The right-hander struck out the side in the first inning on Friday night for the Seattle Mariners in his final tune-up before the playoffs.
The Seattle Mariners suffered a tough 3-2 loss on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, dropping the opener of the final three-game series of the regular season.
The loss moved the M's to 90-70 and locked the Mariners into the No. 2 seed in the American League playoffs. Seattle has a first-round bye after winning the American League West title for the first time since 2001.
Working on a pitch count in order to get ready for the playoffs, right-hander George Kirby went five solid innings. Though he gave up two runs, he allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out 10.
The loss dropped him to 10-8 with a 4.21 ERA, but he looks ready for the postseason after making some personal history.
Per Mariners PR:
Kirby has tossed a combined 31 strikeouts across his last 3 starts (9/14-c) which is the most across any 3-game span in his career (prev. 26 K from 7/20-7/31/23).
He struck out 14 against the Los Angeles Angels before seven against the Houston Astros and these 10.
The rotation, even without the injured Bryan Woo for the final lap around, appears to be rounding into form at the right time and manager Dan Wilson will have some decisions to make about how the playoff rotation will line up. Woo appears to be slated for Game 2 of the Division Series as he works back from right pectoral inflammation, but it's all up in the air beyond that.
Seattle will play the Dodgers again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 6:40 p.m. PT. Logan Gilbert will be on the mound and he will also operate on a pitch count. Wilson will also likely continue to rotate out the position players in order to give guys more rest before the bye.
The Dodgers have won the National League West and are locked into the No. 3 seed in the National League playoffs. The regular season concludes on Sunday.
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