George Kirby dazzles, Mariners hold Rangers to one hit in 7-0 win

SEATTLE – In a season filled with brilliant outings from the pitching staff, including the most quality starts in all of Major League Baseball, the unique trio of George Kirby, Trent Thornton and Eduard Bazardo combined for possibly the Mariners’ best overall pitching performance of the season in Sunday’s 7-0 win over the Rangers.

On a cool and overcast Sunday afternoon, made chillier by the varying levels of breeze, and perfect for pitching, Kirby tossed seven ruthlessly efficient innings to lead the combined effort that held the defending World Series champs scoreless in a game for the ninth time this season.

But the more impressive aspect was that the trio limited the Rangers to only one hit in game for the third time this season and faced the minimum of 27 batters over nine innings.

The last time the Mariners won a game where only 27 batters came to the plate? It was Felix Hernandez’s perfect game on Aug. 15, 2012.

“When we’re on, we are on, man,” Kirby said. “Everyone just throws strikes really well, like quality strikes. That’s really what it’s all about.”

Seattle failed to gain any ground in the race for the postseason. The Astros held on to beat the Angels to improve to 81-68 and stay 41/2 games ahead in the American League West. The Twins (79-70) routed the Reds to keep a 2½ -game lead for the third American League wild -card spot while the Tigers also won to stay even with the Mariners at 77-73.

“Obviously, it’s a series win, which is great,” said manager Dan Wilson said. “We’ve just got to keep winning. And that’s where we’re focused at right now.”

He faced the minimum number of hitters possible – 21 – in seven innings. The one hit allowed came with one out in the second inning when Ezequiel Duran hit a ground ball through the right side.

But Kirby ended the inning on the very next pitch when Carson Kelly hit a first-pitch sinker to third baseman Luis Urias, who turned it into a 5-4-3 double play.

Kirby would go on to retire the next 15 hitters in a row. He threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 21 hitters he faced. And had just three three-ball counts.

“Quality strikes, and that’s where I have kind of been lacking,” Kirby said. “I did a really good job of that today, just getting in, going up and away, up and into lefties. I mixed it around the whole plate. I didn’t really miss today. It was a great feeling.”

In eight career starts vs. the Rangers, Kirby is 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA. In 482/3 innings pitched, he’s allowed five earned runs (all of them in his rookie season). In his last four starts vs. Texas, he’s allowed one unearned run in 26 innings pitched.

“I love pitching against them and I see them a lot,” Kirby said. “There are guys that I’m really familiar with. I guess Texas and Houston bring the best out in me.”

When he ripped an elevated fastball past Wyatt Langford for a swinging strike three to end the seventh inning, Kirby walked off the mound having thrown his 85th pitch.

“When I’m really hitting my spots and getting up and away really well, that kind of the borderline strike/ball up in the top of the zone, that’s tough to game-plan against,” he said. “I’ve just got to really execute in those situations, try and just beat what they’re thinking.”

But since the Mariners’ offense had provided Kirby with so much run support – words that haven’t been said or written too often this season – there was no reason to push his outing or pitch count.

“I was a little bit indecisive there about whether to leave George in or take him out,” Wilson said. But after seven innings of really strong baseball, and then the lead opening up a little bit, it allowed us to get to the bullpen, and those guys continued to slam the door.”

Mitch Garver, who caught all nine innings, set the tone early, blasting a three-run homer with two outs in the first inning against his former team.

Facing lefty Andrew Heaney, who he caught while playing for the Rangers, Garver ambushed a first-pitch fastball and sent a drive deep over the wall in left-center.

Did the experience of catching Heaney help him in his at-bats against him?

“He’s pitched a long time in this league,” Garver said. “He has a pretty good idea of what he’s doing and he’s able to pivot when he needs to. But I was just kind of going off a hunch of how he’s pitched me this year and how lefties have pitched me this year in general. So I was basing it off that.”