Dodgers’ Bobby Miller on Strong Start vs Rays: ‘I Had Full Trust in Every Pitch”

The headlines from Friday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays mostly read about Shohei Ohtani and his walk-off grand slam because it launched him into baseball history.

It was his 40th home run of the season and it came a couple of innings after he stole his 40th base of the season becoming the first Dodgers player and sixth all-time to join the 40-40 club.

However, there was another storyline that developed earlier in the game as Bobby Miller had his best start since his season debut in late March. The right-hander gave up three runs and seven hits — two of them home runs — in six innings, struck out nine, and walked one.

Miller maintained his fastball velocity throughout the start, landed his curveball for a strike, and generated 18 swinging strikes. He threw 68 of 96 pitches for strikes.

“Just throwing more strikes then more swings and misses will come,” Miller told Dodgers Nation reporter Doug McKain after the game. “The previous start there wasn’t a lot of walks but falling behind 2-0, 3-1 is just as bad. Getting strike one, 0-1, 0-2 quickly, I did a lot of that.”

The start on Friday was a huge improvement from his last start on Aug. 15 when gave up eight hits and four earned runs while only striking out one.

For Miller, Friday was the best he has felt in a long time.

That’s the best my curveball has felt in a very long time,” Miller said. “I was able to rip out there and throw it as hard as I could instead of just guiding that pitch in there. I had full trust in every single one of my pitches tonight… You’ve got to finish this year strong.”

Miller has felt all of the emotions this season. He has been disappointed mostly but Friday brought a sense of hope as he improved to 1-3 through nine starts. It’s a far cry from last year’s 11-4 record with a 3.76 earned run average but it is a step in the right direction.

In the end, Ohtani stole the show but he might not have had that opportunity if Miller didn’t have such a brilliant outing.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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