Kirby, Raleigh power Mariners past Phillies
George Kirby struck out nine over 7.2 innings and Cal Raleigh added a home run as Seattle beat Philadelphia 4-1, capping a 4-1 stretch over its last five games.
Kirby's 9 strikeouts fall two outs short of a complete game
Phillies9-2Phillies4-1Seattle beat Philadelphia 4-1 on August 25, with George Kirby working 7.2 innings and allowing one earned run on six hits while striking out nine, two outs shy of a complete game. Cal Raleigh backed him with a home run and an RBI in a 1-for-2 night at the plate.
It came a day after the Mariners opened the series with a 9-2 win on August 24, part of a stretch that has them 4-1 in their last five games. Seattle is 64-69 on the season, and it did it without Brendan Donovan, who remains on the 7-day concussion IL — the Mariners said Monday his symptoms are improving, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com.
Raleigh homers in four straight at-bats
The four-homer stretch got its own recognition from Barstool Gambling's @stoolgambling, who wrote that Raleigh 'has homered in every at bat (4) since PCA slapped his Big Dumper.' Barstool Bush covered the same run in Cal Raleigh Homers In 4 Straight At-Bats For Seattle.
The barrage began two days earlier, when TalkinBaseball_ noted that Raleigh's 15th homer of the season came in a five-run first inning against Zack Wheeler on August 24.
Upcoming
Bryan Woo takes the mound as the Mariners host the Phillies this afternoon, opposite Jesús Luzardo. Woo is 9-8 with a 4.10 ERA and allowed two earned runs on three hits with five strikeouts over six innings in a win at Houston on August 16. Luzardo, 11-5 with a 3.23 ERA, no-decisioned his last start against the Cardinals on August 21 despite striking out nine over 5.2 innings.
Philadelphia is favored this afternoon, and the total points to a low-scoring game — one that would fit if Woo's rotation keeps doing what it's done through this series, and Luzardo's strikeout stuff holds up against a Mariners lineup that just hung nine on the same club.