ATLANTA — Facing one of the best teams in baseball, the Mariners got a workable start from rookie Bryce Miller. But minimal run production, a familiar theme this season, and three runs allowed from the bullpen, led to a 6-2 loss to the Braves.
It was the Mariners’ third consecutive loss.
Facing a loaded lineup, Miller looked a little shaky in the first inning and need some help from his defense. He gave up a leadoff double to Ronald Acuna on a 1-1 curveball. Matt Olson followed with a double into the right-field corner on a 1-1 fastball that stayed into the middle of the plate.
It was a less-than-ideal way to start the game. After getting Sean Murphy to hit a hard ground ball to Ty France for the first out of the inning, he got some help from second baseman Jose Caballero for the second out. Austin Riley crushed a line drive up the middle with an exit velocity of 109 mph. The ball seemed destined to be a run-scoring single. Instead, Caballero, who is generously listed at 5 foot 9, was able to snag the ball out of the air with a fantastic leaping grab. The third out was a 370-foot flyball off the bat of Eddie Rosario that Teoscar Hernandez caught with a little jump up against the wall in right field for the third out.
Those three outs were the start of a stretch where Miller retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced using his fastball almost exclusively. A leadoff single from Murphy in the fourth inning was the only base runner allowed.
After struggling to do much against Braves starter Bryce Elder and his combination of sliders and sinkers, the Mariners finally broke through in the seventh inning.
Julio Rodriguez led off with a double to right-center and then hustled to third on a ball-four pitch in the dirt to Jarred Kelenic. With runners on the corners, Eugenio Suarez pulled a ground ball through the left side a game-tying single, which ended Elder’s night.
The Mariners thought they were headed to a big inning when Cal Raleigh greeted Elder’s replacement, Collin McHugh, with a towering flyball to right-center. However, Acuna made an outstanding leaping grab up against the wall for the first out of the inning. The Mariners would take the lead moments later when Teoscar Hernandez pushed single to right field to score Kelenic. But the inning ended when Taylor Trammell hit into a double play.
With a 2-1 lead and Miller at 85 pitches, manager Scott Servais sent him back out for the bottom of the seventh. He immediately gave up a leadoff single to Austin Riley. After getting Rosario to hit into a force out at second, Miller walked Ozzie Albies, which ended his outing.
Servais brought in right-hander Trevor Gott to get the Mariners out of the inning. Gott got ahead of Marcell Ozuna with two quick strikes but his 0-2 sinker wasn’t far enough inside and Ozuna was able to bloop a single into right field a game-tying single.
Orlando Arcia gave the Braves the lead for good on the next pitch Gott threw, ambushing a first-pitch sinker for a single to right that scored Ozzie Albies.
The Braves tacked on three more runs in the eighth inning to make any sort of comeback impossible.
