Andrew Miller Solid in First Win With Red Sox, Continues to Show Poise When Taking the Mound

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Jun 26, 2011

Andrew Miller Solid in First Win With Red Sox, Continues to Show Poise When Taking the Mound Haters will point to the opponents. They will say that the slight offenses of San Diego and Pittsburgh do not represent enough of a challenge to fully analyze Andrew Miller.

The Red Sox will tell you they don't care.

In Miller, they have a dynamic talent who was traded for a disposable arm, let go and then re-signed before being rebuilt into a key component in the rotation puzzle. That dynamic talent with the golden arm now has a win in a Boston uniform, and has given the organization plenty for which it can be proud — regardless of the opponent.

For his part, Miller is taking it in stride.

"Anytime you have a good outing or the team wins a game, it's something to build on," Miller said after allowing one earned run in six innings of a 4-2 victory over the Pirates on Sunday. "I just felt like I was carrying over what I was working on in the past. It felt good."

Miller has not been absolutely dominant in his first two starts. But he has shown flashes of overpowering stuff, has limited the walks and has done a very good job of pitching out of trouble. On Sunday, with the boys behind him not helping out too much, he did that multiple times.

The lefty first worked around a leadoff bunt single in the first. He did the same after a two-out hit in the second and picked up Josh Reddick in the third after the Red Sox left fielder dropped a routine fly ball.

The gaffe put a runner on second with two outs, but Miller retired Pittsburgh's best hitter, Andrew McCutchen, on a grounder to second to escape.

A hit batter and an error by Marco Scutaro in the fourth led to an unearned run off Miller, but it could've been worse — the Pirates had runners on the corners with no outs.

Then came the fifth, when a bases-loaded, no-out situation resulted in just one run for Pittsburgh.

After receiving a gift when Pirates right fielder Garrett Jones overran third base and was tagged out on an RBI single by McCutchen, Miller struck out cleanup hitter Neil Walker and got back to the dugout on a fly to right off the bat of Matt Diaz.

Out of everything that Miller has shown, from fastballs on the corner in the mid-90s to a potent mix of off-speed stuff, it's that ability to bend and not break that has turned some heads in the dugout.

"I thought he showed a lot of poise," manager Terry Francona said. "We didn't finish a lot of plays behind him. We didn't make all the plays…[That] made it kind of tough. I thought he held his poise real well."

Of the five hits Pittsburgh had off Miller, two were bunt singles and one was a bloop base hit off the fists of Ronny Cedeno. The other two simply found holes in the infield. Nobody was able to truly square one up on Miller.

And when Miller was called upon to stand up for teammate Dustin Pedroia, who was knocked down in each of his first three at-bats, he did it. Sort of.

After the third instance, Pedroia was seen in the dugout telling Miller to "hit him" while pointing at James McDonald, the Pirates starter who had buzzed Pedroia's tower a few times. With the score tied in the bottom of the fifth, Miller was careful not to do too much to win over his teammates. Perhaps a bit too careful.

He walked McDonald to lead off that inning and eventually gave up a run. However, that was another one of his Harry Houdini acts, and he made up for it the next inning by trying not once, but twice, to hit Pittsburgh's catcher Eric Fryer.

Warnings were issued after Miller's second attempt sailed past Fryer's legs. It was a rather meager effort at retribution, but at least the effort was made. Miller's teammates will appreciate it.

"It's one of those things where you just want to protect your players," said catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. "Pedey's up there three times and gets one in there. You've got to protect him and that's what we were doing."

Miller's future with the Red Sox may still be up in the air. At some point, Clay Buchholz returns to the rotation. Perhaps Miller stays and Tim Wakefield returns to the bullpen. Maybe Wakefield remains a starter and Miller is made into a dangerous weapon out of the bullpen.

Whatever happens, it's safe to say that Miller has left the issues he had with Detroit and Florida behind him. He has his first win since last September, his first quality start in almost two years and is proving, after years in which he struggled to do so, that he is ready for top competition — even if it is San Diego and Pittsburgh.

"He continues to pitch major league games," Francona said. "He's got good stuff, and he's executing his pitches."

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