SEATTLE MARINERS NOTES:
TODAY’S TILT…the Mariners continue a 10-game road trip (8-1) today with the last of 3 games against the Chicago White Sox (2-0)…Seattle is coming off a series win against the Kansas City Royals (3-1) and a sweep of the Houston Astros (3-0) on the current trip…following an off day tomorrow, the Mariners will open up a 6-game homestand against the Royals (3 G, 8/25-8/27) and Oakland Athletics (3 G, 8/28- 8/30)…today’s game will be televised live on ROOT SPORTS with Dave Sims and Ryan Rowland-Smith on the call and broadcast live on Seattle Sports (710 AM) with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. on the call.
ODDS AND ENDS…the Mariners defeated the White Sox by a 6-3 score in last night’s game, extending their winning streak to 8 games (8/15-c), which ties a season-high (also: 8/2-8/11)…the Mariners are 16-3 over their last 19, 18-4 over their last 22, 21-5 over their last 26, 24-7 over their last 31 and 33-13 over their last 46 games…the Mariners are 55-19 when scoring at least 4 runs and 16-36 when scoring 3-or-fewer… the Mariners are 34-28 at T-Mobile Park and 37-27 on the road this season…they are 23-20 in day games and 48-35 at night.
- Best In Show – Seattle is 33-13 (.717) since July 1, best record in the Major Leagues and ranking ahead of the Dodgers (.698/30-13) during that span.
- Last 15 Series – The Mariners have won 9 of their last 10 series and each of their last 8 road series… Seattle holds a 12-2-1 series record over its last 15 dating back to June 30.
- W8-ing On The World To Change – The Mariners 8-game winning streak is the longest active streak in the Majors.
- Going To Bed, I’m Getting Sweepy – Seattle today goes for its 7th series sweep of the season.
- Programming Note – Friday night’s game at T-Mobile Park vs. the Royals will air live on Apple TV+.
LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY IN AUGUST…Seattle is 16-4 (.800) during the month of August…the Mariners are scheduled to play 7 more games during the month and have a chance to break their franchise-record 20 wins in a month (done 6x: Sept/Oct 1995, June 1997, March/April 2001, May 2001, Aug. 2001 and Sept/Oct. 2001)…Seattle’s best winning percentage during a month is .800/20-5 in March/April 2001.
SCORCHING BATS…the Mariners are batting .286 (205×717) in 20 August games with 117 runs scored, 44 doubles, 33 home runs and an .859 OPS…the Mariners last hit at least .280 as a team in a full calendar month in June 2017, when they batted .288 (270×939) as a team.
KING GEORGE MAKES 50TH START…George Kirby is set to make his 50th career Major League start today…the 25-year-old right-hander is 18-13 with a 3.30 ERA (103 ER, 280.2 IP) with 36 walks and 266 strikeouts in his Major League career, with the Mariners going 30-19 in his outings…excluding openers, Kirby (36 BB) will very likely have the fewest walks in MLB history over a pitcher’s first 50 starts…the record of 42 BB is currently shared by Carlos Silva (2003-05) and Kevin Slowey (2007-09)…Kirby leads the Majors in WHIP (1.015), walks-per-9 innings (0.8) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.50) this season…the last pitcher to lead the Majors in all 3 of those categories at season’s end was Cliff Lee-SEA/TEX in 2010.
TALKIN’ ‘BOUT A 50/50 LOVE, YEAH…Julio Rodríguez has 49 career home runs in 253 games played… if Julio homers over his next 15 games, he would become the fastest player in Mariners history to reach 50 career home runs, surpassing Alex Rodriguez (269th career game)…Julio can also become just the 2nd player in MLB history with 50+ home runs and 50+ stolen bases through their first 2 Major League seasons…the 22-year-old outfielder would join Ronald Acuña Jr.-ATL, who totaled 67 HR and 53 SB through his first 2 MLB seasons (2018-19)…Rodríguez was named American League Player of the Week for Aug. 14-20…from Aug. 16-19, Julio hit .773 (17×22) with 5 runs, 2 doubles, 2 homers and 8 RBI with a 1.909 OPS…the 17 hits over a 4-game span set a Major League record (since 1901), surpassing Milt Stock (16 H) over a 4-game span for the Brooklyn Robins from June 30-July 3, 1925.
ALL WE DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN (OR GET CLOSE)…over their last 31 games (7/20-c), the Mariners are 24-7 (.774), with their 7 losses in that span being by a combined 9 runs…Seattle’s 31-game streak of either winning the game, or losing by 2-or-fewer runs marks its longest in franchise history, surpassing a 26-game streak from April 4-May 3, 2001…it’s also the longest streak in the Majors this season, ranking ahead of a 23-game streak by Atlanta from June 12-July 8…the MLB record is 49 G by the 1914 A’s.
YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)…Josh Rojas belted a 2-run homer in last night’s win…over his last 10 games (8/11-c), Rojas is batting .353 (12×34) with 12 runs, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 7 RBI, 2 walks and 2 stolen bases with a .588 slugging percentage and .977 OPS…Dominic Canzone over his last 11 games (8/8-c) is batting .278 (10×36) with 7 runs, 3 doubles, 2 homers, 3 RBI, 4 walks and 1 stolen base with a .528 slugging percentage and .878 OPS.
HERNÁNDEZ FUELING THE WIN STREAK…Teoscar Hernández went 2-for-5 last night…during the Mariners current 8-game winning streak (8/15-c), Teo is batting .444 (16×36) with 5 runs, 5 doubles, 2 homers, 9 RBI and 2 walks, getting on base at a .462 clip, slugging .750 with a 1.212 OPS.
HOW DO YOU LIKE IT, HOW DO YOU LIKE IT…Dylan Moore leads the Mariners with a 154 OPS+ in 99 plate appearances…in 37 games, Moore has a .918 OPS and is batting .253 (22×87) with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 16 RBI and 3 stolen bases…13 of his 22 hits (59%) have been for extra bases.
A RAKER’S DOZEN…the Mariners have 13 players this season with at least 50 plate appearances and an above-average OPS+ (100-or-better), most in the Majors and ranking ahead of 7 teams (9)…the 13 Mariners in alphabetical order are José Caballero, Dominic Canzone, J.P. Crawford, Mike Ford, Ty France, Teoscar Hernández, Jarred Kelenic, Cade Marlowe, Dylan Moore, Tom Murphy, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Eugenio Suárez…the Major League record by a team is 14 players, accomplished twice (1983 Yankees and 2019 Yankees)…the Mariners record is 12 players in 2019
AS YOU MAY KNOW…the Mariners have won 8 consecutive games (8/15-c), tying a season-high 8-game winning streak (also: 8/2-8/11)…it marks just the 2nd time in franchise history the Mariners have put together multiple 8-game unique winning streaks within the same calendar month (also: May 2001), but…DID YOU KNOW?…that Seattle is the first team with multiple 8+ game unique winning streaks within a calendar month since the Dodgers in July 2017?…the Mariners are the first team to do it in August or later since the Orioles did it in Aug. 1980, via Sarah Langs/MLB.
MARINERS STARTER -RHP GEORGE KIRBY
2023 MLB Breakdown:
W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Overall 10-8 3.23 24/24 150.2 139 56 54 14 133 16
Home 6-3 2.87 12/12 75.1 60 25 24 7 78 8
Road 4-5 3.58 12/12 75.1 79 31 30 7 55 8
vs. CHW 0-0 0.00 0/0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career MLB Breakdown:
W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Overall 18-13 3.30 49/49 280.2 274 110 103 36 266 29
Home 9-6 3.07 25/25 146.2 137 54 50 17 155 17
Road 9-7 3.56 24/24 134.0 137 56 53 19 111 12
vs. CHW 0-0 0.00 0/0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ABOUT KIRBY…
- 25-year-old right-hander is making his 25th start of the season, 1st against Chicago-AL…he is also making his 50th career start, and 1st career start against the White Sox.
- Selected by the Mariners in the first round (20th overall) of the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft; signed by Mariners scout Ty Holub.
- Played 3 seasons (2017-2019) at Elon University (NC), going 19-8 with a 3.30 ERA (88 ER, 240.0 IP) in 45 games (34 GS) with the Phoenix.
- Became the first rookie in MLB history to record a save in the postseason in his first career relief appearance.
- Graduated from Rye HS (Rye, NY) where he was named to the all-metro, all-state, all-section and all-league baseball teams 3 times.
LAST TIME OUT…ND in last start on 8/17 at KCR…pitched 6.0 innings and allowed 4 runs on 8 hits (1 HR) with 2 strikeouts.
LEAGUE OF HIS OWN…Kirby leads the Majors in WHIP (1.015), walksper-9 innings (0.8) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (9.50)…the list of qualified pitchers to finish a season leading all Major Leagues in those 3 categories are Cy Young (3x, 1901, ’04-05), Ed Walsh (1910), Babe Adams (1919), Robin Roberts (1954), Juan Marichal (1966), LaMarr Hoyt (1983), Greg Maddux (1995) and Cliff Lee (2010).
THESE BOOTS WERE NOT MADE FOR WALKING…leads all qualified pitchers in the Majors with a 9.50 strikeouts-to-walk ratio, ranking ahead of Zach Eflin-TBR (7.16)…his 9.50 SO/BB ratio currently ranks as the 3rd best in a single season in MLB history among qualified starting pitchers in the American League.
NO WALKS ALLOWED…has not given up a walk in 4 consecutive starts which matches a career high that he set ealier this season (5/26-6/20)…Kirby has only allowed 14 walks all season.
CAREER-HIGH INNINGS…threw 9.0 innings and allowed only 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks and struck out 7 over 103 pitches in his last start against BAL…his 9.0 IP is a new career high (previously: 8.0, 2x, last: 5/31/23 vs. NYY)…the last time a Mariners pitcher tossed 9.0+ innings in a team loss was Félix Hernández on 7/26/13 vs. Minnesota.
NO FREE PASSES…is tied for the fewest walks allowed through the first 24 starts in a season in franchise history with 14…he is tied with Hisashi Iwakuma who recorded 14 walks through his first 24 starts in 2014.
NOTHING BUT STRIKES…had not given up more than 1 walk in his first 15 starts this season…this is the longest streak of giving up 1-or-fewer walks in a game among staters in the Majors this season.
CAREER-HIGH STRIKEOUTS…matched a career high in strikeouts for a single game with 10 in his start against Minnesota on 7/20…this was the 7th instance this season of a Mariners pitcher recording at least 10 strikeouts in a start…he joined Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller, and Luis Castillo… Castillo has recorded 10+ strikeouts in a game three times this season.
LUCKY NUMBER 7…pitched 9.0 innings in his last outing against Baltimore…this marked the 10th time this season Kirby has pitched at least 7.0 innings in a game…he is tied for the 3rd most 7.0+ inning games in the Majors this season.
QUALITY KIRBY…pitched 8 consecutive quality starts (4/9-5/26), his longest quality start streak in his career… his previous high in consecutvie quality starts was 2 (last: 9/10-9/17/22)…his 8-game quality start streak is tied for the 2nd longest streak in the Majors this season with Logan Webb-SFG…his 17 quality starts this season are tied for the 3rd most in the Majors.
TRIPLE SEVENS…pitched at least 7.0 innings in 3 consecutive starts (4/27-5/9)…this marked a career high in consecutive games with at least 7.0 innings pitched…prior to the streak, Kirby had never pitched 7.0+ innings in consecutive games…during the streak Kirby was 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA (4 ER, 22.0 IP) and allowed 2 walks while striking out 18.
KIRBY’S COMPLETE…pitched his first career complete game on 4/27 against Philadelphia, tossing 8.0 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts…he became the first Mariners pitcher to lose a complete game since Taijuan Walker on Sept. 24, 2014 in a 1-0 loss at Toronto.
MISSION CRITICAL…the Mariners own a 20-9 record in games that Kirby tosses at least 6.0 innings…in games Kirby goes 5.2 innings or less, the Mariners are 10-10.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX NOTES:
No team release available.
