Jarred Kelenic, Teoscar Hernandez homer to back another stellar start from Mariners rookie Bryce Miller

DETROIT – Even as the word came out of his mouth – adversity – Trent Blank had to chuckle at himself.

Blank, the Mariners’ director of pitching strategy, was standing in a cramped hallway in the visiting clubhouse at Comerica Park, trying to find the right words to describe what he’d just witnessed from rookie right-hander Bryce Miller.

What we’d all witnessed again from Miller.

In his third major league start, Miller did not have his best stuff early on in the Mariners’ 5-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Miller allowed a first-inning double and a single, putting runners on the corners with two outs.

That – yes, that – qualified as troublesome for Miller on Saturday afternoon.

“It was good to see him deal with a little adversity,” Blank said, then catching himself. “I use that lightly.”

Miller got out of that small jam unscathed and then got on with his day as if sitting down the Tigers was of little more inconvenience than swatting away a house fly.

The 24-year-old Texan retired 16 straight batters from the end of the first through the end of the sixth inning.

He finished with seven shutout innings, scattering three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Through his first three major league starts, he’s allowed only one run in 19 innings – that’s a 0.47 ERA – with seven hits allowed, one walk and 18 strikeouts.

That’s the fewest runs a pitcher has allowed in his first three starts in club history. Felix Hernandez allowed two runs in 21 innings in his first three appearances in 2005.

Miller’s WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) is 0.421, the lowest of any pitcher in MLB history through his first three starts.

“It’s been a lot of fun so far,” Miller said. “I’ve gone out, thrown it over the plate and things have gone my way.”

It’s that easy, huh?

Miller shrugged.

“So far,” he said. “We’ll see if it keeps up.”

Miller had relied heavily on his four-seam fastball in his first two starts, at Oakland and against Houston, throwing it 70.5% of the time. And for good reason: It has the highest spin rate of any four-seam fastball in the majors, and he had allowed only one hit (a single) with on the 117 fastballs he threw in those first two starts.

Blank and catcher Cal Raleigh knew Miller would have to mix in some of his secondary offerings more Saturday against an aggressive Detroit lineup that likes to hunt fastballs.

“The main thing so far has been throwing it over the plate and trusting the defense behind me, because we have a tremendous defense,” Miller said. “That’s been the main thing I’ve learned so far. A lot balls are going to get caught behind me, and I just have to trust it and throw it over the plate.”

And those off-speed pitches worked just fine too, and Miller threw whatever Raleigh called for. He didn’t shake once.

“I felt good with all the breaking balls,” said Miller, who has three variations of a slider (he threw just two Saturday) plus a change-up. “Really after the first inning everything was good.”

Of his 82 pitches, 40 were four-seam fastballs (49%). He threw 34 sliders – 19 hard sliders and 15 sweepers – plus eight change-ups.

“You need to have more than one pitch when you go out there, and he certainly did,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said.

“I’m amazed at how calm this young guy really is. He’s in control all the time. Nothing really gets to him.”

Miller’s next start is scheduled for Friday in Atlanta.

“He’s been really impressive,” Blank said, “and it’ll be interesting to see where we go from here.”

The Mariners, for the first time since the first game of the season, have moved over .500. They are now 20-19 two games into this nine-game road trip.

Jarred Kelenic hit a two-run home run in the third inning, turning on a 94-mph fastball up and hit off Detroit starter Alex Faedo and sending it just over the wall in right field.

It was his eighth homer of the season.

Teoscar Hernandez added a solo homer in the fourth inning, a 403-foot blast to left field.

It was his eighth homer of the season, tying Kelenic for the team lead.

The Mariners added two runs in the ninth inning. Julio Rodriguez walked, stole second and scored on a Hernandez single, and Eugenio Suarez scored on a wild pitch.”