SAN DIEGO -- Mason Miller’s dominance gets more absurd with every outing.
Miller needed only 10 pitches to punch out all three Rockies he faced on Thursday -- before Xander Bogaerts sent the Padres to a 7-3 victory with a 12th-inning walk-off grand slam at Petco Park.
With his scoreless ninth inning, Miller extended his overall scoreless streak to 27 2/3 innings, dating back to last August. It’s the longest active streak in baseball and six shy of Cla Meredith’s franchise record.
Miller has been one of the best closers in baseball for the past few seasons, dating back to his time with the A’s. But his dominance has reached a different level this year.
Miller has faced 21 batters, and he’s punched out 16 of them. Only one has recorded a hit. That 76.2% strikeout rate is the highest by a pitcher in his first six appearances of a season since at least 1900 -- surpassing José Alvarado in 2023 and Aroldis Chapman in ‘21.
“I just feel like I have a good mix,” Miller said. “Slider for strikes, slider for chase. Changeup’s fine. It’s doing its job. Fastball’s good.
“Sometimes you’re just going good.”
That’s, uh, quite an understatement. Going good? Miller is striking almost everybody out. Fastball’s good? It’s routinely hitting triple digits. His 103.4 mph heater to strike out Ezequiel Tovar for the second out in the ninth inning was the fastest pitch ever thrown for a Padres strikeout in a regular-season game.
The only time any Padre has thrown a faster pitch to record a strikeout was Miller’s now-legendary 104.5-mph heater on the outside corner to put away Carson Kelly in last year’s National League Wild Card Series.
Miller, who already owns one of two immaculate innings in Padres history, came awfully close on Thursday. His first seven pitches were all strikes, before Willi Castro laid off a heater that was letter-high. It was the only ball Miller threw on the night.
After the inning, manager Craig Stammen said Miller came into the dugout and informed him that he wanted the 10th inning as well. But -- after Miller had worked a similarly dominant inning across the country in Pittsburgh on Wednesday -- that would be all for him.
“We have long-term goals, and we have long-term goals for him personally in mind,” Stammen said. “Hopefully that allows him to be available as this series goes on. … We’ve got to be smart with how we use him.”