George Kirby pitched six solid innings, and the Seattle Mariners ended their five-game losing streak with a 10-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Kirby (9-9) threw five scoreless innings, giving up two runs and four hits. He struck out five batters and walked two. The 26-year-old right-hander bounced back from his previous outing, where he allowed 11 runs and 12 hits in just 3 2/3 innings during a 15-1 loss to Detroit on August 13.
“I just tried to put last week behind me, take a couple things. Learn from it,” Kirby said. “Today, I tried to pitch angry. … Everyone comes every day to hit, to pitch, whatever it is. We’re not trying to feel sorry for ourselves. You just have to be better. Today, we did that.”
The Mariners, who had scored only nine runs in their previous five games, scored in four of the first five innings and handed the Pirates their 13th loss in their last 16 games.
“Can’t say enough about our group, coming in today with a really good attitude,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
“Kind of just a fresh start. ‘Let’s see what we can do, go after it.’ Having a lot of fun with where we’re at, which is hard to do. It’s really hard. But it’s a kid’s game. You have to try to keep it loose.”
Pittsburgh had lost 10 games in a row before winning the first two games of this series.
“We came in and won two of three against the best starting pitching in baseball,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Today, obviously, wasn’t our day. But to come back from the road trip and win two of three, that was important to us. I was pleased with how we responded coming off the trip.”
Cal Raleigh gave the Mariners the lead with a two-run home run to right field in the first inning, hitting his 27th home run of the season 367 feet over the Clemente Wall off Jake Woodford (0-5).
Victor Robles added two more runs in the second inning with a double down the left-field line.
