OAKLAND – Oakland A’s manager Mark Kotsay said he’s run out of adjectives to illustrate how good his closer, Mason Miller, has been in 2024.
Miller, though, has an easy way to describe what he’s done through the first eight weeks of the season.
“My job,” he said. “That’s all I’m trying to do.”
Miller was pretty good at his job again Tuesday, striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning to help the A’s seal a 5-4 comeback win over the Colorado Rockies and snap an eight-game losing streak.
The save was Miller’s ninth this season, as he retired Jordan Beck, Charlie Blackmon, and Ezequiel Tovar on 16 pitches, with 12 being four-seam fastballs that reached 100 mph. His final pitch of the game — on a 2-2 count against Tovar, who had already homered twice Tuesday – was clocked inside the Coliseum at 102.8 mph.
Tuesday’s crowd was announced at 4,005, the eighth smallest in 24 home games this season. But the noise and the energy were still prevalent as fans watched Miller extend his scoreless streak to 19 1/3 innings.
The only earned runs Miller had allowed in 16 appearances came in his season debut on March 30, when he gave up two to the Cleveland Guardians.
“Not trying to get too wrapped up in what’s happened already this year,” Miller said. “It’s always looking at the next one and being prepared for that.”
Tuesday’s appearance was only Miller’s fifth this month. Sunday, having gone five days without getting in a game, Miller asked Kotsay if he could pitch against the Royals as the A’s were on the verge of closing out a dismal 1-9 road trip.
Kotsay didn’t like using his closer in a lopsided game, as the A’s were on their way to an 8-4 loss at Kauffman Stadium. But the A’s manager relented, knowing an off day awaited, and Miller threw a scoreless eighth on just seven pitches.
Miller felt that outing, brief as it was, helped him Tuesday night. Although he fell behind 2-0 to Beck, Miller regrouped, found the zone on four straight pitches, and got Beck swinging on a high heater measured at 101 mph.
“It’s just important for me to get into games and throw,” Miller said. “Obviously with the role, being available for the next day, if the opportunity is not there on that day, is important. But having the off day and having thrown two times in two weeks, I just felt like it was important.
“Going into the game, our plan was for me to throw no matter what. Obviously just the situation of the game being down like that gave me the option to not. But it was something I was adamant about doing, just to get my work in and feel good about where I’m at.”
Miller would need to pitch 13 more scoreless innings to crack the top 10 streaks in A’s history. Tied for ninth in team history in terms of scoreless inning streaks are Cory Lidle (August 4-26, 2002) and Rube Waddell (April 21-May 5, 1904) who both threw 32 consecutive scoreless innings.
The A’s all-time record is 53.0 innings, set by Jack Coombs from Sept. 5-25, 1910. The all-time Oakland record is 39.0, held by Brad Ziegler, whose streak lasted from May 31-Aug. 14, 2008.
How does a hitter approach an at-bat against Miller, who has 33 strikeouts and just one hit allowed over his last 13 games?
“Hope that you walk,” A’s third baseman Abraham Toro said.
“You guess, you pick a pitch, and you hope you’re right,” A’s outfielder Brent Rooker said. “And then even if you’re right, it’s really hard to hit it. That’s a tough matchup going out there for anybody.”
If Miller continues like this, even if his scoreless streak ends, he’ll undoubtedly be the A’s All-Star representative for this year’s game in Arlington.
“He’s going to hit some type of adversity,” Kotsay said Tuesday of Miller. “In some ways, I was a little upset that he threw on Sunday. But in the back of my head, ‘Hey, this kid needed it. He wanted it.’ For him to go out tonight 2-0 on the first guy and come back and get him, those are good signs from a young pitcher in a big moment, keeping his composure.
“It’s just nice to see him have success for sure.”
