BALTIMORE -- This is the George Kirby who pitched to a 2023 All-Star appearance, the same one who always seems to show up in the second half.
Kirby delivered seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball and the Mariners kept rolling with a 1-0 victory over the Orioles in Tuesday night’s series opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Kirby (8-5) struck out seven and walked none to help the Mariners win their 10th out of their past 11, on a night they began one game back of the Astros for first place in the AL West. By the end of the game slate, though, Seattle (67-53) had moved into a tie with Houston, which lost to Boston.
“I don’t think anybody’s really concerned with [the standings] at the moment,” Kirby. “The vibes are good, we’re all having fun. And the more you do that, the more you can stack some really good games.”
It was the right-hander’s fourth consecutive quality start, which lowered his ERA to a season-best 3.71 -- the first time it has sat beneath 4.00 this season.
“I think my offspeed has just been really, really good, especially to lefties,” Kirby said of his recent run. “Just hammering that pitch and trying to get ahead. When you get ahead, you can control the game a lot better. … And I mean, the guys behind me have been a hell of a defense, and they’ve been hitting the ball really hard and scoring runs. That makes your job a lot easier too.”
Josh Naylor singled in a run for the Mariners in their fourth 1-0 victory of the season -- all coming since the start of July -- and their ninth via shutout.
That was the second of only five hits Seattle cobbled together against Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer (8-9), who covered a season-high eight innings in defeat.
Eduard Bazardo got two outs in the eighth, Gabe Speier came on to retire pinch-hitter Jeremiah Jackson on one pitch, and Andrés Muñoz completed the ninth for his 28th save.
“Heck of a ballgame tonight,” manager Dan Wilson said. “Not a lot of offense, but -- wow, what a job the pitching did tonight.”
Kirby has always been a strong second-half pitcher; he’s now 22-10 over his career after the All-Star break, with a 3.41 ERA.
But Tuesday’s outing -- against an admittedly short-handed Orioles lineup -- continued one of the most dominant stretches of Kirby's career and tied his season-best.
The 27-year-old has pitched to a 2.31 ERA over his last nine starts, completing six or more innings in all but one of those outings and three runs or fewer in all but two.
Against the Orioles, he was rarely even in a situation that felt dangerous over his 87 pitches. He faced only one batter with a runner in scoring position after Gunnar Henderson legged out a two-out double, striking out Adley Rutschman on one of the O’s few lengthy at-bats.
Kirby even made a case to pitch deeper into the game after completing the seventh on only five pitches. Henderson grounded out and Rutschman flied out on the first pitch each saw, while Ryan Mountcastle went down swinging on only three.
“I felt like he was just in control all night long,” Wilson said. “I thought he looked really strong there in the seventh. And it was just a great outing for him from beginning to end.”
Anxiety finally arrived in the ninth, when Muñoz walked Henderson on four pitches and -- as he explained --he began to feel light-headed in Baltimore’s humid conditions. Eventually Wilson and team medical personnel arrived to the mound and gave Muñoz an electrolyte supplement that he said made him feel better almost instantly.
After returning to the rubber, Rutschman singled, but Muñoz got Mountcastle to ground out to end the threat.
Muñoz said it was an issue that had plagued him before, including in a previous visit to Camden Yards, and once forced his removal from a game.
“I don’t like to delay the game. It’s something that I hate,” Muñoz said. “But I thought it was something important to use to feel a little bit better to continue throwing. I don’t want to make some mistakes just because I feel my body that way.”