Miley finds his form
Left-hander goes 82⁄3; Mancini hits another homer; O’s pass Tigers
Left-hander Wade Miley had lost five of his six decisions as an Oriole when he took the mound Saturday night, and his 7.55 ERA since being acquired from the Seattle Mariners certainly would not have led anyone to expect what would happen next.
Throw in the fact that he had to leave his previous start after four innings with upper back spasms and his performance in the Orioles’ 6-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks was just this side of incredible.
The crowd of an announced 40,610 got to see the Wade Miley who once won 16 games for these Diamondbacks and pitched well at times for the Mariners. He came within one out of pitching a shutout and ushered the Orioles back into the second American League wildcard spot.
“It was huge,” Miley said. “We got off to a good start and put them on their heels a little bit early. Score a run in the first and their starter threw a lot of pitches. I was just trying to get in and get quick outs and let those guys go back out there and hit and score some runs.”
Miley was booed at Camden Yards TV: Radio: INSIDE ■ PG6 AL WILD CARD
when he left the mound after giving up six runs over 12⁄3 innings against the Houston Astros on Aug. 19. He got a standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout Saturday night.
The feel-good night also featured the first productive offensive night for the Orioles (84-71) in eight games and another home run by rookie Trey Mancini. Mark Trumbo also went deep as the Orioles reeled off nine hits and scored more than three runs for the first time since Sept. 16.
Miley (9-13) had appeared to be a bust after the Orioles lost six of his first eight starts. He hit what appeared to be rock bottom when he lasted just 11⁄3 innings in a lopsided loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sept. 12.
“He’s had real good command, and he had a good slider tonight. Real sharp, late,” manager Buck Showalter said. “You see nine right-handed hitters out there, you’re going to have to be able to do some things other than just spot a fastball. He had a lot of things at his disposal that he could use at any point in the count. Couple that with Matt [Wieters] and that gives you a real good chance.”
His performance Saturday night came at a good time, because the Detroit Tigers already had lost earlier in the day to pull them back into a tie for the second wild-card slot. The victory moved the Orioles a halfgame ahead. Trey’s trifecta: Mancini did it again Saturday night. He launched his third home run in his ninth at-bat after being called up to the major league roster last Sunday and became only the third player in major league history to homer in each of his first three starts.
The others were Carlos Quentin in 2006 with the Diamondbacks and Trevor Story, who homered in his first four starts earlier this season for the Colorado Rockies. Robbie Ray rocked: The Orioles scored single runs off Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray in each of the first two innings, then then added three on Mancini’s homer and Chris Davis’ two-run single in the fourth. This means WAR? Trumbo bashed his major league-leading 45th homer in the fifth inning after hitting the game-deciding home run in each of the Orioles’ three previous victories.
His WAR is just 1.2, which means he is considered worth only one more win than the theoretical average outfielderdesignated hitter playing in his place. ARIZONA Segura 2b Owings ss Gldschmdt 1b Castillo c Lamb 3b Tomas rf Drury lf Brito lf Jensen dh Haniger cf TOTALS BALTIMORE Kim lf a-Bourn ph-lf Jones cf Machado 3b Davis 1b Trumbo rf Alvarez dh Schoop 2b Wieters c 1-Stubbs pr Joseph c Hardy ss TOTALS Arizona Baltimore 110 000 000 000 000 011 No outs when winning run scored. a-popped out for Kim in the 9th. 1-ran for Wieters in the 11th. E: Lamb (19), Godley (1). LOB: Arizona 7, Baltimore 14. 2B: Segura (38), Lamb (29), Tomas (28), Drury (26), Trumbo (24). HR: Alvarez (21), off Burgos; Wieters (14), off Hudson; Trumbo (43), off Koch. RBIs: Segura (59), Lamb (88), Trumbo (102), Alvarez (48), Wieters (60). S: Hardy, Bourn. SO: Owings (2), Goldschmidt (1), Lamb (1), Tomas (1), Drury (2), Jensen (3), Haniger (3), Kim (1), Machado (1), Davis (2), Trumbo (1), Alvarez (2), Hardy (1). RISP: Arizona 2 for 9; Baltimore 1 for 9. Runners moved up: Davis. ARIZONA Miller Delgado Hathaway Burgos Hudson Godley Escobar Koch BALTIMORE Gallardo 6 6 2 2 2 5 5.77 O’Day 1 0 0 0 0 1 4.03 Brach 1 1 0 0 0 1 1.69 Givens 1 0 0 0 0 2 3.34 Britton 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.58 Hunter 1 2 0 0 0 1 2.61 Drake 1 0 0 0 0 1 4.60 Inherited runners-scored: Escobar 3-0. IBB: off Godley (Jones). HBP: Delgado (Jones). WP: Hudson. Umpires: H, Greg Gibson; 1B, Mike Estabrook; 2B, Ed Hickox; 3B, Gary Cederstrom. Time: 4:00. A: 37,815.