TAMPA -- Could it possibly and painfully get any worse? After a 9-4 loss on Wednesday night, the Mariners are about to find out.
Seattle was swept handily by the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, capped with a runaway defeat unlike any it has experienced this season -- at least in the context of how rapidly it was decided, the stakes of its season approaching a perilous point and that it came one day after a rare team meeting that was called with hopes to metaphorically close the floodgates on this gut-punch of a road trip.
But then, the floodgates reopened from the first pitch on Wednesday.
Seattle went 1-2-3 on exactly three pitches in the first inning against Tampa Bay’s Adrian Houser, then George Kirby was ambushed like never before in his previous 107 career starts -- tagged for eight runs (seven earned) and unable to make it beyond the second inning. It marked the shortest outing of his four-year career and tied the second-most runs he's allowed in an outing (a scoring change on Wednesday made a wild pitch a passed ball).
“Not much to say tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “They came out early and were able to get to George in those first couple innings, and it seemed like everything they hit was finding a spot.”
The 8-0 deficit that early was the Mariners’ largest of the season, surpassing the previous high of 6-0 on Aug. 18 in Philadelphia, during their most recent East Coast road trip in which they finished 2-7. Logan Gilbert was on the mound that day, also during a two-inning outing.
Kirby surrendered 10 hits to the 17 batters he faced, with zero walks and one strikeout. None of the hits cleared the fence for a homer, though. It was just an onslaught of all-field contact, as eight were singles and two were doubles.
The obvious question, then, was whether Kirby was tipping -- especially with nine plate appearances with a Rays runner on second base.
“I changed up my glove position literally last week, and [assistant pitching coach Danny Farquhar] said it was great,” Kirby said. “So yeah, I don't think that. I just ... they were ready to hit. And just every hole was found.”
Farquhar, who played in the Majors for seven seasons, is the Mariners’ pitching strategist, and he’s been the leading consultant on deciphering if Seattle’s arms are giving anything away.
From Tampa Bay’s clubhouse, the Rays were adjusting to Kirby's bevy of breaking balls.
"He didn't really use his fastball a lot today,” said Rays right fielder Josh Lowe, who connected on a 1-2 knuckle curve below the zone for an RBI single in the first inning. “That's kind of his main pitch normally, but he left some pitches over the plate that we were able to get to, and we got some big hits."
Lowe was at the plate in the second inning when tension rose when he was hit on his right shoulder with a 97.1 mph fastball from Kirby. It was the first pitch of the at-bat, and first base was open. In the seventh, Mariners right fielder Dominic Canzone was hit by a 96.4 mph heater from Houser, also on the first pitch, with two outs.
The latter led to warnings being issued to both teams.
"It's baseball,” Kirby said. “[Catcher Mitch Garver] called an inside heater. I tried to throw it in, and I hit him. Whoops. I mean, you can say it's on purpose or whatever. But I mean, I just tried to execute a heater inside."
The Mariners didn’t lose their grip on the final American League Wild Card spot (they retained a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers with a Texas loss). But Seattle lost ground in the AL West race, falling to four games behind the Astros (after Houston eked out a comeback).
After falling to 1-5 on a three-city road trip that culminates this weekend against the Braves at Truist Park, it’s fair to question whether Seattle is running out of steam, especially after finishing one game shy of the postseason in each of the past two seasons. J.P. Crawford likened this stretch to staying down in a fight, and Cal Raleigh was at a loss for words as to why the Mariners are 6-16 away from T-Mobile Park since the All-Star break.
“I don't think there's tightness there,” Wilson said. “We just got in a hole tonight and weren't able to get out of it. Again, like I said, we'll regroup tomorrow, [play] three in Atlanta and then [head] back home.”