Mariners place Bryce Miller back on injured list, call up Logan Evans
PHOENIX – Bryce Miller is headed back to the injured list, and Logan Evans is going back into the rotation, for at least one start.
Miller was placed on the IL, and Evans was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to start Tuesday night’s game against the Diamondbacks, the Mariners officially announced Tuesday.
Evans was an unexpected presence in the M’s clubhouse pregame on Monday as an addition to the taxi squad. After the M’s 8-4 loss in 11 innings to the D-backs, manager Dan Wilson announced that Evans would start the second game of the series.
“It’s the same issue as he had the last time. The cortisone shot wasn’t as helpful as we had hoped,” Wilson said of Miller.
Before Monday’s game, Wilson classified Evans’ presence as precautionary even though Miller was not out throwing with the rest of the starting pitchers during pregame work before batting practice.
The decision to have Evans start on Tuesday will push Bryan Woo back to Wednesday’s series finale.
Evans’ start also coincides with the other Logan – Logan Gilbert – making what’s expected to be his final rehab start for Triple-A Tacoma on Tuesday night. It would line up for Evans to start Tuesday and Gilbert to step back into the rotation early next week when the Red Sox visit.
The IL trip for Miller comes just two starts after returning from a stint on the injured list when discomfort in his elbow became enough of an issue that the M’s decided to have the right-hander receive a cortisone shot in the hopes of resolving the issue.
It clearly didn’t, as Miller allowed eight earned runs over nine innings in the two starts combined. He also had a noticeable drop in velocity in the later stages of his start last Friday in Anaheim against the Angels.
Miller also has a small bone spur in his right elbow he’s been dealing with. For the season, Miller is 2-5 with a 5.73 ERA and hasn’t finished six innings in any of his 10 starts.
“I felt good early and didn’t execute late,” Miller said after his last start. “Anytime you give up five (runs) I wouldn’t really say progress. It’s just frustrating. Frustrating start.”
M’s fall in power rankings
The Mariners are taking on water.
After snapping a five-game losing streak Sunday, thanks to a masterpiece of an outing by George Kirby, the M’s took fans for an emotional ride Monday, storming back from a 4-0 deficit after being down to their final strike in the ninth inning, only to lose on a walkoff grand slam in the 11th.
The Mariners have lost six of their past seven games and are 5-12 over their past 17. They were dealt another blow Monday night, with news coming that Miller was returning to the injured list.
The recent skid has landed the M’s squarely behind the Astros in the AL West standings. The Astros are heating up and face the White Sox for three games starting Tuesday. Seattle is three games back of Houston and two games back in the AL wild-card chase.
The M’s unsurprisingly dropped in this week’s MLB power rankings. Here’s where they landed.
MLB.com: 16 (previously 12): Cal Raleigh is certainly doing his part, with 11 homers in his past 17 games, and you’d love to make the case for him to be a potential non-Judge alternative at MVP. But if he’s gonna have a chance, the Mariners are going to have to start winning some games. Their five-game losing streak this week knocked them out of first place in the AL West and is yet another frustrating example of just how streaky this team infamously is.
FanGraphs: 17 (previously 9): The Astros have heated up at exactly the right moment. Their surge has coincided with a Mariners slide; Houston overtook Seattle in the AL West standings in late May and padded the lead last week. The Astros have gone 11-5 over their past 16 games, a stretch that began with taking three of four from Seattle.
Bleacher Report: 17 (previously 13): The Mariners were eight games above .500 and 3.5 games up in the AL West standings as recently as May 23, but a 4-10 record in their last 14 games has sent them tumbling out of the playoff picture entirely if the season ended today. Cal Raleigh launched three more home runs last week to stay atop the MLB leaderboard with 26 on the year, three more than Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.
Yahoo! Sports: 16 (previously 12): George Kirby did what aces are supposed to do, stopping a five-game losing streak on Sunday while notching a career-high 14 strikeouts against the Angels.
The Athletic: 11 (previously 9): Logan Gilbert and George Kirby tend to receive the most praise among Mariners starters, but it was Miller who posted the rotation’s lowest ERA (2.94) in 2024. Seattle is still waiting to see that version of the pitcher in 2025. Miller’s ERA bloated to 5.73 after he gave up five runs in five innings to the Angels last weekend. He missed a good chunk of May as he dealt with a bone spur in his elbow. He’s been getting punished for pitches over the plate at a time when the Mariners have lost a first-place foothold in the AL West. When Gilbert returns from the injured list, Miller’s spot in the rotation could be in jeopardy.
CBS Sports: 16 (previously 10): Before salvaging Sunday’s game, the Mariners had lost eight of 10.
USA Today: 17 (previously 11): George Kirby halts a five-game skid by striking out career-high 14.