Kirby ready to turn the page after tough start

ST. PETERSBURG -- Less than 24 hours after a frustrating loss in which he suggested that he felt his workload was being pushed past its limits, Mariners starter George Kirby said on Saturday that he’d apologized to manager Scott Servais for how the situation was handled.

“Obviously, I screwed up,” Kirby said. “That’s not me. ‘Skip’ has always got to pry that ball out of my hands. Just super uncharacteristic of me as a player and who I am out on that mound. I love competing. Like I said, I just screwed up. I'm really looking forward to next week, just going forward and enjoying time with the team and getting into the playoffs”

Kirby met with Servais and the Mariners coaching staff well before first pitch for Saturday’s matinee against the Rays at Tropicana Field and said it was a positive conversation.

“They respected it,” Kirby said. “They're here to help with whatever I need.”

Servais reiterated that sentiment, saying that he met with Kirby on Friday night and again Saturday morning.

“When you make a mistake and it only affects you, it’s not that big of a deal. But when it starts affecting other people, that’s when you start taking notice,” Servais said. “I think this is one that George will learn from. ... We move forward. I love having him out there.”

He also intended to “definitely address” his teammates, adding: “I think it might be good to do that. They’ve always got my back. Again, it’s important that I do.”

Among a pitching staff with plenty of super competitive personalities, Kirby’s has been the most vibrant since he made his MLB debut last May, particularly in defeat.

“I've always struggled with just coming to terms with how I performed,” Kirby said of moving past tough starts such as Friday’s, when he surrendered a game-tying, two-run homer that ended his night and sent Seattle toward a 7-4 defeat.

“I wear my emotions on my sleeve more than anyone else, and I think it's a blessing and a curse at the same time,” Kirby continued. “Just high standards. I guess it has to do with my job is once a week and I like to go out and give my team the best chance to win every time.”

He said he intends to better channel his frustrations while balancing the highly competitive edge that got him to this level, an attribute that both he and the Mariners believe is also vital to his success.

“Everyone says when you come up here, you should be yourself and do what you did to get up here,” Kirby said. “So, a lot of preparation, taking care of my body and going out and not worrying about the external stuff. That's always been what I've been good at. I've kind of just got to get back to my roots here. Be better.”

Kirby is in the midst of maybe the toughest stretch of his young career. Over his past four starts, he’s surrendered 15 runs (14 earned) in 21 innings for a 6.00 ERA and 1.38 WHIP), three of which led to losses. Opposing batters are hitting .310 with an .855 OPS against him during this span. He also dealt with an undisclosed illness that scratched him from a scheduled start on Aug. 29 and pushed him back five days.

“If I don’t do my job, it definitely eats at me, and it’s been eating at me the last month,” Kirby said. “I'm realizing that I've just got to do a better job preparing and going into each start with a better mindset.”

Moreover, Kirby’s comments on Friday, specifically about remaining in the game beyond the 93 pitches and six innings he’d registered, came just after Servais announced that the Mariners would skip rookie Bryan Woo on Saturday due to a workload-management situation.

That, in turn, cast a more magnified glance toward Kirby’s season to this point, as he’s now at 165 2/3 innings after reaching 162 2/3 last year (including Minors and postseason), which was well beyond double his 2021 total (67 2/3).

“Again, I think you just monitor it,” Servais said. “You trust what your eyes are seeing. You guys watched the game that I watched last night, and he looked pretty good to me after the first inning, [which] was very uncharacteristic of him. ... But after that, I thought he threw the ball great. So, you just have to trust what you're seeing and then talk to the player.”

Added Kirby on Saturday: “I feel great. My body feels great. I'm really excited for the playoff run. Yeah, I'm just really excited for what the rest of the season has in store for me and our team.”

The Mariners entered Saturday a half-game back of Houston for first place in the American League West and one game ahead of Toronto for the second AL Wild Card spot. They are firmly in the playoff race, in huge part, due to Kirby -- and they’ll continue to need him to be a key piece down the stretch and, potentially, into October.