series for the Chicago Cubs, breaking the team’s 108-year championship drought. In 2016, Rizzo set a career high in RBI (109), was awarded a Gold Glove, earned a Silver Slugger, and won the Platinum Glove as the NL’s best overall defensive player. Over 14 seasons with the Padres, Cubs, and Yankees, the lefty slugger hit 303 home runs and had four seasons with at least 100 RBIs. Rizzo will serve as an analyst for NBC Sports’ MLB coverage throughout the regular season and its exclusive MLB Postseason coverage of all Wild Card games on NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN.
NBC SPORTS’ MLB TRADITION
NBC Sports has a distinguished history with Major League Baseball. The first-ever MLB television broadcast was a 1939 Cincinnati Reds-Brooklyn Dodgers doubleheader on W2XBS (the precursor to WNBC-TV) in New York. NBC Sports was a home to the first World Series broadcast in 1947, the first All-Star Game nationally broadcast in 1952, and has televised 39 World Series – more than any other network.
From 1957-2000, NBC Sports was home to a wealth of baseball programming, including Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball telecasts, more than 30 All-Star Games, and countless iconic Postseason moments. For the 2022-23 seasons, Peacock was the exclusive home of MLB Sunday Leadoff, a first-of-its-kind Sunday morning presentation featuring a unique three-announcer broadcast booth with one analyst with expertise on each team joining the play-by-play voice.
--NBC SPORTS--
