Ever since they returned from midseason treks to triple-A Oklahoma City, Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler have been in a similar boat.
The Dodgers continued to believe in their potential, even after porous and injury-plagued first halves of the season.
But to be counted on in October, they’d have to back it up with their late-season performances.
To this point, only one has answered the bell.
While Buehler has shown signs of life — and said he has felt more like his old self — with back-to-back encouraging starts, Miller continues to trend in the wrong direction, reaching perhaps a new low in his frustrating sophomore campaign in Wednesday night’s 10-1 loss to the Angels in Anaheim.
Miller’s first inning was an unmitigated disaster. He walked his first batter, then hit the next. He gave up two runs on back-to-back singles, then served up a first-pitch three-run homer to Mickey Moniak.
Just like that, it was 5-0 … before Miller had recorded his first out.
Things didn’t get much better for the 25-year-old right-hander from there. Despite striking out eight batters, he issued three total walks and gave up two more home runs: first to .079-batting designated hitter Niko Kavadas in the second inning, then another to Taylor Ward in the fifth.
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The five-inning, seven-run start left Miller with a 7.79 ERA in 11 outings this year (more than double his 3.76 mark in a promising 2023 debut).
And now, with Landon Knack scheduled to be called up Friday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto due back from his shoulder injury next Tuesday, as manager Dave Roberts announced pregame, it’s fair to wonder whether Miller will stay in the Dodgers’ rotation in the short term — much less be in consideration for their still-uncertain October staff.
In what has been a recurring problem for last year’s rookie star, Miller struggled to command his secondary pitches and was punished for fastballs he threw over the plate (his four-seamer averaged 98.3 mph, but induced zero whiffs).
He also continued to look out of sync with his mechanics, perhaps because of a knee issue that has bothered him since his return from a two-month midseason absence with shoulder inflammation.
The good news for the Dodgers is that pitching reinforcements are on the way.
Yamamoto’s start on Tuesday will be his first since suffering a strained rotator cuff on June 15. Though the right-handed Japanese rookie only pitched two innings in his last rehab start with triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, the 53 pitches he threw in that outing (including 17 in one at-bat against former MLB All-Star Omar Narváez) were enough for the club to feel comfortable bringing him back.
“The way we’re looking at it is we’re going to get four starts from him [before the postseason],” Roberts said of Yamamoto, who was 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA before getting hurt. “If we can log four starts and build up volume, we’ll be ready to go beyond that.”
Staff ace Tyler Glasnow is also making progress in his recovery from elbow tendinitis. He threw a flat-ground session before Wednesday’s game, and could begin throwing bullpen sessions again this weekend, according to Roberts.
If the Dodgers get both of those pitchers back in time for October (or Clayton Kershaw, who continues to play catch while nursing a bone spur on his left big toe), the team might not need Buehler or Miller in its October rotation, with Jack Flaherty and Gavin Stone showing more consistency than either to this point of the season.
But given the Dodgers’ injury luck on the mound this year, it remains highly possible that there will be openings to fill in the postseason.
In the last week, Buehler has provided reasons for optimism.
Miller, on the other hand, is going back to the drawing board.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.