Mariners' George Kirby delivers scintillating outing to beat Phillies

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Aug 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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Furious George returned in the best way.

But the seething anger that fueled and at times engulfed George Kirby during his early days in a Mariners uniform due to walks, missed calls, cheap singles, bad innings and really anything that hindered his outing never appeared when he was on the mound of T-Mobile Park on Tuesday night.

Facing a left-handed hitting heavy Phillies lineup that had averaged more than seven runs per game in the nine games prior to coming to Seattle, Kirby was calm, collected and controlled while delivering a scintillating outing to lead the Mariners to a 4-1 victory.

He really had no reason to be angry about a needed bounce-back performance. With his two fastball variations consistently hitting 92 mph and displaying a willingness to use his array of secondary pitches, Kirby stymied the Phillies over the first seven-plus innings. He displayed the overpowering stuff and tantalizing command that can make him the most dominant pitcher in the rotation. Basically, the opposite of how he pitched in his previous two outings.

But when it was decided that his outing would end with two outs in the top of the eighth, the white-hot intensity and simmering rage came pushing through and couldn’t be hidden.

And he wasn’t alone.

As manager Dan Wilson walked to the mound to remove his starter after allowing a single to Bryce Harper, there were plenty of boos and jeers at the decision to remove Kirby an out shy of eight complete innings and have lefty Jose A. Ferrer face left-handed hitting Luis Arraez.

Wilson talked to Kirby and tried to offer up reasons for the decision. Kirby stared through him like a pane of glass. He wanted to finish his outing. As he stalked off the mound in disgust, the boos from the crowd of 37,600 turned to rousing cheers and a standing ovation.

Ferrer did his job, retiring Arraez immediately to end the inning.

Kirby’s final line: 7⅔ innings pitched, one run allowed on six hits with a walk and nine strikeouts to pick up the win.

His one run allowed came in the top of the second. He allowed three consecutive singles to Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

But Cal Raleigh made sure the lead was short-lived. A day after smashing three homers in the series opener, Raleigh made it four homers in five plate appearances (four at-bats), yanking a low curveball from Phillies starter Aaron Nola over the wall in right field for a solo homer to tie the game.

Julio Rodríguez manufactured a run to give the Mariners the lead in the sixth. He reached on an infield single and stole second, scoring moments later on Josh Naylor’s single to center.

When Kirby worked a 1-2-3 seventh, he was at 79 pitches. Would Wilson let him face the top of the order for a third time with a 2-1 lead? Well, the decision was made easier when the Mariners loaded the bases against reliever Orion Kerkering. With two outs, Philly manager Don Mattingly brought in lefty Brooks Raley to face Dom Canzone. In the early parts of the season, Wilson might have pinch hit with a right-handed hitter. But Canzone has earned the right to stay in and face lefties. He cemented that status even more, lacing a single to left-center to score two runs for a 4-1 lead.

Kirby jogged to the mound and promptly struck out Kyle Schwarber for the second time in the game and got Trea Turner to fly out to center. But after Harper singled on a 2-2 curveball, Wilson decided to go to the rested Ferrer.