Just (Little) Guys Being Dudes, Mariners Win 6-0

Ryan Bliss and Leo Rivas team up with assist from pitcher Bryce Miller for a shutout win over the Mets

It’s not official Short Kings Week (May 5th-9th, or 5’5” - 5’9”) but the Mariners leaned on some of their more petite players tonight to deliver a series-opening shutout win over the Mets. Enrobed in whatever devil magic is in the City Connects fabric (now 10-1 on the season), the Mariners scraped and then cruised their way to a 6-0 win on the backs of one of Bryce Miller’s best starts of the year and, as Scott Servais said, “the little guys in the middle of the field.”

Bryce Miller is not technically a “short king,” generously listed at 6’2” (sure jan dot gif) but the “string cheese” of the Mariners’ rotation is a spiritual short king, still working to establish himself as a pitcher in this league in his first full year. Tonight Miller had to navigate around traffic in each of his first four innings but was able to outwit the Mets sluggers, able to dial up all his pitches to create weak contact for flyouts and groundouts, as well as sprinkling in a healthy six strikeouts. His first came on the first hitter of the game, Francisco Lindor, getting him on three pitches; his most clutch came as an inning-ending strikeout to Francisco Alvarez in the second to strand Mark Vientos, who had doubled, at second; his last, and most satisfying, in the sixth, when he battled Brandon Nimmo for eight pitches, throwing him the splitter three times in a row before finally getting Nimmo to swing over one.

Miller had all seven—seven!—of his pitches working tonight, not even having to dip into the cutter until the third time through the order, but his fastball was especially good tonight, with late life that had the Mets off-balance all game. Encouragingly, Miller was also half a tick up over his average velocity on the four-seamer tonight; in fact, all his pitches except the curve had a little extra oomph tonight, which is a great sign for a pitcher who said he felt fatigued around this time last year on the back stretch of his first big-league season. Miller credits his stamina to a renewed focus on arm care and taking time to take care of his body, including managing his diet and sleep schedule.

“There were times here he struggled to get through the sixth inning, the third time through the lineup. And he’s starting to conquer that,” said Servais. “I’m really happy with what Bryce has left in the tank.”

José Quintana had obviously read the book of the 2024 Mariners entitled Fear of Spinning and dialed up his normal 23% curveball usage to 45% in the first two innings, successfully bamboozling the Mariners before fading the curveball later in the game in favor of his changeup-fastball combo. One gleaming gold star to legitimate short king Ryan Bliss (listed at a very generous 5’9”), then, who pounced on a very bad first-pitch hanging curveball in the middle of the plate to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead in the second:

(Mitch Haniger was also on board for that, having singled, because August Mitch is upon us. All Hail Mitchus Augustus.)

However, for as much as This Bliss (This Bliss) was Unstoppable, the other Mariners found Quintana Impossible. After making Quintana work in the first inning (20+ pitches) and Bliss’s homer in the second, the Mariners offense drifted into a light sleep, allowing him to put them away quickly and efficiently while Bryce Miller parried and battled, hitting the low end of his pitch limit at the close of the sixth.

Collin Snider (not a short king not even by pitcher standards at 6’4”) relieved Miller in the seventh and got into a little hot water, endangering that slender 2-0 lead, when he issued a rare leadoff walk to J.D. Martinez and Jeff McNeil blistered a base hit just out of the reach of actual short king Ryan Bliss. But Snider, who is also a ground ball king in addition to suddenly morphing into a strikeout king (his K% is up to almost 30%!! after being...very much not that while with the Royals! More on this later), was able to get Vientos to ground into a double play and then Alvarez popped out softly to quell the Mets’ best scoring threat of the night.

The Mariners opened up their lead on Quintana in the seventh, when the Mets sent him back out for another trip through the order. Mitch Garver led off the inning with a walk, and Dylan Moore tapped a changeup for an infield hit. Mitch Haniger then had his at-bat taken away from him by home plate umpire Manny Gonzales, who had been calling some very outside pitches against the Mariners all game but perhaps none as egregious as this called strike three to Haniger, given the fact that it resulted in a strikeout in a clutch run-scoring opportunity.

Ryan Bliss grounded out but did move the runners over to second and third, bringing up Leo Rivas, very very very generously listed at 5’10”. Rivas has only had sporadic playing time as the Mariners have used him as J.P. Crawford injury replacement depth with the big-league club, mostly giving those starts to Dylan Moore—but with a lefty on the hill, Servais and the Mariners chose to sit Josh Rojas and give Rivas the start.

Quintana, closing in on 100 pitches, gave Rivas what he’d given him last at-bat when Rivas had grounded out (after having flown out first-pitch swinging on a sinker on the plate in his first at-bat): a bunch of changeups, this time with some curveballs mixed in, working everything away from Rivas. In a 3-2 count, Rivas reached out to make contact with a changeup away, tapping it just through the right side of the infield for a clutch two-run single.

I guess technically this counts as insurance, but really it felt like a life preserver. The Mariners had been treading water on that two-run Bliss homer since the second inning, with Miller and then Snider darting in and out of trouble against the Mets big-slugging lineup, one swing of the bat away from losing their lead, while the offense put no pressure on Quintana and the Mets. Instead, with one swing Leo Rivas doubled the Mariners’ lead.

Actual insurance came in the form of Cal Raleigh, who struck out twice on noncompetitive at-bats prior to this; he took it out on unfortunate Adam Ottovino, who had walked Victor Robles, allowed a double steal, and then walked Randy Arozarena to load the bases before Cal got a 94 mph fastball in the middle of the plate and blistered it to the right field corner to put the game well and truly out of reach at 6-0.

Austin Voth and Trent Thornton took care of business in the back end of the ‘pen, giving Yimi Garcia and Andrés Muñoz a night off after it looking for seven innings like they’d be required to pitch some very high-leverage late innings. [Cue Tayler Saucedo saying “you play how many innings”.]

Postgame, Scott Servais praised both Bliss and Rivas for their clutch hits, lauding the part-time players for their attitude and the work they’ve put in.

“When you get the opportunity, just go out there and try to help the team win,” said Ryan Bliss, who said it was “pretty cool” to hit his first home run at T-Mobile Park.

“I was trying to be ready every time, every day,” said Leo Rivas. “It doesn’t matter if I wasn’t in the plan to play that day, I was trying to be ready every day just to do my thing, to contribute to the team.”

Both players took the opportunities they were given tonight and ran with them, despite the odds. The changeup Rivas hit came off the bat at just 86.3 mph with a .350 xBA. But, like Rivas, it found a way.

“He was doing that to me the whole game,” said Rivas, “all that change all the time. I was like, I gotta hit it one time.”

Postgame, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times asked what the ride has been like for Rivas this year, making his MLB debut, yo-yoing back and forth between Triple-A and the big leagues, and culminating in tonight’s big hit.

“To be honest with you, brother,” Rivas replied, “I didn’t think that I could have made it this year. I was doing everything I could. Thank God, it happened. I made it. It’s amazing. Thank God, we’re here.”

Apparently there’s no height requirement for the ride that is being an MLB player.

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images