SAN DIEGO -- Mason Miller has seen the videos, the stills and plenty of speculation, but he isn’t ready to say he was tipping pitches in Sunday’s blown save in Milwaukee.
What he is ready to say is that the biggest problem was the strike zone.
“I don’t really know what to make of it,” Miller said Monday at Petco Park. “I feel like there was only one pitch that it would have had an impact.
[The Chourio take.] If you’re tipping your pitches and it’s a ball -- I just don’t think it had anything to do with the walks.
I also have a hard time believing I just magically started doing it.”
That lone pitch keeps coming back into focus: a 1-2 slider below the zone to Jackson Chourio that Miller described as “a really confident take.” A pitch later, Chourio drilled a walk-off, two-run single into center on a 101.3 mph fastball.
The debate swirled all day as the Padres and Brewers shifted to San Diego for Game 3 of the National League Division Series, with Milwaukee up 2-0. Miller’s ninth inning in Game 2 had already produced three walks, including to Sal Frelick and Gary Sánchez, before Chourio delivered the knockout blow.
The internet did what the internet does, with still images and video fueling the theory that Miller’s hand may have been more exposed on fastballs than on sliders. One clip also showed Frelick, standing at second base, touching his neck with Chourio at the plate before that Chourio slider.
Sánchez said he didn’t know whether Miller was tipping anything.
“I don't know if he was tipping or not,” Sánchez said. “Seriously, I don't.
And if he was, I wasn't aware of it. I think even if he was and we were aware of it, hitting 104 is not easy by any means.
Hitting a pitcher of that caliber and pitches of that caliber, you know there's nothing easy about that.”
Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy made it clear that pitch-tipping is part of the modern game, and part of the constant cat-and-mouse between dugouts and baserunners.
“I’d be not telling the truth if I didn’t tell you that it’s part of our game today in a big way,” Murphy said. “The most important part is to make sure your pitchers, catchers, infielders, coaches - nobody’s giving anything away.”
Murphy listed the kinds of details teams watch closely: grip, posture, mouth position, eye line, head angle, foot placement, breathing and even toe taps. He also addressed the other side of the equation, the work involved in picking up another club’s tells and relaying them from second base.
“As far as picking up other teams’, there’s a whole process to that,” Murphy said. “How do you relay it from second base?
And are you deking or doing it for real? You know, it’s all part of the game.
It’s part of it right now, and a big part of it. It’s happening.”
But Murphy shut the door on the idea that the Brewers had Miller figured out.
“No,” Murphy said flatly.
Miller’s view was that the three walks were far more likely the product of pitches he simply didn’t execute. He said the takes on those balls looked like the kind of takes he would expect from a Milwaukee lineup that has been among the best in the sport at making swing decisions.
Padres manager Craig Stammen didn’t confirm whether the club had found anything in Miller’s delivery, but he said the team would address any issue if it existed.
“We've got a crew of people that are dedicated to that every single day,” Stammen said. “That is their sole job.
We're well aware of what's going on with our pitchers, well aware of what's going on with the Brewers’ pitchers and how they do things. It's part of our daily acumen.
“The internet can go crazy and take things farther than they need to go. We feel good about our process within that situation.”
When asked again whether Miller was tipping, Stammen didn’t exactly pour cold water on the idea, but he also didn’t bite.
“Like I said, we've got a lot of guys on top of it, and we're not really worried about it,” Stammen said.
Miller said the screenshots making the rounds likely exaggerated what was happening because they captured him at different points in his set. He also pointed out that he had been pitching with runners on second all year without this becoming an issue.
“Yeah, the screenshots look like I’m here to here -- like really noticeable,” he said. “But I don’t feel like I am.
… I’ve pitched with guys at second base all year. If that was there, I feel like it would’ve been picked up on a lot sooner than yesterday.”
He kept circling back to the same point: command, not a tell, decided the inning.
“If you execute pitches,” he said, “you’re still going to get guys out.”
Stammen suggested the workload may have played a role. The Padres’ bullpen was taxed in Game 1, Adrian Morejon was unavailable for Game 2 after throwing 31 pitches, and Miller was asked to cover six outs. He was dominant in the eighth, then far less precise in the ninth.
“We've seen some of that from Mason, and it mostly happens in the appearances where he goes more than one inning,” Stammen said. “I think that's definitely something strategy-wise that we were very comfortable with going into the game, but something going forward that we may have to adjust as the playoffs go.”
The Padres have generally tried to keep Miller in the ninth this season, though Stammen wouldn’t say whether that usage pattern will change in this series. Still, he left open the possibility of using him for more than one inning again if needed.
Miller, for his part, said the extra inning of work didn’t feel like the root cause.
“Your adrenaline is so high, so I don’t think it was a conscious part of things,” he said. “I didn’t throw strikes.
Whether it was for that reason or not? I don’t know.”
Game 3 is set for Tuesday night at Petco Park, and the Padres would love another chance to hand Miller the ball with a lead. For now, though, the question hangs there: if he was tipping, what changes next?
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