The Seattle Mariners have been living through a strange stretch, and Bryce Miller ended up at the center of it in a way nobody would want.
Seattle split six games against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs, two strong clubs this season, going 3-3 overall. But buried inside that run were two of the ugliest losses in franchise history: a 22-0 drubbing by the Brewers and a 19-2 wipeout against the Cubs. Miller took the ball in both games and was the losing pitcher each time.
That made him part of a piece of MLB history that ESPN Insights said had not happened in 136 years. In Seattle’s 19-2 loss Sunday, Miller became the first pitcher since George Van Haltren of the 1890 Brooklyn Wonders to lose consecutive starts by at least 17 runs.
“Mariners starter Bryce Miller did something not seen in 136 years in Seattle's 19-2 loss Sunday... He became the 1st pitcher since George Van Haltren of the 1890 Brooklyn Wonders to lose consecutive starts by at least 17 runs,” ESPN Insight shared.
Miller’s line in those outings was rough: he gave up six earned runs to the Cubs in 4.1 innings and five earned runs to the Brewers in 4.2 innings. Still, he wasn’t solely responsible for the lopsided scores. Seattle’s bullpen absorbed most of the damage in both games, and the full collapse went far beyond one starter.
The old comparison point comes from Haltren’s Brooklyn club, which lost 22-4 to the Boston Reds on June 17 and then, a week later, fell 22-3 to the Chicago White Stockings. The box scores from those games aren’t fully known, but the losses themselves mirror the kind of runaway results Seattle just endured.
Across those two games, the Mariners were outscored 41-2. Brooklyn was outscored 44-7 in Haltren’s back-to-back blowouts. Seattle’s version was even harsher on the scoreboard, with almost nothing coming from the offense and a pile of runs still crossing the plate against them.
It’s the kind of bizarre, brutal stat that only baseball can produce - and one that may stand for a long time.
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