Bryce Miller ended up taking the kind of bullpen day that can set off a thousand theories, but the Mariners insisted Wednesday was about survival more than any bigger rotation decision.
During Seattle’s 6-0 loss to the Phillies, Miller was spotted heading toward the bullpen with Andrés Muñoz late in the game, a sight that naturally drew attention while the club was already working through a short-handed pitching plan. The team’s explanation was straightforward: because the Mariners were light on relief options and Miller was already due for a side session, they pushed his bullpen work to after the game so he could remain available in case of emergency.
That choice was made before first pitch, Miller said, even before George Kirby’s replacement, Bryan Woo, ran into trouble early and wound up with a shortened outing.
“They just said that Woo is coming off injury and the bullpen’s thin,” said Miller postgame, who didn’t appear in the game but instead threw his regularly-scheduled bullpen postgame before the team departed for Toronto. “So if Woo comes out of the game early, it’d be better to throw the bullpen afterwards, and that way I’m available rather than to throw a bullpen before the game and then be for sure unavailable.”
Miller said the message caught him a little off guard, especially because Woo had told him he felt fine. Woo reinforced that after the game, too, after allowing six runs over four innings and saying his struggles came from “too much throwing, not enough pitching.”
Still, Miller said he viewed the move as cautionary.
“But I think it’s more of a precautionary thing in case something happens,” said Miller.
Woo settled in after the rough opening stretch and got through four innings, which left five more to cover. That workload could have created a problem if the Mariners had needed to go deeper into the pen, but their relief group handled it.
With Philadelphia stacking left-handed hitters, Eduard Bazardo and the two lefties, Jose Ferrer and Gabe Speier, got through the next three innings without giving anything away. Carlos Vargas then finished the job with two scoreless innings, continuing his return to action after missing the season with a lat injury.
That sequence made Miller’s availability unnecessary on the night, and for now it kept the conversation from turning into anything bigger about his role.
“If something would have happened and I would have needed to get us through today, then that’s fine. I do what I need to. I feel good today, so yeah.”
Miller also made it clear he wasn’t exactly thrilled with the setup, even if he understood it. He has relief experience from college, though he said it had been five or six years since he did it regularly, outside of last year’s postseason.
“You always think ahead and try to figure out what’s going on. But as far as I know, as far as it’s been communicated to me, we’re just bullpen low, and the uncertainty with how Woo was going to feel was the main thing.
And if something had happened in warmups with him, or if something happened in the first inning and we have to cover eight or nine innings, the bullpen’s not in a great spot for that. So I think, as far as I was told, that’s what today was.”
When asked about how his stuff might translate to a bullpen role, Miller kept that door mostly shut.
“The fastball is always good, so if I had a shorter outing, then that would probably be the main focus, to let it rip. But I’m not really thinking about that right now. As far as I know, I’m scheduled to start coming up.“
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