The last two matchups had not gone his way, so Bryan Abreu opted to mix things up. For several seasons, Abreu proved a headache for Julio Rodríguez, the Seattle Mariners center fielder. In his first 10 plate appearances against Abreu,

Two and a half hours before he stepped back onto a major league mound for the first time in eight months, George Kirby stood in the Seattle Mariners dugout, looking out at the field while his teammates went through their pregame routines.