Right-hander Bobby Miller takes the mound for the first time this season as the Los Angeles Dodgers meet the visiting Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in the finale of a three-game series.
Not only did Miller struggle early last season amid speculation that he was headed for a breakout year, he went through a shoulder injury and a demotion to Triple-A.
A long shot to make the Opening Day rotation this season, those hopes officially were dashed when he was hit in the head by a line drive during his first spring training outing.
Miller went through concussion protocol before resuming his preparation for the season. He opened the year with three minor league appearances (two starts) at Oklahoma City with a 2.25 ERA. He had 11 strikeouts in 12 innings but also had 11 walks.
The Dodgers will have to make a roster move before Wednesday’s game in order to activate Miller.
With right-hander Landon Knack in the Dodgers’ rotation as a replacement for left-hander Blake Snell (shoulder), Miller essentially becomes the team’s occasional sixth starter. The club intends to give right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki a week between starts when it can.
In two career starts against the Rockies, Miller is 1-0 with a 4.73 ERA.
The Dodgers set themselves up for the series sweep with a 6-2 victory Tuesday. Will Smith belted a three-run home run and Tommy Edman had four hits as Los Angeles improved to 12-2 at home against Colorado over the past two seasons.
“We talked about (the quality of at-bats) and addressed it,” Smith said on the SportsNet LA broadcast about the club’s recent run of six losses in nine games. “It’s working counts, hunting the right pitches, hunting the right zones, getting the starting pitcher’s pitch count up and get into the bullpen early in games. That’s what we have done the last two nights.”
The Rockies are set to send right-hander German Marquez (0-2, 4.60 ERA) to the mound. It will be just the ninth start in three seasons for Marquez, who had Tommy John surgery in 2023 and a stress reaction in his elbow last year.
Marquez went six scoreless innings in his season debut against the Philadelphia Phillies but has given up a combined 10 runs (eight earned) in consecutive starts against the Athletics and San Diego Padres. Six of those runs (five earned) came at San Diego on Friday.
Marquez is 3-5 with a 3.75 ERA in 17 career starts versus the Dodgers.
What Marquez could use is run support. The Colorado offense has been struggling but is showing signs of life with five runs in the first two games of the series against the Dodgers after not scoring a single run in a three-game visit to San Diego.
Rockies manager Bud Black is relying on young talent as he tries to stay patient while waiting for the team to turn a corner.
“There’s going to be some growing pains, both offensively and defensively,” Black said. “But in the long run, they’ll be better off for playing in games like this, in this ballpark, against this team.”
Jacob Stallings had a two-run double for Colorado on Tuesday, but the lineup had just one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings against four Dodgers relievers, who combined for eight strikeouts.
–Field Level Media
