George Kirby’s line from last night’s game might not look impressive—just five innings pitched, with two runs surrendered on eight hits and just three strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches in those five innings, bloated by a 30-pitch first inning that was extended by a misplay by J.P. Crawford (ruled a hit, but J.P. would be the first to tell you he should have had it).
That lengthy first inning did damage Kirby’s pitch count, but he wasn’t exactly being hit hard: the damage was off three singles against him, one on an ugly swing by Rutschman in a 1-2 count, and none with harder than an 86 exit velocity.