Mason

Miller

He gave up a double to Nico Hoerner, but he retired the other three batters he faced. After 88 regular-season saves, this is Miller’s first in the postseason. He pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings as a setup man for the Padres in front of Robert Suarez in the Wild Card loss to the Cubs last year.

It was a final tune-up for Miller ahead of the Padres’ Wild Card Series against the Cubs beginning Tuesday. He loaded the bases with no outs, and he saw all three runs scored while putting the tying run at the plate before finally getting out of the frame. It’s an ugly outing for the 28-year-old, but Miller’s regular season was still nothing short of dominant with 38 saves and an ERA of 1.67. Obviously, he’ll be counted on heavily for the Padres in the postseason.

Miller could have had a one-two-three inning, but Tommy Edman reached on a strikeout/wild pitch to keep the game going before Shohei Ohtani doubled him in. Miller then got Mookie Betts to ground out. The Padres clinched a postseason berth tonight, so Miller should get Friday off after working back-to-back days. Yuki Matsui or David Morgan could get a chance to closer.

Miller entered with a one-run lead in the eighth and stranded Esteury Ruiz at third by striking out Heriberto Hernández and Kyle Stowers. The Marlins, though, got to him in the ninth, with Conine delivering a very impressive 427-foot homer off a 102.1-mph fastball as a pinch-hitter. It’s the third homer allowed by Miller this year. All three of those and all three blown saves have come since the beginning of August.

The Padres went right back to their late-game trio of Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon and Miller tonight after avoiding all three on Sunday. They might be down again on Tuesday, now that they’ve all worked three times in four days. Yuki Matsui will be available to close, though.

Miller was summoned to close out Saturday’s game against the Giants with a one-run lead in the ninth inning. He struck out the first and last batters, tossing a perfect frame to secure the win for the Padres and his 36th save of the season.

Miller had an usually difficult ninth, walking two and giving up a bunt single, but he struck out Bryce Eldridge to end the potential rally. He’s second in the NL in saves, one behind Riley O’Brien.

Miller came on to preserve a one-run lead in the final frame and managed to work around a one-out single from Dylan Crews by striking out CJ Abrams before getting Brady House to ground out to end it. He’s converted 34 of 36 save opportunities and has 113 strikeouts across 61 1/3 innings. He’s the best closer in the fantasy landscape and it might be a while before anyone else even enters the conversation.

Miller notched his 33rd save in 35 tries. He’s up to 111 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings. The next highest total among relievers is 105 in 76 2/3 innings from Aaron Ashby.

It looks like Miller was going to pick up the loss after he gave up an RBI single to Spencer Jones in the top of the 10th. That run was unearned because it was the inherited extra runner, and he struck out four while lowering his ERA to 1.21 and picking up his fifth win of the season.