Mets can't figure out Bryce Miller, get shut out by Seattle

SEATTLE — Nights like Friday are enough to make the Mets yearn for the good ol’ days of earlier this week.

In their return to sea level, they fell back to earth, too, dropping the series opener to the Mariners, 6-0.

The Mets had enjoyed a productive couple of days in Denver against an ineffective Rockies pitching staff in the mile-high altitude, with all of the offensive benefits it provides. But in Seattle, they went in the other direction with both variables: a tougher hitting environment and a tougher pitching staff.

Righthander Bryce Miller, a member of the Mariners’ stable of above-average starting pitchers, cruised through six innings, working around three hits and a walk. That lowered their rotation ERA to 3.29, best in the majors.

The Mets (61-55) will face a similar challenge the next two days with righties Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo going for the Mariners (61-56).

“It’s hard to win games,” Francisco Lindor said, “when you don’t score.”

For the Mets, who recently have struggled with runners in scoring position at times, the issue wasn’t so much getting runners in as it was getting them on. After Brandon Nimmo’s one-out walk in the first, the closest they came to mounting a challenge was a pair of two-out doubles by Mark Vientos in the second and Nimmo in the third. Both were stranded there.

“Miller had good stuff today,” Lindor said. “They executed whenever we had people on base. Hats off to them. They executed their plan and we didn’t execute our plan. It’s a chess match and they won today.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza said of Miller: “He was on tonight.”

Highlighting the Mets’ quiet night at the plate: Pete Alonso took issue with a called third strike in the top of the eighth with two on and two out — a moment in which one big swing could have made the score close again. Austin Voth threw a fastball that appeared to be just above the zone and plate umpire Manny Gonzalez, who seemed to call a pitcher-friendly game all night, rung Alonso up.

Mendoza emerged from the dugout to help his first baseman present his case.

“I thought it was a ball,” Mendoza said.

Lefthander Jose Quintana countered Miller with an outing that for much of the game was almost as good. He wound up allowing four hits in 6 2⁄3 innings and was charged with five runs, with most of that damage coming in the seventh.

“I feel great,” said Quintana, who has a 2.76 ERA in his past 10 starts. “I think one of the best outings — execution, attacking the zone early, short innings.”

Mendoza said: “He pitched way better than the linescore, obviously. He was probably a strike away from giving us seven innings and a two-run ballgame.”

Early on, Quintana relented only briefly in the bottom of the second, when Mitch Haniger (single) and rookie second baseman Ryan Bliss (home run) struck for back-to-back hits. He answered by retiring the next 14 batters.

The rest came on Seattle’s late rally. After Mitch Garver worked a leadoff walk, Dylan Moore and Leo Rivas turned weak ground balls to the right side of the infield into singles. The latter came with two outs and brought in two runs, ending Quintana’s evening.

“Those are perfect pitches. You get weak contact, that’s what you want,” he said. “If I keep throwing the ball like that, really good things are going to happen.”

Adam Ottavino allowed the inherited runner from Quintana as well as one of his own to score, turning what had been a fast, tight game into a blowout.

That snapped Ottavino’s streak of consecutive scoreless outings at seven.

“He had a hard time putting hitters away,” Mendoza said. “[He was] probably a pitch away and he just never got there till they got him.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.