Deadspin | Mariners ask George Kirby, undefeated vs. Rangers, to help stop skid

Mar 27, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners starter George Kirby (68) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

The Seattle Mariners’ .188 team batting average — worst in the major leagues — has caught up with them.

Seattle lost its third straight one-run game Monday night — this time to the Texas Rangers — and will return to the second game of the three-game series in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday night as losers of five of the past six games.

The Mariners wasted the first quality start of the season by right-hander Logan Gilbert, who gave up two runs on six hits in six innings, as they mustered only two hits off of Texas starter Jacob deGrom and five relievers.

One of those hits was Cal Raleigh’s first home run of 2026. At the same juncture last season, 11 games in, Raleigh had just two homers and the Mariners were 4-7, the same start as this season.

It all worked out fine. Raleigh hit 60 home runs, and the Mariners won the American League West and reached the AL Championship Series.

Still, the Mariners are ready for their most relied-upon hitters at the top of the batting order to break out of their early slumps.

Raleigh is batting .146 with 20 strikeouts in 41 at-bats. Josh Naylor is hitting .114 and Julio Rodriguez .143. Combined, they have one home run, nine RBIs and 39 strikeouts.

The Mariners have yet to win a series, splitting a four-game set with the Cleveland Guardians, then dropping two of three contests to both the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels.

“We’ve just got to take care of those little things … kind of a slow start there in the first two games in (Anaheim), same thing here today,” Raleigh told MLB.com Monday night. “We’ve just got to create some traffic. Even when you’re not hitting the ball like you want to, you’ve got to be able to do the little things right: steal bags, get runners over, grind out at-bats, find some free bases here and there. We’re just not doing that.”

The Mariners hope their scheduled starter on Tuesday, right-hander George Kirby (1-1, 3.75 ERA), can continue his career dominance of the Rangers. He has an 8-0 record and a 1.04 ERA against them, yielding just seven earned runs in 10 starts.

The win on Monday was the first at home this season for the Rangers, who were swept by the Cincinnati Reds and outscored 9-4 over the weekend. Texas has just just six total runs over their past four games and, same as the Mariners, have 38 runs through the first 11 games.

After the series finale on Wednesday, the Rangers will be back on the road for 10 games, visiting the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers for three, the Athletics for four and the Mariners for three.

Rangers manager Skip Schumaker was happy to return to the win column.

“We lost a couple in a row,” Schumaker told The Dallas Morning News after the game. “It’s nice to come back and get a win against … a tough team. So, you know, celebrate today and try to win tomorrow. I’m not looking ahead too far — I’m definitely not looking to L.A. yet — because we’ve got a really tough game tomorrow.”

Starting for the Rangers will be right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (0-2, 11.42), who will make his third start of the season and the 300th of his career. The start by deGrom on Monday was his 250th.

Eovaldi, the Rangers’ Opening Day starter, got roughed up in his first two starts, allowing five earned runs at Philadelphia and six at Baltimore in less than five innings in each game. Against Seattle, he is 2-4 with a 5.48 ERA in 13 career games (all starts).

–Field Level Media

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–Field Level Media

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