The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Andrew Miller has another rough outing
The numbers weren’t great, again, but Indians reliever Andrew Miller was smiling and upbeat.
The numbers weren’t great, again, but Indians reliever Andrew Miller was smiling and upbeat after his rehab appearance for the Captains on July 28 at Classic Park.
Facing the Great Lakes (Mich.) Loons in the opener of a fourgame series, Miller was greeted with a nice ovation from the crowd of 5,908 as he came to the mound in the top of the sixth inning. The Loons were leading, 3-0.
The outing started well enough for the 33-year-old left-hander who is regarded as one of the best relievers in the big leagues. His first pitch to Romer Quadrado produced a routine grounder to Lake County shortstop Miguel Eladio.
From there, it was struggle city for Miller.
The next batter, Luke Heyer, lined a single to right field. Brock Carpenter followed with a stinging line drive to right field that Captains outfielder Will Benson was unable to corral before it hit the top of the fence. Heyer scored easily as Carpenter legged out an RBI triple. Girsel Pitre lined an RBI single to right field, chasing home Carpenter.
Miller appeared to have limited the damage when he induced the next batter, Josh McLain, to hit a ground ball to second baseman Richie Palacios that was tailormade for a double play.
An error by Palacios kept the inning alive as Pitre took second base. Both runners moved up on a passed ball.
After striking out Deacon Liput, Miller was pulled by Captains manager Luke Carlin in favor of reliever Maiker Manzanillo.. The Loons pounded out three straight hits to greet Manzanillo. Two more runs were charged to Miller, leaving him with a line of four runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.
Miller said he didn’t like giving up the runs but was upbeat about how he threw the ball.
“I’ll take it. It’s a positive,” Miller said.
Miller’s post-game assessment mirrored the one he had after his previous rehab appearance at Double-A Akron on July 24. That night, he was tagged for four runs on two hits while working one-third of an inning. He faced five batters and threw 24 pitches, 12 for strikes.
Miller was asked if him feeling strong physically in the outings for the RubberDucks and Captains means he’s ready to rejoin the Indians.
“I need to knock out a back-to-back before that,” he said.
With the Captains playing at home through Aug. 3, all signs point toward Miller making a second straight rehab appearance with the Captains, probably on July 30 or July 31.
The Loons rode that sixrun outburst in the top of the sixth inning to a 9-2 victory.
Great Lakes starter and eventual winner Edwin Ucela (4-6, 3.46 ERA) had a no-hitter through six innings. The Captains finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh on a leadoff home run by Oscar Gonzalez, his 12th, and a one-out solo blast by Nolan Jones, his 14th.
Lake County starter Gregori Vasquez (5-5, 3.59 ER A) took the loss. He gave up three runs on six hits in five innings.