Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby (68) delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros during the second inning at Daikin Park on May 22. / Erik Williams-Imagn Images

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby made his much-anticipated season debut on Thursday night against the Houston Astros.

Shut down since March because of shoulder inflammation, Kirby lasted just 3.2 innings, giving up five earned runs. He walked a batter, hit two and struck out four. The Mariners lost 9-2.

Despite the rough final stat line, the outing wasn't all that bad, as we discussed on the most recent Refuse to Lose podcast:

At the end of the day, what are the things that matter most? One, how does he feel subsequently? That's going to be number one. Two, how is his velocity? Well, he was up to 98 mph. He was 95 to 98 fairly consistently. That's good. How were the movement on his pitches? I thought pretty good. He had the two-seamer, the sinker, the slider had movement. The splitters that he threw had movement. He was not great location wise, but those are all feel pitches, or at least the slider and the splitter are feel pitches.

Remember, he made, what, one spring training outing or two spring training outings and three rehab starts? He hasn't had a whole lot of time, so I'm not going to be too concerned about his lack of feel at this point. He threw strikes mostly. Now, he hit Pena, twice, and he did have a walk at the end, but by and large, I thought he threw strikes. The velocity was good, movement was on his pitches. He just has to find a way to put guys away. And that, I feel like has been a relatively consistent issue for the Mariners starters, in that they're doing what you want them to do in terms of throwing strikes and getting ahead. What they're not doing is striking enough people out consistently.

You can listen to the full podcast, which includes our conversations with Mitch Garver and Trent Thornton, in the player below:

The Mariners will finish out the series with the Astros on Sunday before having an off-day on Monday.

NEW PODCAST IS OUT! Brady is back for another episode of "Refuse to Lose," as he returns from Chicago. He briefly discusses the loss against the Astros on Thursday, but also talks about how George Kirby looked in his return. Julio Rodriguez was scratched with back stiffness, so how concerned are we? And Brady plays more of his audio from the clubhouse, including his talk with Trent Thornton and Mitch Garver. CLICK HERE:

EPIC STANDOFF: In a National Anthem standoff that lasted nearly 10 minutes, Miles Mastrobuoni and the Mariners appeared victorious. Here's the video. CLICK HERE:

CAL GETS HUGE PRAISE: Dan Wilson and Logan Evans both had great things to say about M's catcher Cal Raleigh after a win on Wednesday, underscoring how important he is to the organization. CLICK HERE: