Mariners notes: Miller dominates rubber match, helps Seattle to consecutive series win
After a filthy, front-door slider caught the dangerous Eloy Jimenez looking for a called strike three and ended the sixth inning, Bryce Miller earned the applause of tens of thousands and hopped, confidently, toward the dugout.
Up a run in a closely-contested rubber match, Miller had evaded critical damage with Chicago’s tying run at second base. And he tricked Jimenez with off-speed after beginning the crucial meeting with three fastballs.
Miller’s seventh inning was another perfect frame (his fourth of the afternoon), which cemented a much-needed masterpiece as Seattle’s bullpen went thin in extras the night before.
“He’s had a couple outings (recently) where he hasn’t been very sharp… but his demeanor stays the same,” manager Scott Servais said of his young, trusted righty. “Which is not normal for those that have been around this game. … He just doesn’t take it too seriously. He’s enjoying it.”
In front of a packed house of 44,772 on Father’s Day – and donning light blue caps and gear as a nod to the holiday – Miller helped deliver a Mariners victory and series win over the White Sox. He navigated little traffic but was “as cool of a customer” as they come, manager Scott Servais said of the young right-hander, now just 11 starts into his career.
Miller let his signature high-riding fastball ‘eat’ and toyed with Chicago hitters efficiently, needing only 85 pitches to go seven strong, featuring four hits, no walks, and six strikeouts.
In a month when Seattle hits and runs have come in sporadic bunches, Julio Rodriguez delivered the game-winning runs with a laser-beam double that scored a pair in the third inning. Miller was dominant enough to hold the cushion.
Outfielder Jarred Kelenic later blistered a bases-clearing, three-run triple to the gap in left-center, providing eighth-inning insurance. Reliever Ty Adcock kept the scoreboard in check with a scoreless ninth inning, and Seattle took home a 5-1 victory.
Despite offensive inconsistency, Seattle managed a 4-2 homestand, enough to grab both series over Miami and Chicago this week.
White Sox third baseman Jake Burger rocked a 107-mph comebacker off Miller’s left leg with one out in the third inning, Chicago’s first hit. Trainers deemed Miller healthy enough to continue play after a brief meeting on the mound, and Seattle’s starter continued on cruise control.
Miller kept it lighthearted, even comical. “I’m OK. I’ve been doing some calf raises,” he told a concerned Servais.
The line drive struck Miller’s leg muscles and avoided bone. “(If) it hit the bone, I probably would’ve thought about crying,” he said, chuckling. “But it’s fine.”
Lance Lynn, Chicago’s veteran starter, was equally exceptional. In his 323rd career game, Lynn struck out a career-high 16 and generated 33 swings-and-misses by Seattle hitters. He allowed only two hits and two walks – Rodriguez’s double was the early back-breaker.
Lynn’s 16 strikeouts tied a franchise record, and his 33 whiffs are the fourth-most by any MLB pitcher in the Statcast era (since 2015).
“It’s Lance Lynn,” Kelenic said. “He’s been in the league for, I don’t even know how long. The guy knows how to pitch. He’s a stud. He had his A-game today, and we battled.”
Miller was more direct: “(Lynn) was junkin’ it.”
Seattle’s win came in response to a disheartening, extra-innings loss in Saturday’s middle game. White Sox second baseman Zach Remillard – subbed in the fifth inning for the injured two-time All-Star Tim Anderson (shoulder) – singled in his major-league debut to plate the game-tying run in the ninth inning and later singled home the winning run in the eleventh.
Opportunities abounded, but the Mariners mustered a combined 4-for-29 (.138) with runners in scoring position on Friday and Saturday. That number on Sunday: a much-more-respectable 2-for-6, thanks to Kelenic and Rodriguez.
“Remillard had quite a game,” Servais admitted Saturday, which cost Seattle a weekend sweep after a 3-2 win on Friday night. “This one hurts a little bit. We let it slip away.”
The Mariners are back at .500 (35-35) and trail AL West-leader Texas (44-27) by 8 ½ games.
Seattle trails the Yankees (39-32) by 3 ½ games for the final AL wild card allocation.
M’S MISS MARLINS SWEEP – BY INCHES
As Eugenio Suarez trotted to the batter’s box in the ninth inning on Wednesday night, many of the 20,498 in attendance rose to their feet, hoping for a minor miracle.
Down four runs and held scoreless for eight innings – six of those frames by blossoming Miami arm Eury Perez – the Mariners rallied to load the bases in the home ninth, thanks to a pair of infield errors by Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez.
Suarez had already lifted a pair of 385-foot flyouts to the warning track in the second and fifth innings, one of which manager Scott Servais thought was gone.
Could Suarez tie the game for a team on its last gasp, proving a third blast to be the charm?
Ahead in the count 2-1, Marlins lefty closer A.J. Puk lofted a sweeper that Suarez found on the outside edge and barreled to right field. It drifted, and took Marlins outfielder Jesus Sanchez to the track, then the wall.
What came next saved the game – and a potential series sweep. Sanchez extended well above the right-field wall, reached beyond the first row of seating, and robbed Suarez’s home run from previously-hopeful onlookers.
The Spiderman-like snare snatched away extra innings, at least. Ty France, at third, tagged and jogged home on an instead-sacrifice fly, and catcher Cal Raleigh subsequently flew out to end the game, 4-1.
“Geno has got a knack for doing that late in games, barreling balls up,” Servais said. “He can certainly get the ball in the air. … Again, fantastic play by Sanchez. I thought it was gone. Not quite enough. Needed another foot.
Statcast considers Suarez’s ninth-inning blast a home run at T-Mobile Park by projected distance (372 feet), if not for Sanchez’s web gem. His second-inning flyout was a home run in four of 30 MLB parks.
“It was there,” Servais said. “The guy made an unbelievable catch going over the wall. You can’t take anything away from the play.”
Mariners outfielder Teoscar Hernandez poked a 400-foot flyout in the first inning, deemed a home run in eight of 30 MLB parks, per Statcast. T-Mobile Park held in each of Seattle’s close calls – except for Sanchez, who brought the game-tying grand slam back into play on his own.
“It’s baseball,” Servais said, chuckling. “Just a hair here or there, and it’s a different outcome tonight.”
Seattle ace Luis Castillo kept Wednesday within reach, despite a struggle to locate and command. He surrendered two runs and issuing a season-high six walks over 5 ⅔ innings. Miami added to a 2-0 lead in the eighth with a run-scoring double and sacrifice fly off Mariners reliever Justin Topa.
“Just a bad outing. I don’t think the command or location of my pitches were there, where I wanted,” Castillo said through a translator. “The walks were obviously what caused most of the damage tonight.”
Miami’s 4-1 victory salvaged a game at T-Mobile Park, after Seattle’s offense stormed for eight and nine runs, respectively, in convincing victories Monday and Tuesday for a series win.
The Marlins were left with zero production from All-Star second baseman and major-league batting leader Luis Arraez, whose average fell from .397 to .378 (0-for-12, one walk). He was held hitless throughout a series for the first time this season.
SHORT HOPS
– Teoscar Hernandez’s “lightning-quick” bat is red-hot.
Entering Sunday, Seattle’s right fielder reached base safely in 13 straight games to begin June, and hit .375 (18-for-48) with 11 RBI in that span.
Hernandez played hero in Seattle’s 3-2 win over Chicago in Friday’s opener, charging a game-winning home run to center field that broke a seventh-inning tie. He stormed to the dugout, grasped Seattle’s signature home-run trident, and screamed in triumph.
“I get excited,” he said Friday, smiling. “Especially when we do something to put the team on top late. … It gives us chances to win the ballgame, and that’s what we did.”
“(He’s) a proven hitter in the league,” Servais said. “He’s starting to go, and it’s fun to watch. He can hit the ball out of any part of the ballpark, in any ballpark.”
– J.P. Crawford cranked a no-doubt home run to right field on the first pitch of Saturday’s game, the 15th such occurrence by a Mariners player in team history.
It’s more than a blip. Seattle’s shortstop ranks in the 60th percentile of maximum exit velocity in MLB this season – a career-high – plus elite plate discipline numbers (93rd percentile in chase rate).
– Young, flamethrowing-reliever Andrez Munoz has yet to allow a run in nine appearances this season, and has a team-best 53.0-inning homerless streak.
ON DECK
Seattle embarks on a two-city, East Coast road trip that begins at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. The Mariners visit the Yankees and Orioles -- both ahead of Seattle in the playoff race -- for three-game road sets, and return to T-Mobile Park on June 26.
“Me, personally, I treat them all the same,” Kelenic said of the team’s crucial, upcoming road trip. “A game’s a game. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Yankees, White Sox, whoever.
“Our guys in the clubhouse treat everything the same.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2023 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Mariners notes: Miller dominates rubber match, helps Seattle to consecutive series win."
