Proper-hander Bobby Miller's fourth minor league rehab begin Thursday for Triple-A Oklahoma Metropolis was his longest to this point, however he was in all places in his closing two innings. Miller allowed 5 runs and was pulled after 93 pitches in 4⅔ innings.
Both that was doubtlessly Miller's closing hurdle earlier than rejoining the Dodgers rotation. Saying that the outcomes don’t matter is simply too simplistic, however normally the start of rehabilitation is extra about stretching, inserting the representatives of the sport and tremendous tuning. So how Miller feels after Thursday could be extra telling.
However the outcomes weren’t nice.
He misplaced steam within the fourth and fifth innings, issuing all three of his walks and permitting 5 whole runs in these two innings. He wanted 28 pitches to get by way of the fourth inning, and 27 extra to get two outs within the fifth, after simply 38 pitches by way of his first three scoreless frames.
Miller stumbled into first base within the third inning on one among his 9 induced groundouts on the night time, and gave the impression to be favoring his proper ankle, albeit briefly. There was no coach's go to, and Miller completed the inning with out incident.
Miller has averaged 97.4 mph on his four-seam fastball and 96.6 mph on his two-seamer, each a few tick from his three begins within the majors this season, however it will likely be throughout the norm. He averaged 98.8 mph, and hit 98 mph within the fifth inning. Miller threw 4 on the night time.
Thursday was Millers second begin with Oklahoma Metropolis. On June 7 in opposition to Spherical Rock he threw 85 pitches over 4 innings, permitting singles to each batters confronted within the fifth inning earlier than being pulled.
Listed below are the ideas of Alex Freedman, who referred to as the sport for Oklahoma Metropolis:
Some observations in particular person:
-Retired 10 of 12 to start out, however then 8 of the ultimate 12 reached base.
-Virtually all the manufacturing from Sugar Land was in opposition to the fastball.
-Simply didn't appear to be the identical out of the stretch. https://t.co/fuECGuHC0P
– Alex Freedman (@azfreedman) June 14, 2024
Miller missed greater than two months on the injured checklist with proper shoulder irritation. In 4 minor league rehab begins — two every with Oklahoma Metropolis and Low-A Rancho Cucamonga — Miller had a 7.80 ERA with 10 strikeouts and eight walks in 15 innings.
Pitched within the fifth inning in every of his final two rehab begins.
Like Walker Buehler earlier this season, each subsequent minor league rehab begin for Miller has come on 5 days of relaxation. Sticking to that schedule places Miller in line to rejoin the Dodgers' rotation subsequent Wednesday in opposition to the Rockies at Coors Discipline. That point the Dodgers' bullpen recreation additionally comes Thursday was no coincidence, because the workforce is on a 12-game hitting streak.
The bullpen recreation in opposition to the Rangers gave the remainder of the employees additional relaxation, and Miller pitching subsequent Wednesday — if that's truly the case — would do the identical, and no Dodgers pitcher would begin 4. relaxation days throughout this two-week stretch. .
On the season, solely 5 occasions has a Dodgers beginning pitcher began on 4 days' relaxation — Miller on April 10, Gavin Stone on Could 8 and June 2, James Paxton on Could 29 and Tyler Glasnow on the ninth of June.
If Miller does in actual fact begin subsequent Wednesday in Denver, it will likely be 10 weeks after his final main league begin.