'Haven't felt like myself': Miller still searching for his lights-out '24 form

SEATTLE -- For an early chunk of Sunday afternoon, Bryce Miller looked like he’d moved past the early-season command issues that have plagued him for much of this season. His velocity was up, he was mostly off the barrel and he was throwing first-pitch strikes.

But all three of those criteria rapidly unraveled in the fifth inning of an eventual 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays, which sunk Seattle to its first sweep at T-Mobile Park since last July 22-24 vs. the Angels during its mid-summer spiral, It’s the Mariners’ first losing streak of at least three games since being swept in San Francisco last month.

Miller, who revealed after multiple starts earlier this year that he’d been dealing with arm soreness and back tightness, suggested that some of those issues are still lingering.

“Today, I felt good going into the game, obviously, and just kind of third or fourth inning, I kind of had some stuff that didn't feel good and didn't feel normal, like I have in the past,” Miller said. “I don't know. I don't want to say too much on it.

“In the past, it felt like I could get through six innings, it's a breeze. I’d feel as good as I do in the sixth as I did in the first. And it's been a struggle to have that feeling so far. So I don't know. We're going to work on it.”

The pitch that might’ve summed up what Miller alluded to was the center-cut fastball that he unleashed to George Springer in that fateful fifth, which Toronto’s slugger crushed 416 feet and into the second deck for a three-run homer.

At 92.7 mph, it was well below the 94.4 mph velocity that Miller has averaged on both his fastballs this season, but even the 2025 average is down from his combined 95 mph in ‘24. His final heater on Sunday was clocked at 91.7 mph.

All of it points to the continuation of a potentially troubling trend for the third-year right-hander, who finished last season on arguably the highest note of any starter in Seattle’s rotation but now has a 5.22 ERA in eight starts.

“I've had multiple things that kind of have lingered since, really, the end of last season, and I kind of took them through the offseason,” Miller said. “I thought that I'd be feeling good, and I haven't felt like myself, body-wise and physically. I think that's led to being more on my heels mentally, and it just kind of snowballed."

Beyond the physical limitations, Miller elaborated on the mental anguish of this seven-week stretch -- especially in sequences like those that preceded Springer’s homer.

Just prior, he gave up a 117 mph single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and issued a full-count walk to Addison Barger -- both with two outs -- to set the stage for Springer. The following home run was Toronto’s fifth hit of the day against Miller with two outs.

For the season, opposing hitters are batting .346 with an .895 OPS in 58 plate appearances vs. Miller with two outs.

“I know that my stuff is still good, even when I'm not feeling good,” Miller said. “But that kind of leads back to the ‘pitching on my heels’ stuff -- I think the last few games, whenever I get runners on, instead of being like, 'Whatever, it doesn't matter, I'm going to attack the hitter,' it's been more thoughts of, 'Don't let that guy score.'”

It’s not just Miller who’s been on the struggling end within a rotation that was arguably the sport’s best last season and is without two All-Stars, as George Kirby and Logan Gilbert recover on the injured list.

• Kirby, Gilbert on the road back from injuries

Luis Castillo experienced similar results in Friday’s 6-3 loss, when he was tagged for five runs that put the Mariners in an early hole they couldn’t dig out from.

Castillo’s biggest culprit also appeared to be a diminished velocity (down 1.1 mph on his four-seamer and 1.4 mph on his sinker Friday) and location woes (either over the plate for damage or out of the zone, as his walk rate has climbed from 6.5% to 9.5% from last year).

“I feel normal,” Castillo said on Friday through an interpreter. “My arm feels good. My body feels good. But like I said, sometimes we just don’t have good days.”

The Mariners are now a combined 7-9 in games started by Miller and Castillo, and 15-8 behind everyone else.