Atlanta Braves Shelby Miller Does Something He Hasn’t Since May 17th
By Jeff Schafer
The Atlanta Braves headed into the final series against the best team in the MLB, St. Louis Cardinals, with a 64-95 record and a chance for the 1st pick in the 2016 draft. A 4-0 victory on Friday night and a rain out on Saturday made the Braves dancing to a different beat.
With the consistent downpour rain on Saturday throughout the east coast, the Braves and Cardinals were forced to played a double-header on the final day of the regular season.
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Having confidence of just winning two out of three games against the Washington Nationals and winning game one of this series, the Braves sent Shelby Miller to the mound for his final start of 2015.
Miller went eight strong innings not allowing any runs, only three hits, three walks and had seven strikeouts to pick up his FIRST victory since May 17th!!! The long-awaited victory finally came for the 24-year-old. He’s pitched so well this season – though he’s struggled this past month.
“You don’t expect to go out there and finish that well,” Miller said. “I’ve obviously been struggling with my mechanics near the end of this rough stretch. This game I felt good. I was telling some of the guys, this was the best I’ve felt in a while. It was a good way to end the season.”
Maybe it was him going up against his old squad or it was just one of those days where he had all his pitches, but we’ll take it! Miller was drafted by the Cardinals in the 1st round (19th pick) in the 2009 draft. He made his debut with the team on September 5, 2012 against the New York Mets. The following two seasons he was a staple in the Cards rotation.
On November 17, 2014 he was traded to the Braves for Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden.
In his first season with the Braves, he made his first All-Star game after having a 5-5 record and a 2.38 ERA. He won three out of his first four starts to kick off his tenure with the Braves and had a 5-1 record on May 17th. Then the wheels fell off.
Though Miller continued to pitch well, the Braves offense didn’t give him any run support through the summer months. Entering Sunday’s season final, he had a record of 5-17 with a 3.15 ERA.
Miller picked up his sixth victory on Sunday to end the season with a 6-17 record with a 3.02 ERA. This definitely is something for us Braves fans to carry over into the winter months and have to look forward to spring of 2016.
In the case where baseball folks say wins and losses don’t mean much to a pitcher, this is differently the case of Shelby Miller‘s 2015 season.