The Cardinals got a firsthand look at Shelby Miller for the first time since they traded him to the Braves after last season. They saw that he’s made the leap from solid young pitcher to dominant All-Star.
They also witnessed why Miller’s fine pitching for the Braves doesn’t lead to victories often enough. He’s almost always good enough but the offense is so weak it doesn’t matter.
Miller took another tough-luck loss when Stephen Piscotty hit a sacrifice fly against reliever Luis Avilan in the bottom of the eighth inning. The 1-0 loss was the Braves’ 10th in their last 13 games and extended Miller’s career-high losing streak to six games.
Miller (5-7) held the Cardinals to two hits over 7 1/3 innings. He allowed just one base runner past first. He retired 12 batters in a row from the fourth through seventh innings.
And yet Miller lost, again. He had to answer the same question about whether pitching well enough to win but getting no support is getting to him.
“That’s not a big deal,” Miller said. “I’m going to come back every five days and try to do my job.”
There’s not much else for Miller to say anymore. He’s gone 12 consecutive starts without a win in spite of posting a 2.96 ERA over that span. Entering Saturday, the 2.78 runs per nine innings the Braves scored in support of Miller tied for the sixth-lowest in the majors, and his eight starts with zero runs in support was tied for the most in baseball.
Miller got no runs in support for the ninth time. The Braves (45-52) couldn’t score against Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez (11-4) in spite of getting eight runners on base against him over eight innings. A.J. Pierzynski ended the game by grounding into a double play against Randy Choate, the fourth double play turned by the Cardinals.
“It’s disappointing for us to have him throw the way he does every day and just not come through with runs,” Braves second baseman Jace Peterson said. “It’s frustrating for us and I know it is for him, too.”
The Cardinals (63-34) created one opening against Miller and converted.
Yadier Molina broke Miller’s outs streak at 12 with a single to begin the eighth inning. Miller walked the next batter, Randal Grichuk, and Mark Reynolds flied out to center field to move pinch runner Pete Kozma to third base.
That prompted Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez to bring in left-hander Avilan from the bullpen with lefty hitter Dan Johnson on deck as a potential pinch hitter. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny countered with pinch hitter Piscotty.
Piscotty hit a fly ball to right fielder Nick Markakis, who had a chance to get Kozma at the plate but his throw wasn’t in time. Miller went on to take another loss.
“How much more can he do other than drive in a couple runs himself?” Gonzalez said. “He pitched great. He out-pitched Martinez, he really did.”
The Cardinals selected Miller in the first round of the 2009 draft and he played for the big-league club in the past three seasons. Miller and outfielder Jason Heyward were the principle players in the offseason trade.
Before the game, Miller said he was excited to pitch in St. Louis again. Gonzalez predicted Miller might naturally be too eager early before settling down.
But if there were any nerves or extra adrenalin for Miller, it didn’t show because he was sharp from the beginning. The only ball the Cardinals hit hard against him was Kolten Wong’s shot to left field that Eury Perez tracked down at the warning track for the second out in the sixth.
Cardinals fans gave Miller a standing ovation when he went to bat for the first time. They cheered him again when he left the game.
“It was everything you expected it to be,” Miller said. “It was a lot of fun.”
