Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Mason Miller #57 throws against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of their MLB game against the Seattle Mariners at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
OAKLAND — Manager Mark Kotsay bypassed going for a moment of glory on behalf of rookie starter Mason Miller Tuesday night and the result was predictable agony.
Miller, 24, was lifted after a 1-2-3 seventh inning with a 1-0 lead against the Seattle Mariners. He had thrown 100 pitches with six strikeouts and four walks. Left-hander Richard Lovelady and right-hander Jeurys Familia couldn’t hold it, however, and the A’s fell 2-1 before a crowd of 2,583, the smallest of the season.
There would be no two-game win streak for the first time this season.
There would be no win for an A’s starting pitcher for the first time this season.
Instead, the A’s fell to 6-24, with Seattle improving to 13-16 and getting a stellar performance from their own rookie Miller. Bryce Miller, making his major league debut, gave up just two hits and one earned run in six innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts.
As difficult as it was to take Mason Miller out of the game, Kotsay’s reasoning was sound. He would needed upwards of 125 pitches to actually finish a no-hitter, and with Mason Miller looking every bit the multi-million dollar arm, allowing him to go for it Tim Lincecum style would have amounted to coaching malpractice.
“I think the biggest factor is his future,” Kotsay said. “The second factor is he hasn’t had a game where he’s pitched over five innings. The third one would be (that he’s had) 28 minor league innings, and his future is way more important the one game. The kid gave everything he had tonight.”
Mason Miller, who said the closest he’d gotten to a no-hitter before was into the seventh inning in college, was mature and rational in a way that belied his age and experience level. He cited the four walks and the fact that he threw 54 strikes in 100 pitches — a ratio that usually means trouble.
“To be honest, I didn’t know if he was going to let me go out for the seventh because I hadn’t been through six so far,” Mason Miller said. “I think the seventh was my best inning. It was disappointing not to finish it, but that’s kind of on me for having those four walks and not being as much in the zone as I should have been early in the game.
“I totally understand it. I’d rather throw many more games this season than lay it on the line for a game in the beginning of May.”
.Mason Miller finished the seventh with a strikeout of Teoscar Hernandez, his sixth, and punched the air with his fist as he left the mound. He was greeted in the dugout with the congratulations of his teammates, a sign he wasn’t going to be left in the game for a chance to complete a no-hitter on his own.
The combined no-hitter, as well as the lead, was gone in the eighth when A.J. Pollock hit a homer to left off Lovelady, his third of the season. The Mariners pushed across a second run with Jared Kelenic’s RBI double against Familia.
Athletics relievers are now 3-11 in save opportunities this season.
Mason Miller was rarely threatened even with the four walks — an indication of good stuff even if he never hit 100 miles per hour. He had a high of 99.1.
Bryce Miller and Mason Miller carried a double no-hitter into the sixth when the A’s Tony Kemp singled past second baseman Jose Caballero. One out later, he score on a double by Esteury Ruiz. At the time of Kemp’s hit, hitters had gone a combined 0-for-34 against the Millers.
“His fastball seemed to have some life to it,” Kotsay said of Bryce Miller. “It got on our guys, and the breaking ball was good to keep us off balance. He came right after us and did a great job.”
Trevor Gott, Gabe Speier, Justin Topa and finally Paul Sewald finished up for Seattle, with Speier getting the win and Lovelady the loss.
NOTABLE
— Brent Rooker, the A.L. Player of the Week who had a scorching month of April, struck out four times in his first game in May.
— Shintaro Fujinama, who floundered as a starter and had a disastrous first relief appearance, worked a 1-2-3 eighth. He threw 10 pitches, seven strikes, and struck out the first two hitters he faced.
— Attendance was the first under 3,000 this season. The previous low was 3,035 on April 3 against Cleveland. The A’s had three games with less than 3,000 last season. In the right field bleachers, there were nearly as many signs imploring owner John Fisher to sell the team as there were fans in the seats.
.
Originally published at Jerry McDonald