Mariners impress as they shut out Mets 6-0 in series opener

Bryce Miller leads the way for the Mariners, as he throws six innings of shutout baseball and sets a new personal best for wins in a season.

As we wrote on Friday, the Seattle Mariners put their fans through a lot more stressful situations than the average supporter base. To the point that even when things seem to be going right, they still ultimately somehow go wrong.

Well this stress for the fans extends to j, ust how unpredictable this ball club is, specifically this year’s edition of the Mariners. They’ve had this recurring nasty habit in 2024, of playing up or down to their competition.

For example, on the negative side this includes recently suffering the first series sweep of the season, at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels. This would be the same Angels ball club which, as of Saturday morning, has the third-fewest wins in the American League.

On the positive side, how about recently managing to win a home series versus the Philadelphia Phillies. That would be the same Phillies ball club, which has the best winning percentage in the Majors following Friday’s slate of games.

After losing a three-game set they shouldn’t have against the Detroit Tigers, the Mariners entered this weekend’s home series with the fans once again stressed. No surprise, given how good the New York Mets have been in 2024, and with one of the best road records in the Majors.

The unpredictability continues

So of course, the Mariners put in a tremendous effort in shutting out the Mets 6-0. At the center of the game, was an outstanding performance from starting pitcher Bryce Miller.

In one of Miller’s best outings of the season, he went 6.0 innings and only gave up three hits and a walk. He also struck out six batters, as he threw 87 pitches and had 60 called strikes.

In this respect, Miller feels like his fastball has had more juice of late, combined with more offspeed pitches. Speaking to the media postgame, he said:

“Last year I was getting fatigued at this point and last year the fastball was my pitch. So if that’s my pitch and I’m fatigued, then it’s just like everything is kind of down. But this year I feel I’m getting better, getting stronger as the year goes on and I feel better with all the offspeed.”

Miller explained how recently he was concerned about his fastball. He said:

“Last month, I felt like I was kind of at a low point. And then the last couple weeks, it (has) felt like it’s come back. At this point in the year last year — innings-wise — I think I was just steadily going down, and right now I feel like I’m getting better.”

Certainly, Mariners manager Scott Servais was more than happy with what he saw from Miller on the night. He said:

“It’s great to see a young pitcher like that at this time in the season have so much in the tank, because we’ve got so many big games ahead of us. So I’m really excited with the way he’s been throwing the ball.”

Miller Time even better than last year

Thanks to the Mariners taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second through a Ryan Bliss homer — his first ever at T-Mobile Park — Miller left the game with a lead. This resulted in him recording his ninth win of the year, to set up a new Major League personal best.

Along these lines, Miller is in line for a whole host of new personal bests in his second year in the Majors. At the time of writing, this includes a 3.46 ERA, 3.69 FIP and 1.033 WHIP.

The shutout start was also the sixth of the year for Miller; seven if you include an outing versus the Chicago Cubs in mid-April, where he allowed an unearned run. Of note, three of his shutout’s have come in his past five starts. (He has 23 starts on the season.)

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Mariners bullpen comes through again

After Miller left the game, his replacement Collin Snider almost immediately found himself in a spot of bother in the top of the seventh. The Mets managed to get their first two batters on base, through a walk and single.

Fortunately for everyone concerned, Snider was able to overcome the adversity and ultimately retire the side with runs allowed. Then the Mariners all but put the game to bed in the bottom of the seventh, as two-RBI singles from Leo Rivas and then Cal Raleigh made it 6-0.

After this, Austin Voth and Trent Thornton threw one scoreless inning each, to secure the shutout win for the home side. Speaking about the outcome, Servais said:

“A nice way to stat the series. We need to continue that, but getting a couple of runs early for the starter really makes a difference for us. Hopefully we can do it again (on Saturday) night.”

With the win, the Mariners improve to 61-56 and remain in a virtual tie with the Houston Astros at the top of the AL West. Next up Logan Gilbert will take the ball, hoping to help his teammates secure this series with a game to spare.

What impressed you most about Friday’s opener versus the Mets? Further, do you see them getting at least one more win to secure the series, or are you concerned they will lose two straight? Let us know in the comments section below.