The Seattle Mariners' fourth-year major leaguer and manager Dan Wilson discussed the former's rough stretch following another poor outing against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
SEATTLE — For the second time in less than a week, the Seattle Mariners allowed an opposing score that more closely resembled football than baseball.
The Mariners lost 19-2 to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. That defeat came five days after Seattle lost 22-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 18.
In both defeats, Bryce Miller was the M's' starting pitcher. In both defeats, the Mariners were forced to go to a position player to close things out.
Both defeats follow a worrying trend for the fourth-year major leaguer, who has been on a downturn since after the All-Star Break.
From when he was activated off the injured list May 13 to the All-Star Break, Miller had a 2.18 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 57.2 innings pitched across 10 appearances.
Since the Midsummer Classic, Miller has a 7.18 ERA and has fanned just 27 batters in 36.1 innings of work across seven starts.
In total, Miller has a 4.12 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 94 innings pitched across 17 outings (16 starts). He fanned five, walked a career-high seven batters and allowed six earned runs on two hits (two homers) in 4.1 innings in Seattle's loss against Chicago.
"Probably the worst four-star stretch I've had," Miller said after his outing Sunday. "Today I gave up two hits and one of them was followed by three walks with two outs. ... When you have seven walks, what do you expect? I don't know. It's super frustrating. I don't feel like that team beat me at all. I gave it to them."
It's unclear exactly what has led to Miller's downturn from the first half of the season to now. Manager Dan Wilson responded with a simple "yes" in a postgame interview Sunday when asked if Miller was healthy, and the pitcher has downplayed the impact of a lat issue that popped up in a start against the Texas Rangers on July 24.
Workload could also be a factor. Miller has thrown over 100 innings (including the playoffs) all three seasons of his career before this year. But last year he finished with 90 in the regular season and another 14 across three postseason starts. Though he was over 100, it was a very stop-and-go season because of multiple stints on the injured list.
Miller is currently at 94 innings pitched for the season, the most he's thrown uninterrupted since 2024, where he finished the year with a 2.94 ERA across 180.1 innings of work.
However, Miller didn't consider fatigue as an issue, either.
"I don't really think it's a workload thing," Miller said. "Two years ago I had 180 innings. Last year was all over the place, but still finished with 90-something. We're at the 90-something mark right now. I don't think that's it. It's just, earlier in the year I was making the pitches when I needed to and the last month, I haven't."
Whatever the issue has been, it may be advantageous for Miller, and the team at-large, to consider a potential move to the bullpen.
With the recent major league debut of top pitching prospect Kade Anderson, the bullpen is once again pitching a man down.
For the sake of maximizing Miller's performance and the pending returns of relievers Cooper Criswell and Matt Brash, opting for a traditional five man rotation sans Miller might help him, and the pitching staff, end the season on a high note.
"We're looking at all different kind of options as we approach the end of the season here," Wilson said in a postgame interview Sunday. "Looking at everything and, obviously, want to keep our rotation intact but we'll see how things shake down here in the next few days."
As for Miller, if the team is considering a move to the bullpen, he has not yet been involved in those discussions.
The Mariners are now 62-69 on the season. They will open up a new series with the red-hot Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at T-Mobile Park.
Philly has won nine games in a row. The Mariners are three games back in the American League West.
