Cole Irvin did not have a lot of respect for the Seattle Mariners at the beginning of the season. The Oakland A’s starter lamented his performance in his first start of 2021 against them, saying that the Mariners should not be putting up ten hits against him, or anyone for that matter. The Mariners have not forgotten those sentiments, and have been making him eat his words ever since.
Irvin faced the Mariners for the fifth time on Monday. And for the fifth time, the Mariners pummelled him, as he allowed five runs on six hits and three walks in his three plus innings. Needless to say, Irvin has some different thoughts about the Mariners now.
Cole Irvin: “Baseball has a way of humbling itself. To be honest, it goes back to the comments I made early in the season. They’re hungry every time. They want to face me and beat me into the ground, and they did that every time I faced them."
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) September 28, 2021
Seattle Mariners making Cole Irvin eat his words
If Irvin could go back in time, he would likely stop himself from making those remarks. While it is fair to say that no one expected that the Mariners would be this good this season, Irvin did not need to provide that type of bulletin board material.
This is particularly true after his performance against Seattle this season. He went 0-5 in his five outings against them, posting an 8.69 ERA in his 19.2 innings. That is the highest ERA of any pitcher that has had at least five starts against the Mariners in team history.
Those five outings are also the difference in the A’s season. They are 3.5 games out of the second Wild Card spot now, those five losses making a dramatic difference in the standings. It is not hyperbolic to say that Irvin’s struggles in those starts are what is keeping the A’s from the postseason at this point.
Would this be different had Irvin never made those comments about the Mariners? It is hard to say – sometimes a team just has a player’s number, and that may be the case here. However, those quotes had to provide some extra motivation, which the A’s and Irvin could not afford.
Cole Irvin did not think the Seattle Mariners were a good team at the start of the year. They made him eat those words every time out.