Cal Raleigh plays to the booth, leads the Mariners to a 2-0 shutout in San Diego

This counts as a sweep

Sabermetrically speaking, a stolen base is worth about 0.2 runs. Today, Cal Raleigh stole his fifth base of the season, not having been caught once. So from a value-creation perspective, Cal’s added a run to the Mariners’ ledger with his legs. In the results-based actual game played among real human boys on the field, it was much the same. When Cal took off for second base in the second inning, he managed to squeak in there safely despite his catcher’s gait. (As an aside, one of my proposed rule changes is that if you steal a base at no more than 28 feet per second, you should be awarded the next base as well.)

Listening to his interviews, it’s clear that Cal has a strong connection with Mariners Hall of Famer Dan Wilson. And so perhaps Cal’s been showing off for Wilson these past couple games, knowing that Wilson has been in the broadcast booth. Between his two homers last night and stolen base this afternoon, I say keep Dan on the show even after Mike Blowers gets back from vacation.

In any event, being on second base allowed Cal to score when Padres first baseman Luis Arraez misplayed a groundball that got into right field. Butterfly Effect notwithstanding, Cal doesn’t score there if he hasn’t stolen second base. And it turned out to be the winning run, one of only two that would score in the entire game. That earns him today’s Sun Hat Award.

That run was enough because Bryce Miller managed to keep the Padres off the board. His velocity was up substantially on all his pitches in the first few innings, averaging 97 on his four-seamer, though he only managed to rack up three whiffs in the first time through the order. The Padres don’t strike out much in general, but it took until Bryce’s last batter of the game for him to collect his first and only strikeout of the game, on a jam-escaping fastball that he dotted on the top rail.

Miller’s strikeout was one of several jams he escaped today, helped out in particular by a bases-loaded 8-2 double play. A good center fielder probably makes this play nine times out of ten, but there’s still something satisfying about seeing it executed so competently, particularly given that Julio hasn’t always had the accuracy to match his arm strength.

Today’s six scoreless capped off a tremendous first half from Bryce Miller. He began the year by showing off the splitter he worked on all offseason, and it’s been a drool-worthy offering. He’s allowed just a .224 xwOBA off the pitch thanks to its low spin, tremendous break, and most impressively, Miller’s shocking ability to command it despite it being one of the most unwieldy pitch types. That’s allowed him to combat his platoon splits and helped his fastballs look even faster. But as the year went on, Miller debuted a cutter and most recently a spike curve, which he used to induce a more routine double play in a high-leverage spot this afternoon.

The man who debuted last season as Plan C after Robbie Ray went down with injury and Chris Flexen failed to perform showed up with his fastballs as essentially his only consistent offering. He managed to outrun his scouting report anyway despite trouble from opposite-handed hitters, and he entered this year as a major part of Plan A. Now in his sophomore campaign, he’s evolved from Bryce Miller, the Four-Seam Thriller to a more complete pitcher and a reliable mid-rotation starter. And if that’s all he is, that’s more than fine. Yet he’s clearly still figuring this out, with substantial upside remaining. He’s been fearless in his experimentation as he’s gone along. With about two weeks off before his next start, some of the lessons he’s learned will start to settle, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us in the second half.