SEATTLE – Bryce Miller and three relievers combined on a one-hitter, Cal Raleigh, Mitch Garver and Josh Rojas all hit solo home runs, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep.
Miller (3-1) continued his brilliant stretch of pitching with the lone hit he allowed becoming the only earned run scored against him in his last three starts.
Miller gave up a solo home run to Elly De La Cruz in the second when a slider stayed on the plate and didn’t get low enough, but the right-hander was otherwise untouchable over six innings.
Miller said he struggled early with pulling his fastball, but was able to make needed adjustments as the game went on and relied on some of the secondary pitches he didn’t have last season.
“Last year whenever I felt like this, then I felt like I was just in a hole,” Miller said. “Whereas now if something’s not working, I can go to something else.”
Miller walked Tyler Stephenson immediately after De La Cruz’s homer, but then retired the final 13 batters he faced. Miller struck out seven and lowered his ERA to 1.85. Trent Thornton, Gabe Speier and Austin Voth finished off the one-hitter by each working an inning of relief.
“We are driven by our pitching staff and playing really good defense and I think that’s the thing that stood out for me here over the last probably week or so is we have played much cleaner baseball,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Cincinnati starter Andrew Abbott matched Miller through the first five innings, allowing only a two-out solo home run to Raleigh in the second. Abbott (1-2) escaped more trouble that inning after Dylan Moore was stranded after a triple. Seattle also got a double from Julio Rodríguez in the third – his first extra-base hit since opening day – but he was left at third as well.
But Garver came through with two outs in the sixth, hitting an 0-1 pitch out to left field for his first homer with the Mariners. Garver had just two hits in his previous 25 at-bats before hitting his first long ball since Sept. 25 of last season while with Texas.
“This pitching has been keeping us afloat, we’ve been winning some tight games,” Garver said. “If we can continue to do what we did today — lay off the balls, hit the strikes — we’re in a good spot.”
Rojas came on as a pinch-hitter leading off the seventh and greeted the first pitch from Lucas Sims with his first homer of the year. Seattle added two more in the inning on Mitch Haniger’s RBI single and Raleigh’s bases loaded walk.
Sims recorded just two outs, gave up three runs and walked four.
“Of course, never want to get swept, but three games that doesn’t define our team by any means,” Reds manager David Bell said. “So not happy about this, how it went. To your point, they made it tough.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Reds: Illness continues to be an issue for Cincinnati as Christian Encarnacion-Strand was scratched after not feeling well. Encarnacion-Strand was in the original posted lineup, but was replaced about two hours before first pitch. Cincinnati scratched Jeimer Candelario from the lineup Tuesday after he wasn’t feeling well.
Mariners: Utilityman Sam Haggerty was reinstated from the 10-day injured list, but was then optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Haggerty had been on a rehab stint with Tacoma after starting the season on the IL. He was hitting. 286 with a .708 OPS in six rehab games with Tacoma.
UP NEXT
Reds: Open a series at home against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. No starter has been announced.
Mariners: Seattle opens a road trip at Colorado on Friday. RHP Emerson Hancock (1-1, 7.98) starts the opener.
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