Three observations after Mariners’ winning road trip

The Seattle Mariners received some bad news on the final day of their road trip as star catcher Cal Raleigh was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain, but they still found a way to head back home on a high note.

Why Cal Raleigh going on IL is good for him and the Mariners

The M’s finished off a series victory with an 8-3 win over the Astros on Thursday, clinching a winning 4-3 road trip.

Here are three observations as the Mariners head back to Seattle for a six-game homestand.

Miller shows promising signs in debut

When Bryce Miller returned from his first stint on the IL last season, it was pretty evident the right-hander came back too soon. And ultimately, it led to another two months on the IL in what was mostly a lost season for the Texas A&M product.

But Miller showed some excellent signs during the postseason last year, delivering the best performance among Mariners starting pitchers. After that showing, there was plenty of reason to believe he could return to the best version of himself this season.

Miller started this year on the IL with a right oblique strain, but he looked much better in his return than he did either time he came off the IL last year.

In his season debut Wednesday, the right-hander tossed 5 1/3 strong innings of two runs ball, allowing two runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out three. The start may have been even better if it weren’t for a delay during the middle of an at-bat in the bottom of the sixth when the home plate umpire had to leave the game after taking a foul ball of the facemask. After the delay, Miller returned to the mound, allowed two hits and was pulled for the game. One of the two baserunners he was responsible for came around to score for his second run allowed of the start.

Perhaps the best sign Miller showed, though, was increased velocity on his fastball. After averaging 94.8 mph on his four-seamer last year, he sat at 97.5 mph on Wednesday, which included hitting 99 mph twice.

Mariners outfielders are raking

The Seattle Mariners had the ingredients for one of baseball’s best outfields a year ago, but injuries in right field and up-and-down seasons from Julio Rodríguez and Randy Arozarena kept the group from reaching its full potential.

With Rodríguez, Arozarena and Luke Raley all producing at high levels right now, the outfield is starting to show what it’s fully capable of.

Mariners outfielders entered Thursday leading MLB in batting average (.305), slugging percentage (.618), hits (40), home runs (12) and wRC+ (179) during the month of May.

Luke Raley helped add on to the strong month for M’s outfielders with two hits, including a three-run homer, during Thursday’s series finale in Houston. He’s hitting .346 with a 1.356 OPS and five homers this month.

As the Mariners navigate at least the next week and a half without Raleigh, the trio of Rodríguez, Arozarena and Raley could play a major role in making up for the loss.

Still searching for consistency

The Mariners’ seven-game road trip encapsulated how their season has gone thus far.

The trip started with a 12-run outburst against the White Sox and also featured games where the offensive produced 10 and eight runs. But in the remaining four contests, Seattle scored just eight combined runs, including being held to one run in back-to-back games in Chicago.

The Mariners have yet to put together a winning streak of more than four games and have won more than two in a row just twice this season. They’ve also won consecutive series only once.

The good news is that at 22-23, Seattle is only one game back of the Athletics for first place in the AL West. So, if they can string together a few series wins, they could start to separate themselves from the rest of their mediocre division.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• Why Jeff Passan likes Seattle Mariners’ plan with six-man rotation
• Quietly consistent Randy Arozarena has been ‘a beast’ for Mariners
• Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez tapping into tantalizing potential

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