George Kirby Masterclass saves Mariners from Yankees sweep

A home series that features starters of Bryce Miller, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby is a recipe for success in most scenarios, no matter who the opponent is. However, in the last three days of May, the Mariners lost two of three against the visiting New York Yankees.

Coming in, Ney York sat with a 32-23 record and the Mariners had a record of 28-25, but Seattle had some good momentum and had the advantage of playing at home. The first two games of the series handly went to the Yankees but the final showdown was saved by pitching.

Game 1: The end of a historic streak; Final 10-4 Yankees

Coming into this start, Miller made MLB history in essentially every start up until his fifth, so maybe it was time that something did not go his way. Against the Yankees, he went just 4.2 innings, giving up eight runs and 11 hits while striking out three and giving up two long balls.

The two relievers out of the pen for the Mariners, Juan Then and Chris Flexen, each gave up two runs in their work but even if they had shut down the Yankees offense, the four runs scored by the M's would have not been enough.

In the first game and even into the second, New York's bats were just too hot, the opener saw two Aaron Judge home runs and mulit-hit games from seven members of the lineup. After the bottom of the second inning, the Mariners never had a 50% or greater chance of winning the game, and no big comeback was in order for the team.

Game 2: More of the same struggles; Final 10-2 Yankees

Giving up 10 runs on back to back nights is never how a team imagines a home series going, especially with how good the Mariners staff has been this season, but that is what happened. The Yankees jumped ahead early, scoring three in the first and three in the third, but three is all they needed in their 10-2 win.

Logan Gilbert lasted just four innings in his start, giving up seven total, five of which being earned. It seemed that the Yankees batters saw his fastball well, getting three singles and hitting a home run off the pitch and never getting struck out by the heater.

The lineup for the Mariners saw several key bats have the day off, including Jarred Kelenic and Cal Raleigh not get the start, and an offense not all full strength just was not enough. Outside of a three-hit day from Ty France, Julio Rodriquez went 0-5 and all other batters had not more than one hit each.

Game 3: Kirby Masterclass; Final 1-0 Mariners

To completly shut down an offense that scored 10 runs in its last two games is no easy task, but the righty with the fantastic last name did just that. 8.0 innings, three hits allowed, seven strikeouts, good for a 83 game score, Kirby was fantastic on the last day of May.

While the offense did not have his back for much of the game, he stayed locked in, and Paul Sewald and Justin Topa came in out of the bullpen and continued the strong pitching started by Kirby.

In the top of the 10th, in a 0-0 game, with the bases loaded and two outs, all with a full count, Topa struck out Francy Cordero swinging to keep the game tied. Now in the bottom of the 10th with a man starting on second, it was only a matter of time before the M's walked it off.

The first batter to come up was Raleigh, who worked a 2-2 count but then took a pitch at the bottom of the zone and hit a rope into right field, easily scoring Caballero from second and walking off the Yankees to save the Mariners from the dreaded series sweep.

Savaging the last game of the series could be just what this team needs going into a critical series with the AL West-leading Rangers.