After a bumpy start to the season, the Seattle Mariners have found their footing.
Their next goal is to return to .500 for the first time since April 3. The Mariners will have a chance to do so in the rubber match of a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Seattle is coming off a 7-1 win on Tuesday night to even the series at one victory apiece. It marked the fifth win in the past six games for the Mariners, who were 10-15 before their recent surge.
Meanwhile, the Twins are desperate for a series win. They have lost 10 of their past 12 games to spoil an impressive first two weeks of the season.
Mariners right-hander George Kirby (4-2, 2.97 ERA) will make his seventh start of 2026. He will look for his fourth straight victory after earning wins over the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals in the past two weeks.
In his most recent start, Kirby held the Cardinals to two runs on five hits in six innings in a 3-2 victory on Friday. It marked his fourth quality start in six appearances this season.
Kirby has made four career starts against the Twins, going 1-2 with a 4.09 ERA, three walks and 26 strikeouts in 22 innings.
The Twins will counter with right-hander Taj Bradley (3-1, 2.91 ERA), who also will make his seventh start. He will try to bounce back from his worst outing of the season after he surrendered six runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings Friday in a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I felt good overall,” Bradley said after the outing. “To let me go into the seventh, it’s something I’ve been fighting with these past five outings, just throwing too many pitches and not going as long as I could have.
“I was a little below (the) zone with my slider and splitter and a little above (the) zone with my splitter, too. I feel like they didn’t help me too much throughout the game.”
Before that performance, Bradley was rolling with three quality starts over his previous four games. He has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 37 to 13 this season.
Bradley will look to beat the Mariners for the first time in his career. He has faced them three times, going 0-0 with a 6.00 ERA.
Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan will remain on the injured list for the rest of the series because of a strained groin muscle but is getting closer to returning.
Seattle manager Dan Wilson said Donovan has resumed baseball activities and could be activated as soon as this weekend.
“The progression has gone as hoped, and he’s taken swings,” Wilson said Tuesday. “And I think he looks like he’s on pace to be back during the homestand at some point.”
–Field Level Media
