SAN DIEGO -- It’s been three long and frustrating weeks nearing the point of reckoning for the Mariners. But after a tight, 2-0 win over the Padres on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, they’ve secured their first series win in 24 days.

Thanks to six scoreless innings that featured just one strikeout from Bryce Miller, a pair of run-scoring plays from struggling second baseman Jorge Polanco and a lockdown effort from Andrés Muñoz, the Mariners eked out a two-game sweep of one of MLB’s hottest-hitting teams.

“I knew we were going to have to pitch extremely well to win this series,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “And we did exactly that.”

Muñoz entered earlier than anticipated after Ryne Stanek issued a two-out walk to No. 9 hitter Brett Sullivan and a single to Luis Arraez in the eighth inning. The flamethrower then fanned newly minted All-Star Jurickson Profar to get out of the jam, then he worked around a pair of walks to begin the ninth to complete his MLB-best sixth four-out save.

The effort continued Muñoz’s strong case for his first All-Star selection, but he would only be added as a replacement at this point.

With Wednesday's win, the Mariners secured just their ninth win in 41 games when being out-hit by their opponent, and with 13 strikeouts, they extended their streak of double-digit K’s to 14 games, which broke an MLB record set by last year’s team. But they were able to overcome those shortcomings thanks to their ninth shutout.

Julio Rodríguez also continued his midsummer turnaround despite a four-strikeout day by preserving Seattle's scoreless effort with an epic, inning-ending double play in the second. On a sky-high fly ball with the bases loaded, Rodríguez corralled the baseball and fired a two-hopping seed to Cal Raleigh at the plate to nab Donovan Solano and bail Miller out of his only true jam. In Tuesday’s series opener, Rodríguez had a four-hit night that featured a 411-foot homer into the second deck.

And on the basepaths, Raleigh swiped his fifth steal in the second, which was immediately followed by a knock from Polanco into the right-center gap that allowed the burly backstop to score. Raleigh joined Carlton Fisk (1973, '77, '85), Johnny Bench (1975) and Ivan Rodriguez (1999, 2001) -- all Hall of Famers -- as the only catchers in MLB history with at least 15 homers and five steals before the All-Star break.

“You pick your spots, and we've been picking our spots pretty aggressively with Cal,” Servais said. “Cal gets really good leads, he's got a good idea what he's doing on timing pitchers up, so he gets good jumps -- and he needed the good jump today because it was really close. But you take chances.”

The game’s MVP, however, was Miller, who completed his fourth scoreless effort this year but only his second on the road, the other being his first start of the year away from T-Mobile Park, on April 6 in Milwaukee. The road has not been kind for the second-year righty, who entered play with a 6.28 ERA in eight starts away from Seattle compared to a 2.10 ERA in 10 outings at home.

And he did so with a seemingly new formula, one predicated on grounders rather than swing-and-miss. Miller surrendered five hits, all singles and all but one of which poked through the infield.

“It was kind of a weird day,” Miller said. “I was just throwing it in there and they were putting it on the ground. So I'll take that.”

He generated six ground-ball outs and didn’t record a strikeout until his final batter, when punching out Jake Cronenworth swinging with a full-count fastball on his 80th pitch, stranding a runner on first base.

That sequence came shortly after a mound visit from Mariners pitching coach Pete Woodworth.

“I would have been upset if I had zero strikeouts, but I can deal with one I guess,” Miller said. “One is better than zero, so I'll give him the credit for the strikeout.”

Postgame, the Mariners chartered via bus to Anaheim, where they’ll play their final series before the All-Star break -- and against an Angels team that they’ve played well against, with an 8-5 record against them last year and 3-0 this year. This road trip has begun on a high note, and it has the potential to send them into the second half strong.