Kirby gives up three homers as Mariners fall to Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- Going into Wednesday night’s start against the Twins, George Kirby had given up just two home runs in 38 1/3 innings.

Three batters into the game, that total had doubled.

Four batters after that, the Twins added another long ball.

Those early hiccups were enough to doom Kirby and the Mariners in a 6-3 loss at Target Field.

Last year, in Kirby’s only previous start at Target Field, the Twins jumped on him for four runs in the first inning. The ambush included a double by Carlos Correa and a home run by Matt Wallner.

This time around, the Twins stayed aggressive early in the count and it paid dividends. Correa homered on a 1-1 knuckle curve. Then Trevor Larnach drove an 0-1 slider out of the park. In the second inning, Willi Castro fouled off three pitches before launching a full-count four-seam fastball deep into the night.

“The Twins jumped on him early; they were really aggressive,” manager Scott Servais said. “They know he’s going to be in the strike zone. They were up there swinging, hacking, and he left a couple breaking balls up and they took advantage of that.”

That was no coincidence, according to Twins manager Rocco Baldelli.

“If you go up there in a passive manner against Kirby, you’re going to be behind and everything will be sloped in his favor throughout the game. And we can’t let that happen,” Baldelli said. “He’s really good. He’s really unique. He can put a team on their heels, the way he pitches. … And we were ready from the first pitch of the game for him. That’s more than half the battle.”

Kirby exited after throwing 70 pitches over five innings. Besides the three home runs, the only other blemish came in the fourth when he gave up a one-out walk to Jose Miranda and a two-out triple to Castro.

“Didn’t execute the way I wanted to,” Kirby said. “Usually the mistakes I have been making, they haven’t been resulting in three home runs, so I just kind of want those back. Pitching behind in counts, that’s when you tend to lose some battles there. I’m just excited for next week, after my work this week, and kind of flush this one.”

Questions about Kirby’s health have swirled since he left his last start after six innings with a sore right knee, but both Kirby and his manager shot down any speculation about that being a concern after Wednesday’s outing.

“It was my call to take him out of the game,” Servais said. “George wanted to go back out there. There was no problem at all physically. I just thought where we’re at, he’s going to make consecutive starts here on normal rest, and we’re playing the long game.

“Tonight he just wasn’t quite as sharp. He’s had those nights before and he’s been able to work through it and put those zeros up there. It just wasn’t the case tonight. He’ll be out there, ready to take his start the next time around.”

Kirby even managed to find a silver lining in an otherwise frustrating evening.

“There’s still some positives from the game,” he said. “I let up three or four hits, they were just all home runs. If they weren’t, I could’ve easily gone six or seven and given the team the best chance to win. It’s one of those weeks, just gotta battle through it and try my best, get ‘em next week.”