This isn’t normal, what the Mariners pitching staff is doing these days.
The Mariners’ recent run of pitching dominance is, indeed, unprecedented in franchise history, and it continued Tuesday night when Luis Castillo threw seven shutout innings against the most formidable lineup in baseball, lifting the Mariners to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Castillo allowed just three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves, who entered the series with the majors’ best record.
Over the previous 18 games, Mariners starters allowed a total of 18 earned runs, a 1.44 earned-run average that ranked as the best in club history over any 18-game stretch.
The Mariners, overall, had a 1.61 ERA since April 10, the greatest 18-game run by any major-league staff since Cleveland in 2017.
Repeat: This isn’t normal.
Castillo, as with the rest of the Mariners’ rotation, has been almost untouchable in his last four starts, allowing just 16 hits and four runs over 26 innings, with a 1.38 ERA, four walks and 31 strikeouts.
In Monday’s 2-1 victory over the Braves — punctuated by Mitch Garver’s first career walkoff homer, in as entertaining a regular-season game as you’ll ever see — the Mariners’ Bryce Miller and Atlanta’s Max Fried took dueling no-hitters into the seventh inning.
Miller, the Mariners’ 25-year-old right-hander from Texas, had perhaps the best start of his young career against perhaps the best lineup he’s faced, finishing with one run allowed, two hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts.
Scott Servais is running out of new ways to describe just how good his pitching staff has been.
“It’s tough to do night in and night out, especially against good teams,” the Mariners manager said late Monday. “But the pitching’s been great. I can’t say [enough] about them.”
The Mariners, in a daunting stretch on their schedule, had a 7-2 record in their previous nine games. That included winning two of three games at Texas, the reigning World Series champion; two of three at home against the Diamondbacks, the reigning National League champions; and now two victories over Atlanta, a perennial powerhouse that owns the best record in MLB.
To put the pitching in greater perspective, the Mariners have won with an offense that has been mired in a prolonged slump, posting a .175/.232/.358 (.590 OPS) slash line with a 35% strikeout rate over the past week.
The Diamondbacks came into the series in Seattle averaging 5.7 runs per game, most in the NL. The Mariners held them to five runs total in three games.
The Braves came into Monday leading MLB in batting average (. 277) and OPS (.801). Miller and relievers Cody Bolton and Austin Voth held them to three hits and one run with 14 strikeouts.
Miller had 15 whiffs on his four-seam fastball Monday, the second most among any MLB pitcher this season.
No. 1 on that list? George Kirby, who had 18 whiffs on his four-seamer Saturday night against the Diamondbacks.
“In spring training, we knew we were going to be good on the mound,” Miller said. “Everyday it’s a lot of fun to go out and watch the other guys pitch, and then whenever it’s our turn we know it’s time to go out and compete and we’re gonna do what we do and attack.”
Overall this season heading into Tuesday’s game, Mariners pitchers ranked No. 1 in MLB in:
* Quality starts (18, tied with Phillies)
* Walks per 9 innings (2.33)
* Batting average against (. 203)
* WHIP (1.03)
* Average fastball velocity (95.4 mph)
Seattle’s staff ranked No. 3 in ERA (3.03) and No. 2 in first-pitch strike percentage (65.7%). The Mariners were the only team with five starters who had thrown at least three quality starts: Logan Gilbert had five quality starts; Miller had four; and Castillo, Kirby and Emerson Hancock all had three each.
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