Seattle Mariners offense defies downward trend with Kirby on the mound

The Seattle Mariners earned a much-needed win on Sunday, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-3. It was the first win for the Mariners on their current nine-game road trip; they had lost their five road games prior to Sunday.

Seattle starter George Kirby earned the win against the Pirates for his efforts on Sunday, but he had arguably the worst performances of his career on that road trip.

Kirby's last start was on August 13 against the Detroit Tigers in the first of a nine-game road trip. He pitched 3.2 innings and allowed 11 runs (six earned) on 12 hits. All 11 runs were originally ruled earned before a play was subsequently changed to a throwing error by shortstop Leo Rivas.

Kirby followed up with one of the worst starts of his career on Sunday, pitching six innings with five strikeouts.

“I just tried to put last week behind me. Take some things and learn from it,” Kirby said in an interview after Sunday's game. “Today I just tried to pitch angry and pissed off. That really worked for the first four (innings). And in the fifth and sixth innings, it was kind of hard for me to catch up. I got a little wild. … But I'm just happy — good start, gave the team a chance to win.”

It was a good comeback for Kirby. He was one of the best pitchers in the game for two years, but this season he didn't have the best win-loss record. And that was despite not being able to do much about it.

According to ROOT Sports' pregame broadcast, Sunday was just Seattle's second win in Kirby's last nine starts. He has a 3.40 ERA in 26 starts this season with 148 strikeouts in 150.2 innings pitched and a 9-9 record.

That's indicative of the season the Mariners offense has had. But there are 37 games left in the season and the team is four games out of the top spot in the American League West. There's no better time than now to give Kirby and the rest of the pitching staff some much-needed support.

SNIDER RELEASES CAREER NUMBERS: Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Collin Snider delivered another solid performance in what is shaping up to be the best of his career against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. CLICK HERE

MARINERS BATTLES COME ALIVE AGAINST PIRATES: The Seattle Mariners showed the best offensive performance of their current away tour with a 10-3 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. CLICK HERE

MARINERS OFFENSE CALM AGAINST PIRATES: The Seattle Mariners managed 1 of 8 runs with runners in scoring position, left 10 runners on base, lost their fifth game in a row and also lost the series to the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-2 on Saturday. CLICK HERE

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