George Kirby finally struggles in rough game against the Orioles

George Kirby has been dealing all season, with great start after great start. It was a wonderful sight to see from the Rookie. Unfortunately, all great things come to an end, and Kirby finally had his first “rookie” game of the season, getting shellacked by the Baltimore Orioles in the series opener.

Sure, he didn’t play great against the Red Sox either time, giving up five runs in each start against them (although 2 were unearned in the second one). However, this game against the Orioles was different.

George Kirby would give up homer… after homer… after homer… after homer

He would end up throwing just as many innings as he gave up home runs in the game, which is never a good thing. Four innings, four homers, nine hits overall, and just two strikeouts en route to seven total earned runs, raising his ERA on the season from 3.12 to 4.08.

It was bound to happen at some point, as George Kirby had been doing quite well all year, showing the world why he was one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, and the top in the Mariners organization.

The one good thing that can be said about it is that at least he didn’t do it against the clown-filled, joke of a franchise Angels. Sure, make fun of the Mariners all you want for being bad over the last 20+ (okay, nearly all 45) years, but at least we aren’t intentionally trying to hurt people by hitting them in the head, or putting in a reliever for the sole purpose of doing so.

Angels players and fans should be embarrassed. That was despicable.

Anyway, back to Kirby and not that worthless team. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll be the kick in the pants for Kirby that gets him back on track as he focuses in on the second half of the season, and makes a potential late push for Rookie of the Year. Not that he is likely to win the award, but he is someone that could be on the outside of the conversation, with a lot of mentions of “if he would’ve started the year with the team, he might’ve won”.

The Orioles would go on to beat the Mariners 9-2 in the game. It does seem like the type of game that the Mariners run into every so often, with the pitchers getting lit up and the offense doing little to make it a game. They were likely coming down hard after the brawl on Sunday, but hopefully, we can see a bit more life in the rest of the series.

Until then, I have a feeling we all feel like Jesse Winker “waving goodbye” to the Angels fans.