By the numbers: Mariners pitching in midst of historically great stretch

After a sputtering start to the season, the Seattle Mariners’ pitching staff has been otherworldly dominant over the past two and a half weeks.

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The latest masterpiece came Saturday night, when George Kirby struck out a career-high 12 batters over seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball in Seattle’s 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Just how good has the Mariners’ pitching been of late?

Well, it might just be the best 15-game run of pitching in Seattle’s 48-year franchise history.

Here’s a look at the numbers prior to Sunday afternoon’s series finale against Arizona.

A historic stretch

• The Mariners have posted a 1.47 ERA over their past 15 games, which is their lowest over a 15-game span in franchise history. It’s also the lowest ERA over a 15-game span in the majors since Cleveland posted a 1.46 ERA over the first half of September 2017, according to the Mariners’ communications department.

• Seattle’s starting rotation is the first in MLB history to record 15 consecutive starts with no more than two earned runs and at least four strikeouts, according to OptaSTATS. The Mariners’ run of 15 consecutive starts with two earned runs or fewer is a franchise record.

Overall pitching dominance

• Seattle’s 1.47 ERA over the past 15 games is the best in MLB over that stretch by a massive margin. The next-closest teams over that span are the Philadelphia Phillies with a 2.84 ERA and the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 3.11 ERA.

• The Mariners also lead the majors with a 0.83 WHIP and .167 opponents’ batting average over the past 15 games.

• Seattle has allowed three runs or fewer in 13 of its past 15 games. Over that span, the Mariners have yielded two runs or fewer 10 times and one run or fewer seven times. They have gone 17 consecutive games without surrendering more than five runs.

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The starting rotation

• Seattle’s starting pitchers have an MLB-best 1.46 ERA in 92 1/3 innings over the past 15 games. They also have an MLB-best 0.81 WHIP over that span.

• The Mariners have recorded 13 quality starts in their past 15 games. The only times they didn’t have a quality start over that stretch was when Kirby threw five shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies on April 21 and when Bryce Miller allowed two runs in four innings against the Texas Rangers last Wednesday.

• Seattle has five pitchers with at least three quality starts this season. Logan Gilbert has four quality starts, while Luis Castillo, Kirby, Emerson Hancock and Miller have three apiece. No other MLB team has even four pitchers with three-plus quality starts, and just three teams have three pitchers to accomplish the feat so far.

The bullpen

• The Mariners’ bullpen has an MLB-best 1.48 ERA in 42 2/3 innings over the past 15 games. The next-closest team is the New York Mets, who have a 2.22 bullpen ERA over that span. Seattle’s relievers also have an MLB-best 0.87 WHIP over the past 15 games.

• For the season, the Mariners’ bullpen leads the majors with both a 2.44 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP.

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