Mason Miller struck out four hitters in an inning for the San Diego Padres last night, something Stammen has also done.
San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller had a rough outing last night as he was called on to get a four-out save, but Miller managed to do something unique in the process. He struck out four hitters in a single inning due to a wild pitch on one strikeout that produced a baserunner, but his manager has been there before.
Miller already had two strikeouts in the ninth when Yohel Pozo stepped to the plate for the St. Louis Cardinals, an Pozo whiffed on a slider in the dirt for what seemed like the last out. When the ball skipped away to the backstop, Pozo reached first and Miller had to dig deeper to strike out JJ Wetherholt to end the game.
The last four-strikeout inning posted by a Padres pitcher came from current manager and former reliever Craig Stammen, who joked about his achievement back in the day in a writeup from AJ Cassavell of MLB.com.
“I heard that there was a guy that did it, and he wasn’t as good as Mason Miller,’’ Stammen said. “Thanks for bringing up good memories.”
Miller needed all the resourcefulness he could muster in this one, as his command of both his fastball and slider deserted him at different times in his four-out adventure. He ended up repeatedly getting behind in counts, and it nearly cost the Padres closer.
“Probably not a stat you are looking to get,’’ Miller said of his four-strikeout inning. “You got to get out of it.
“Just not having good command coming out, not making adjustments fast enough. Then when you put guys in take mode, it gets a lot harder. Just not getting ahead, not putting myself in position to succeed.’’
Miller knew the four-out save wasn’t going to be easy, but he didn’t offer that as an excuse. He threw a first-pitch strike to the Cardinals’ first hitter of the ninth, but repeatability was a problem.
“You don’t want to put the tying run on base, and I did more than that,’’ Miller said. “We see what happens when you don’t get ahead of guys.’’
The win was big for San Diego. They were down 2-0 in the series, and a St. Louis comeback would have raised the possibility of a sweep. Instead they were able to hold off the Cardinals and climb back into the series, and now they get a chance to even things up on a day when Miller almost certainly won’t be available.