Mariners' Kirby apologizes to manager for wishing for earlier removal

ST. PETERBURG, Fla (AP) — Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby apologized to manager Scott Servais for saying he wished he wasn’t sent back to the mound for the seventh inning of a 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay after reaching the 90-pitch mark.

Servais said he talked with the 25-year-old right-hander “for a long time” both Friday night and Saturday morning.

“He said ‘Skip, that’s not who I am,” Servais said before Saturday's game. “We all know George is a very fiery — he's a competitor. He's learning. It's an opportunity to learn moving forward. The biggest think with George is, we move forward. Love having him out there.”

Seattle led 4-2 when Kirby returned to the mound in the seventh. After Taylor Wells grounded out, Jose Siri doubled and René Pinto followed with a tying homer on Kirby’s 102 and final pitch.

“Obviously, I screwed up,” Kirby told reporters before Saturday’s game. “That’s not me. Skip’s always got to pry that ball out of my hands. Just super uncharacteristic of me as a player and who I am out on that mound. I love competing. Like I said, I just screwed up.”

Kirby is 10-9 with a 3.48 ERA in 27 starts this season.

“When you make mistakes that only affects yourself, it’s not that big of a deal,” Servais said. “But once it starts affecting other people, that’s kind of when you take notice. I think this is one George will learn from.”

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