Mariners' George Kirby: Fizzles in final start

Kirby (8-5) took the loss against Detroit on Monday, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks while striking out five batters over four innings.

This looked like a promising final regular-season outing for Kirby on paper, but he allowed constant traffic on the basepaths and labored with 93 pitches over four frames. Detroit tallied three runs -- two of which came on a Javier Baez homer, the first long ball Kirby has yielded in his past 14 starts -- over his final two innings to send the rookie right-hander to his fifth loss of the campaign. Kirby nonetheless put together a fine first big-league campaign, notching eight wins and posting a 3.39 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 133:22 K:BB over 130 innings. He also tossed 26.2 innings in the minors, and the sizeable workload may have contributed to a drop in velocity in his final start, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Kirby is expected to work out of the bullpen in Seattle's upcoming wild-card series, though he could retain a starting role if the Mariners advance to the ALDS.