Now healthy, Miller has a new mentality on the mound, and it's led to him incredible results in his first month of 2026.
WASHINGTON D.C. -- The Seattle Mariners pounded the Washington Nationals 10-2 on Friday night at Nationals Park, moving to 37-34 in the process.
The M's win, coupled with a Texas Rangers loss, has the Mariners back to two games up in the American League West. Seattle is trying to win its second consecutive American League West title.
The Mariners hit three home runs in the victory, and they scored five runs in the second inning, which certainly made it easier for right-hander Bryce Miller to pitch, but on this day? He might not have needed much help.
Miller went eight innings, giving up just two runs on four hits. He walked none and struck out seven as he moved to 3-0 on the season. His ERA is now a minuscule 1.54.
In addition to his seven strikeouts, Miller also got six ground balls vs. five flyouts, and the defense turned two double plays behind him.
Speaking after the game, Miller said he's focused lately on trying to get more ground balls.
"Yeah, I think I kind of experimented it a little bit in Sacramento (against the A's) a few weeks ago.
Throughout my career, I've never been a ground ball guy. So there'd be times in the past where my main ground ball pitch was the sinker. We'd get a runner on first and it's like, all right, 'spam sinker, hope we get a ground ball.' But that pitch also got hit really hard.
When we were in Sacramento, the wind's howling out, small field, they have a lot of power. Kind of went into it like, all right, 'how many ground balls can I get today?' I want to see if we can get some weak contact, keep the ball on the ground, and I got out of there with like seven or eight ground balls.
It's a different feeling, just knowing if I need a ground ball, I have ways to get one and not relying on a 110 mile an hour ground ball off a sinker.
And so, I think I've probably got, what, 30-something innings, and I probably have more double plays already than I did in '24 when I had 180 innings. That's just a guess, but yeah, just knowing if somebody gets on, and so far there's been a lot of weak contact. If I fall behind, like both of the home runs, it was like 'if they hit it, whatever. I'm not going to walk them.'
But also knowing if I get a guy on first, I have ways to get out of those innings and get weak contact. It's not a deal like it was in the past.'
The Mariners and Nationals will play again on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. PT. Luis Castillo will start on the mound as the M's look to take the series.
Of note
You can listen to the latest edition of the 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast, featuring Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Andy Helwig, here. You can also watch below.
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