The Mariners got one key player back from injury, but perhaps lost another.
Bryce Miller returned from the injured list Wednesday with his best-ever velocity and posted a solid outing overall. But the Mariners lineup struggled to get him much support and eventually lost in extras 4-3 in a long, bizarre, often frustrating game. The biggest news of the day was Cal Raleigh exiting in the ninth inning after a few awkward plays left him grabbing at his hip. The Mariners win streak against the Astros was snapped
at nine games, but they will go for a series victory in game four on Thursday.
Miller was activated from the injured list earlier in the day, having missed the first quarter of the season with a sore oblique. Miller hasn’t pitched much over the last year-plus, spending most of 2025 on the IL with bone spurs in his elbow. There was some question before the game about what his velocity would like on return, as that was the key sign of his poor health last year.
He answered that question early and often on Wednesday. Miller had never thrown a pitch harder than 98.0 mph in a major league game, and in the first inning he touched pretty much every decimal between 98.1 mph and 99.1 mph. He didn’t quite maintain that velocity throughout, but he did average at least 97.0 mph in each of the six innings he worked, ultimately finishing at 97.6 mph on his fastball — by far his hardest throwing day as a major leaguer.
Maintaining that velocity is an encouraging sign. I wrote in his 40 in 40 that he had one of the 10 largest drops in velocity in the majors last year, and it kept him from working deep into games with much effect.
The velocity didn’t quite translate to total dominance, but Miller was still good overall. He worked 5 1/3 innings, walked one, and got three strikeouts on eight whiffs. I don’t think the lack of swing-and-miss was too concerning, as he relied exclusively on the fastball on the the first turn through the order, before mixing it up on each successive turn. Once he got to those secondaries, especially the slider and sweeper, the whiffs trickled in. Like this one:
Regardless, most of the contact Miller allowed was soft and non-threatening, and he did well to keep the Astros off balance. The only real trouble he ran into was in the fifth inning. He gave up a pair of leadoff singles and, after a sac bunt, faced runners on second and third with one out. He got Jose Altuve to strikeout, intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to load the bases, and got Isaac Paredes to pop out, escaping the jam.
That’s when things got strange. At just 68 pitches, Miller returned to work the sixth with a 2-0 lead. He gave up a leadoff home run to Christian Walker. It was actually a pretty good pitch — an upper 90s fastball on the black up and away — but Walker got just enough of it to avoid Luke Raley’s awkward leap. Miller then got a groundout and worked the next batter, Braden Shewmake, to a 1-2 count. Shewmake chased a fastball way inside but was able to get a piece of it, fouling it back straight into the face of home plate umpire, Roberto Ortiz.
Ortiz had to leave the game, starting a 15-minute delay while an emergency umpire got ready. When the game resumed, Shewmake poked a single and Brice Matthews followed with another. Dan Wilson turned to his bullpen and Miller’s day was done. Cooper Criswell entered and gave up another single to load the bases. He then walked Alutve to tie the game at 2-2.
The game progressed to Eduard Bazardo in the eighth, still tied at 2-2. Shewmake leadoff with a single. Matthews tried to bunt him over, but sent it right back to Bazardo, who scooped and fired into center field. Julio Rodríguez scrambled for the ball and fired right back toward home plate. No runner advanced, so Josh Naylor cut the throw. But while getting in position to field the throw, Raleigh made an awkward shuffle, appearing to tweak the “general soreness” he’s been battling in his side and winced in considerable pain. He stayed in the game for the moment.
Bazardo then hit Zach Cole to load the bases with nobody out. Christian Vázquez followed with a hard chopper to J.P. Crawford at short, who looked to start a double play with a strong throw home. But while attempting to make the turn, Raleigh’s leg gave out from underneath him, stumbling to the ground with the ball still in hand. Raleigh would exit after the inning.
Altuve followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.
The Mariners offense didn’t quite struggle in this one, but they couldn’t seem to string their hits together. Crawford leadoff the game with a solo homer, and Luke Raley added another solo homer in the sixth. There were plenty of walks and singles and doubles throughout, but never that big, bases clearing knock.
They did fight back in the ninth. Rob Refsnyder came off the bench and walked. Mitch Garver came off the bench and walked (Garver replaced Leo Rivas and later stayed in the game to catch with Raleigh removed). Crawford chopped a single that died in the infield grass to load the bases with two outs. Julio then walked to plate a run and tie the game at three. Josh Naylor nearly the gave the Mariners a lead with another chopper and a bang-bang play at first, but replay showed he was out by a lace.
Andrés Muñoz looked terrific in the bottom of the ninth, with three strikeouts and eight whiffs on 10 swings. He was simply brilliant, throwing almost exclusively sliders while avoiding his slumping fastball. If there is a highlight from this game, it was Muñoz in perhaps his best outing of the season.
Alex Hoppe would eventually allow the Manfred Man to score on a single in the 10th to win 4-3.
Raleigh’s health status is unclear at the moment. Wilson told The Seattle Times, “He’s fine… It was just, again, kind of precautionary at this point, and we’ll know more tomorrow.” Raleigh recently sat for several days while dealing with “general soreness” in his side and has struggled mightily since returning. He snapped an 0-for-38 streak with a pair of singles in last night’s game, but he’s clearly been off with his timing and swing. Jhonny Pereda was removed from the game in Tacoma and will presumably be in Houston ahead of Thursday’s game, if Raleigh should need a trip to the injured list.
