{"id":234579,"date":"2025-08-08T21:55:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/234579\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T21:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:55:19","slug":"mason-miller-secures-1st-padres-save-with-an-absolute-heater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/234579\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason Miller secures 1st Padres save with an absolute heater"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Mason Miller secures 1st Padres save with an absolute heater<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a high-pressure moment that could define his early tenure in San Diego<\/a>, flamethrower Mason Miller slammed the door on the Diamondbacks Wednesday night with an electrifying ninth inning<\/a>, notching his first save as a Padre in a 3-2 win at Chase Field.<\/p>\n

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Just 24 hours after surrendering a game-tying homer on a 103.9 mph heater, Miller bounced back with a vengeance. The 25-year-old struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth, navigating around a two-out walk and freezing Adrian Del Castillo with three straight pitches to end the game \u2014 the last of which exploded past the plate at 103 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cMason was nasty,\u201d Padres manager Mike Shildt said postgame. \u201cThat\u2019s the guy we traded for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game was a late-inning chess match \u2014 and the Padres, behind GM A.J. Preller\u2019s deadline wizardry<\/a>, had the right pieces. Trailing 2-1 in the ninth, Ryan O\u2019Hearn launched a game-tying homer off lefty Kyle Backhus, his first dinger off a southpaw all season. Xander Bogaerts doubled, Jake Cronenworth bunted him over, and Jose Iglesias roped a full-count single to right to drive him in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just stayed in the fight,\u201d O\u2019Hearn said. \u201cAnd Mason slammed the door. That\u2019s what closers do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mason Miller shuts the D-Backs down amid Padres comeback victory\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The win secured a series victory for the Padres, who now sit just two games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. San Diego trailed in 20 of the 29 innings played in this series, yet emerged with two gritty wins.<\/p>\n

It was a statement moment for Miller \u2014 and a vindication for Preller\u2019s aggressive deadline play. After being initially rebuffed by the A\u2019s, Preller offered a package centered on top prospect Leo De Vries to acquire Miller and lefty JP Sears. Now, the Padres have an elite closer locked down through 2028.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s rebound performance silenced doubts after Tuesday\u2019s stumble.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSometimes you get beat with your best stuff,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBut I trust it. I\u2019m gonna keep bringing the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, were left stunned. Corbin Carroll\u2019s 443-foot blast in the first and Alek Thomas\u2019 sac fly in the second were all they could muster. After the second inning, Arizona\u2019s offense managed just one hit.<\/p>\n

Their bullpen \u2014 depleted and unsteady \u2014 couldn\u2019t hold on. Backhus, who earned a two-inning save on Monday and bailed Arizona out of the eighth on Wednesday, couldn\u2019t repeat the magic in the ninth.<\/p>\n

San Diego, however, used high-leverage arms like Jason Adam, Adrian Morej\u00f3n, and finally Miller to shut things down.<\/p>\n

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With an off day ahead, the Padres have momentum \u2014 and a flamethrowing closer who just made a powerful first impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the beginning,\u201d Miller said, with a smirk.<\/p>\n

Related: Padres\u2019 Ryan O\u2019Hearn drops bold declaration about San Diego\u2019s impressive depth<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Ryan O\u2019Hearn makes first Padres home run count vs. Diamondbacks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Mason Miller secures 1st Padres save with an absolute heater appeared first on ClutchPoints. In a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[25638,664,146,22,4314,5,1538,38,39,872,3919,1534,769,1101,4,43,626,137,8897,1821],"class_list":{"0":"post-234579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-adrian-del-castillo","9":"tag-alek-thomas","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","12":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","13":"tag-baseball","14":"tag-corbin-carroll","15":"tag-diamondbacks","16":"tag-dodgers","17":"tag-jake-cronenworth","18":"tag-jason-adam","19":"tag-jose-iglesias","20":"tag-jp-sears","21":"tag-mason-miller","22":"tag-mlb","23":"tag-padres","24":"tag-ryan-ohearn","25":"tag-san-diego","26":"tag-the-padres","27":"tag-xander-bogaerts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114995378685568446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}