Mariners vs. Braves: Polanco pops off, it's Miller time, and Garver calls game

If you solely look at the hitting numbers for many of the names in the Seattle lineup, you might be surprised to hear that the Mariners now hold sole control over the lead in the AL West. Thanks to timely hitting and stellar pitching, they are now the team to beat in one of the most competitive divisions in baseball.

Best Hitter: Jorge Polanco

.308/.308/.538, 13 PA, 4 H, 1 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 6 K

Originally one of the hot acquisitions of Seattle's offseason, Polanco got off to a brutal start with his new team. Even after his performance in this three-game series, his season slash-line is still subpar, hovering at .181/.317/.295. He's been walking at an elite 16.5% rate but his high strikeout rate and low batting average are made worse by his performance against four-seam fastballs. He's averaging just .094 against the most popular pitch in baseball.

Polanco managed to put all of that aside this series, racking up several hits and RBI. His peak was in the second game of the series where he made several key defensive plays and also hit a two-run home run to put the Mariners on the board.

Seemingly every aspect of his approach aside from his plate discipline seems to have regressed significantly since last year but there might still be time to turn it around. As the weather and his teammates start to get warm, who's to say that he won't start heating up as well?

Honorable Mention: Josh Rojas

.667/.833/.667, 6 PA, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB

Rojas continues to stake his claim on the starting job at third base. He didn't see a ton of playtime but given the sluggish performance of the other hitters in the lineup, it was worth calling out even with the relatively small sample size. Rojas was a difficult out for Braves pitchers, getting on base in all but one of his plate appearances during the three-game set. With his season slash line increasing to .313/.403/.522 and his quality of contact metrics tracking with the best of the best, there's a lot to be excited about with Josh Rojas. Hopefully he's able to sustain this sort of performance throughout the entire season.

Best Pitcher: Bryce Miller

7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K

The Bryce Miller hype train is yet to be derailed with another stellar start under his belt. In one of the best pitching duels of the year so far, he went toe-to-toe with proven ace Max Fried and got 17 swings and misses, almost all of which were from his four-seam fastball. Sitting 95-96 mph, he was wheeling and dealing, making one of the most formidable lineups in baseball seem foolish.

While he ended up throwing 59 four-seam fastballs out of his 97 total pitches, he mixed in some sinkers and sweepers as well to good effect.

Miler's current 2.04 ERA and 0.88 WHIP seem unsustainable but he's been so good though April that it doesn't seem like he's slowing down any time soon. He still gives up quite a bit of hard contact but is missing bats and striking out 29.1% of the batters he faces. With further improvements to his breaking ball arsenal, he'll add even more lethality to an arsenal with an incredible four-seam option.

Honorable Mention: Luis Castillo

7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

While he didn't quite net as many strikeouts as Miller, Castillo's work in the second game of the series helped the Mariners narrowly escape with a win. He had a whopping 20 swings and misses, mostly with his four-seam fastball but also mixing in the slider and changeup.

If Castillo had not kept Atlanta scoreless for the first seven innings of the game, there's a very good chance that the Braves would have gone home with the series win instead.