LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Against a team that rocked him 15 days earlier in his Grapefruit League debut, Braves pitcher Shelby Miller got entirely different results Sunday as he moved closer to being regular-season ready.
Miller gave up one run, four hits and one walk with four strikeouts in five innings of a 5-3 win against Detroit, his third consecutive solid outing since a March 7 debut when he gave up three runs, four hits and two walks in one-third of an inning against the Tigers.
Granted, it was a split-squad lineup he faced Sunday that included only a few of Detroit’s top hitters. But Miller was sharp, and in his past three starts he’s allowed 10 hits, two runs and four walks in 12 innings.
“He’s progressing well,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He made some nice pitches down in the strike zone early in the game. It was nice to see that.”
Miller said, “I’m on a good stretch of games. I still have to get better, though.”
His past two starts have been especially encouraging for Miller, who last week pitched four scoreless innings of four-hit ball against the Red Sox before a sold-out St. Pat’s Day crowd at Fenway South in Fort Myers.
“I feel good. Definitely the strongest I’ve felt in a while,” said Miller, who came to the Braves from St. Louis in the Jason Heyward trade in November. “I put on, like, 15 pounds this offseason and I feel stronger. You just feel more poise, and you become a better pitcher than a thrower. You just figure things out quicker the more time you get in the game.”
Miller also credited Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell and all of the team’s catchers for helping him prepare and figure things out. He relished pitching again Sunday to veteran A.J. Pierzynski, who caught some of his starts last season when both were Cardinals. He said Pierzynski doesn’t shy away from letting the pitcher know when he’s doing something wrong, as he did a couple of times with Miller during Sunday’s game.
“I’ve thrown to him multiple times in my career,” Miller said. “He’s a great catcher, great veteran guy who you want in a clubhouse, and a great leader. And he’s done nothing but that since he got here. He called a great game today
