Steve Webb
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Well, it’s not quite Fernando-mania, nothing will be. But it’s pretty damn cool nevertheless. The Dodgers put up nine big runs on Saturday, but that isn’t even the big story from the shutout win over the Phillies. Once again, rookie sensation Bobby Miller dominated a good lineup of hitters, throwing six more shut-out innings. This is as impressive a start to a career as we’ve seen in forty years.
“It’s definitely a little bit of a confidence builder,” Miller said of his fourth straight impressive start. “That’s a really good lineup, so I really had to lock in and focus in on getting all my pitches today.”
The big test for Miller came in the bottom of the second when the Phillies got some traffic on the bases with a leadoff single from Trea Turner and a one-out double from Bryson Stott. With men and second and third, Miller had to bear down. He got Brandon Marsh to strike out for the second out of the inning and then after a walk loaded the bases, Miller managed to escape unscathed when Edmundo Sosa hit a weak ground out to the right side. They would not really touch the rookie for the rest of his outing: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. This lowers Miller’s ERA to a ridiculous 0.78. Which seems pretty good.
“What we’ve seen so far, it’s a lot of what Walker [Buehler] did,” Roberts said of his young pitcher. “That compete-ability to make a pitch when he needed to, and then you layer in the stuff, it’s a lot like Walker.”
Though it was hardly necessary, the offense put up big numbers as well. After being stymied by Aaron Nola the first time through the batting order, the Dodgers teed off from there on out, starting with a James Outman double in the third. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman followed it up with back-to-back two-out RBI and the team was off to the races. The scoring was highlighted by yet another dinger from J.D. Martinez, who is going through one of the best stretches of his All-Star career. His ten home runs in the last 15 games puts him on track for being one of the biggest free-agent bargains in recent memory.
It was a rare laugher in what has been a very challenging two weeks for the Dodgers. The team is just 9-11 in the last 20 games, despite having an offense that is near the top of the NL in almost every category during that stretch. It’s a strange season so far, one in which they are still in second place, still looking up at the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks.
The road trip wraps up with a bullpen game on Sunday, and then back to the Ravine for games with the White Sox and Giants. Time to recapture some of that May magic.
