New pitch alert: George Kirby debuts cutters in first outing of spring as Mariners fall, 8-5

Last minute rally by the baby Mariners falls just short, but hey: new pitch!

The Mariners lost today, falling back to .500 in Cactus League play, but there’s still some fun to be had from today’s game. George Kirby made his spring debut and also debuted a new pitch; Statcast currently labels the 93-94 mph offering a slider, but it’s likely a cutter. He threw it twice, once for a foul tip and once for a groundout, so early results seem good. The cutter was one of the eight pitches Kirby needed to set down the A’s in the first, ending on a strikeout looking on a 98 mph sinker.

With just eight pitches, Kirby came out for a second inning, trying to mix in his splitter and curve but not quite finding the feeling for it, issuing rare back-to-back walks to open the inning, which prompted Dan Wilson to lift Kirby for minor-leaguer Elijah Dale. Dale got the first two outs, but also threw a wild pitch allowing the runners to advance and one to eventually score on a little chopper that Colt Emerson made a valiant effort on but couldn’t quite sling to first in time. It was still a very nice play by Emerson, who had shown some big-league jitters with a rare defensive miscue earlier this spring.

The Mariners evened it up in the second with Rowdy Tellez’s first home run as a Mariner, as he demolished a Joey Estes fastball onto the berm (432 feet, per Statcast). How I have missed a beefy baseball basher. Tellez gets today’s Sun Visor award for providing a viral highlight for a game that was thin on them for Mariners fans.

But it was all A’s after that as the pitching staff struggled with the zone all day, issuing rare double-digit walks (10) along with two HBPs. Carlos Vargas struggled with his command in the third, running out of pitches after walking in a run and putting Jesse Wainscott into a jam in relief. Wainscott, an UDFA in 2023 who was with Modesto last year, also had difficulty locating, walking in a run and then hitting a batter to walk in another to make it 4-1. He escaped the jam thanks to another nice play by Emerson, who seems to have fully shaken off those early camp jitters.

Neftali Feliz gave up a run in his appearance in the fifth, allowing a deep double to former Mariner Luis Urías, who watched Luka play the Mavs last night and got inspired. Urías came around to score on a Zack Gelof single before Feliz got A’s top prospect Jacob Wilson to fly out to end the inning.

The A’s added on against Adonis Medina, a former top prospect whose ceiling has been limited by struggles with command. He opened his inning with a strikeout on a nice-looking changeup, but walked his next hitter, who then stole second and scored on a single from Kyle McCann and then gave up a well-stroked double to Logan Davidson after falling behind 3-1 to make it 7-1 A’s.

The A’s got another run off Mariners minor leaguer Tyler Cleveland, the funky deliveryman. His command wasn’t perfect, as he issued two walks and hit a batter, but he also didn’t get helped out by a defensive miscue by Carlos Jimenez in left field. With the bases loaded and the A’s threatening for more, Cleveland needed to be bailed out by 2024 draftee Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, who fell behind 2-0 but got a ground ball to first to end the inning, fielded nicely by Austin Shenton.

Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, aka “The Law Firm” continued on in the eighth, treating us to his first professional strikeout, as he got Carlos Cortes swinging through a fastball at the top of the zone. Despite his size (6’2”/230), WLS doesn’t throw hard and relies on secondaries and location to get strikeouts. We also saw another nice rangy play by Michael Arroyo at second to close out the inning, as he continues to put to rest concerns about his defense.

The Mariners made a run at a comeback in the ninth against Mason Barnett. Blake Hunt started things with a one-out double and Nick Dunn came up with a two-out single, followed by another clutch hit from Carlos Jimenez, who doubled to give the Mariners their first run since the second inning. Barnett then issued a walk to Jared Sundstrom to load the bases before giving up the Mariners’ biggest hit of the day: a scalded double to Jack López, who cleared the bases to make it 8-5. That’s as close as the Mariners/Rainiers would get, though, as Rhylan Thomas grounded out to end the game.

Other notables:

• Speaking of punching back against defensive concerns, Lazaro Montes showed off his arm with a long throw in from right field to third base in the second inning, holding the runner (somewhat unnecessarily). Apparently he took that 40 grade on his arm personally. Montes also scalded a single in this game, 106.6 off the bat per Statcast.
• Charlie Furbush was on the broadcast today and was a delightful addition, although I got a kick out of when Gary Hill Jr. was telling a heart-wrenching story about Hagen Danner only getting to throw two big-league pitches before tearing his oblique and Furbush responding flatly: “well, that’s the life of an athlete.” I could almost hear the can of Narragansett being popped on a front porch in Maine from here.
• I also enjoyed Furbush poking fun at the contrast between the hot dry air in Arizona and T-Mobile Park in April. “That’s something that would be twenty feet shorter at T-Mobile in April,” he opined, watching a deep flyout off the bat of Austin Shenton.
• Another broadcast highlight: Rick Rizzs appreciating López’s three-run double, saying “that little guy really put a charge in it!” and I am delighted by Rick Rizzs, who’s about 5’5” if he stands on an encyclopedia, calling the 5’9” López a “little guy.”