PHILADELPHIA — Bobby Miller was so spectacular by way of his first three profession begins that he hadn’t wanted to fret a lot about pitching his method out of massive league jams.
Miller danced round some early hassle Saturday afternoon earlier than settling in to proceed his traditionally dominant run to start his profession. The 24-year-old right-hander tossed six scoreless innings to decrease his ERA to 0.78 — and to guide the Dodgers to a 9-0 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
In doing so, Miller grew to become simply the fourth pitcher in AL/NL historical past to go not less than 5 innings and permit no multiple run in every of his first 4 profession video games. The final to take action was Kenta Maeda in 2016 (additionally with the Dodgers), whereas Cody Anderson additionally did so in 2015 with Cleveland, as did Cliff Markle for the Yankees from 1915-16.
“It’s definitely a little bit of a confidence builder,” Miller stated. “That’s a really good lineup, so I really had to lock in and focus in on getting all my pitches today.”
After permitting solely three baserunners in his six innings of one-hit ball towards one other actually good lineup within the Yankees his final outing, Miller discovered himself in a bases-loaded jam within the second inning towards the Phils. He escaped unscathed by getting Edmundo Sosa to floor out to second, however the inning was definitely a grind.
Miller threw 34 pitches in that body and confronted three batters with a number of runners on base — one thing he had accomplished solely thrice in his first three outings mixed. Yet after needing 49 pitches to navigate the primary two innings, Miller threw solely 55 over the subsequent 4. He retired 11 of the ultimate 13 batters he confronted.
Through 4 begins, Miller is holding opposing hitters to only 1-for-13 (.077) with 5 strikeouts with runners in scoring place.
“As you start to get stressed a little bit — do you have the ability to slow the game down?” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated of what he seems for in a younger pitcher. “[Throwing] harder is not always better, and I think with young players, they just want to throw harder to make the moment stop by overpowering guys. But Bobby has showed the ability to temper that a little bit.”
Overall, Miller labored round three hits and three walks whereas placing out seven over his six spotless innings. He improved to 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA, 23 strikeouts and solely 12 hits allowed in 23 innings.
Miller is the one pitcher in AL/NL historical past to go 3-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA whereas compiling not less than 23 strikeouts and permitting fewer than 15 hits in his first 4 video games. Sure, that’s a little bit of a mouthful, however put an easier method: no pitcher has ever began his profession fairly like Miller.
And whereas there will not be a direct statistical comp, Miller does remind Roberts of a sure somebody.
“What we’ve seen so far, it’s a lot of what Walker [Buehler] did,” Roberts stated. “That compete-ability to make a pitch when he needed to, and then you layer in the stuff, it’s a lot like Walker.”
Miller’s “stuff” will be the largest shock to date.
It was no secret that he had a big-time fastball — he maxed out at 100.4 mph on his four-seamer and averaged 98.5 mph along with his sinker on Saturday — but it surely’s the opposite pitches which have allowed Miller to thrive. Along with getting 4 whiffs and 9 referred to as strikes along with his highly effective sinker, Miller compelled 5 swings and misses along with his slider, 4 along with his curveball and two along with his changeup.
“His slider’s come a long way; he’s made a couple adjustments since he got here, and it’s been great,” catcher Will Smith stated. “Changeup is also a great wipeout pitch. And the curveball, that’s how you slow guys down. He’s put guys away with it, he can land it for strikes. He just mixes all four.”
Miller’s emergence has come at an ideal time for a Dodgers group that has solely 4 wholesome starters. But if he continues pitching like this, he could solidify a long-term residence in that rotation, no matter who’s or isn’t accessible for Los Angeles.
“When you play for this club, we’re not about development — we’ve got to win,” Roberts stated. “It doesn’t matter the age, the service time — if you’re going out there and performing, then you earn those opportunities.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com