Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby got into some hot water for his comments after Friday night's loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, saying he felt that he should have been pulled from the game in the seventh inning before he gave up two runs. Kirby walked back on those comments today.

“Obviously I screwed up,” George Kirby said, via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “That's not me. Skip has always got to pry that ball out of my hands. Just super uncharacteristic of me as a player and who I am out on that mound. I love competing. Like I said, I just screwed up.”

The Mariners had a 4-2 lead entering the seventh inning. Kirby got Taylor Walls to ground out for the first out of the inning, but then gave up a double to Jose Siri and a game-tying two-run home run to Rene Pinto before getting pulled from the game.

The Rays went on to score two more on a Harold Ramirez home run in the inning, and went on to win the game 7-4.

The Mariners are still in a dead heat with the Houston Astros for the American League West title. The Astros are 0.5 games up on the Mariners for first place.

After struggling to start the season, the Mariners got red hot and played themselves back into contention for the division. They will look to rebound from the loss on Friday and win on Saturday and Sunday against the Rays before playing the Los Angeles Angels this week.