Mariners lose series to Braves after struggles with the bat return

ATLANTA — The Mariners unproductive offense returned to wrap up the road trip.

Despite a solid effort from starter George Kirby, the Mariners did little offensively in a 3-2 loss to the Braves.

After raking two of three from the Tigers to start the nine-game road trip, the Mariners dropped three-game series to the Red Sox and Braves to finish the trip 4-5.

Kirby pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

Following a frustrating pattern in the series, the duo of Ronald Acuna and Matt Olson gave the Braves an early lead.

For the third straight game against the Mariners, Acuna led off the game with a hit — this time a looping single to left-center on 2-2 curveball. And similar to the previous two games, Olson scored him with a hit. The big lefty slugger yanked a first-pitch curveball into the right field corner that allowed Acuna to score from first base for a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners tied the game on a Jarred Kelenic homer.

But Atlanta added two more runs against Kirby, who took the loss.

The Mariners cut the lead to one run when Jose Caballero hit his first career homer in the eighth inning off reliever Nick Anderson.

But closer Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth, getting Julio Rodriguez to ground out and then striking out Kelenic and Eugenio Suarez to end the game.

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