Unswayed by 'off' day, Miller's stellar start fuels sweep

SEATTLE -- It was only the second inning, but Bryce Miller knew he needed to bear down.

He’d just surrendered a solo homer to Elly De La Cruz, then he walked Tyler Stephenson in a full count in the next plate appearance. The stakes of Wednesday’s game against the Reds at T-Mobile Park were early, but in a series where hits were hard to come by, that sequence proved pivotal.

Miller labored into a 2-2 count against Nick Martini, who proved to be the afternoon’s peskiest batter beyond De La Cruz, before blowing a 93.9 mph heater by him to end the inning and halt the damage. From there, Seattle’s second-year starter was off and running to another dominant outing, lifting the Mariners to a 5-1 victory that secured a series sweep, one day after they secured their first series win of 2024.

“There are days where you feel like everything's working, [but] today was one of the ones where it didn't feel like it was,” Miller said. “But if it was last year, and whenever I felt like this, then I felt like I was just in a hole -- whereas like now, it feels like if something's not working, I can go to something else.”

Miller didn’t allow a baserunner to reach before De La Cruz took him deep, and he didn’t allow another after walking Stephenson. Sandwiched around that sequence, he was statistically perfect over six innings.

And thanks to three perfect innings from the bullpen and solo homers from Cal Raleigh, Mitch Garver and pinch-hitting Josh Rojas, Miller’s quality start -- Seattle’s seventh straight -- proved to be plenty enough to also secure a winning homestand, even including a tough weekend against the Cubs.

“This is how we put the team together,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I think, understanding that we haven't had a whole lot of home runs early in the season, we got a few today, which makes a big difference. There's no question about that. But we are driven by our pitching staff and playing really good defense.”

With an army of All-Star-caliber arms, Miller has been the Mariners’ best through the first three weeks of the season.

After the Reds went 1-for-19 against him, he’s held the 92 hitters he’s faced this year to a .499 OPS and 0.82 WHIP and has a 1.85 ERA in 24 1/3 innings with 24 strikeouts to seven walks.

Moreover, after a brutal second turn through the rotation, Seattle’s starters have turned a corner. The Mariners have won five of their past seven games, over which the rotation has an MLB-best 1.81 ERA, while each arm has pitched at least six innings. In their nine outings prior, Mariners starters had an 8.06 ERA and the team went 2-7.

Overall, the Mariners held a Reds team which ranked fifth in MLB in runs scored entering this series to a combined five in the three-gamer.

Miller didn’t necessarily have his most overpowering stuff -- he generated just six whiffs against 38 swings -- but he still racked up seven strikeouts, largely generated by masterfully working both corners of the plate. He regularly dotted his four-seam fastball on the outer half to righties and worked it at the bottom of the zone to lefties, which led to 21 called strikes, including five backwards K’s. He also used his sweeper six times in 0-0 counts, successfully getting ahead four times via called strikes.

Yet for how effective Miller’s fastball was, he felt he was “off” early. Raleigh noticed and tailored their game plan.

“I just told him to get a little more out front,” Raleigh said. “Get that last 10 percent, trying to finish the pitch a little more so he could get that extra life, extra movement and get to the spot that he wanted.”

Raleigh was among the offense’s bright spots, but it was its big free-agent acquisition, Garver, who was the headliner. Garver fell to 7-for-49 on the season after his first two at-bats before ambushing a middle-up fastball from Reds starter Andrew Abbott that he pummeled with ease into Edgar’s Cantina for his first homer.

“I think we're getting back to kind of the player I have been, pretty much just dominating fastballs,” Garver said. “That's kind of my game plan, and being able to lay off the spin.”

Collectively, Seattle’s offense still has room for improvement, but its pitching carried them this week.