SEATTLE — Rookie Bryce Miller has been having an impressive 2023 for the Seattle Mariners. The right-hander bypassed Triple-A Tacoma, was placed on the Major League roster, and went 3-1 with a 1.15 ERA in his first five starts. He dazzled in his debut on May 2 against the Oakland Athletics and only gave up one run in six innings with ten strikeouts.
The most runs allowed by Miller in a start came on May 19 when he gave up three runs in a loss to the Atlanta Braves. He had three outings in which he did not surrender any runs against Houston on May 7, against Detroit on May 13, and against Oakland on May 24.
Miller was cruising along until he ran into the New York Yankees on Monday night. In that contest, Miller was tagged for eight runs in four and two-thirds innings, and he gave up the first two home runs of his young career—one to Aaron Judge and the other to Jake Bauers.
Ty Dane Gonzalez and Colby Patnode of the Locked On Mariners podcast had thoughts about Miller’s rough outing, and neither one blamed Miller for how it turned out. Patnode directed his ire toward manager Scott Servais for not taking out Miller sooner.
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Gonzalez asked Patnode, who attended the game on Monday night, “What frustrated you the most about last night?” Patnode answered, “The fact that Bryce Miller didn't have it, and everybody in the entire ballpark knew he didn’t have it, and yet, somehow, you enter the top of the fifth inning with a chance to win this game against the Yankees. It’s the first game of the series, which is always an important one, and not only does Scott (Servais) send him (Miller) back out there, he kind of lets him twist in the wind.”
Miller said via MLB.com, “Obviously, my confidence was up. I just didn't make the pitches I needed to make, and they put them in play, and they fell. It happens. I'm moving on.”
Gonzalez went through Miller’s pitching arsenal in Monday night’s game. “This was a fairly offspeed-heavy approach from Miller relative to what we’ve seen from him in past starts. 50 fastballs out of his 86 pitches, but we saw 11 sliders, ten sweepers, eight changeups, and seven curveballs.” The home run Miller gave up to Judge was on a 93.8 mph four-seam fastball, and the home run to Bauers was on a 96 mph four-seam fastball. Miller had faced 120 batters before surrendering that two-run shot to Judge in the third inning.
Miller admitted he wasn’t where he wanted to be with his fastball command and that it was all over the place compared to his previous starts. He also said, “The ones that I was throwing, I wasn't at the top of the zone like I need to be, and it just kind of led into throwing more offspeed,” He added, “I made some good pitches, but I've got to make better ones.”
The Yankees also hit three doubles in the fifth inning alone off Miller, and they all came off his curveball. Servais said, “There were some that were down, some that were left up that they got on. But his bread and butter is the fastball. It kind of gets the game going for him. It sets everything up.”
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