Thursday was not Wade Miley’s night.
The Boston Red Sox left-hander was roughed up by the Baltimore Orioles for five runs on nine hits through four innings — including home runs by Adam Jones, Nolan Reimold and Manny Machado — in his team’s 6-5 loss. Miley labored through 69 pitches and 20 batters in those four innings, and while he wasn’t wild (he didn’t walk or hit any batters), the home runs alone underscored his inability to hit his spots.
Steven Wright was warming in the Red Sox bullpen to open the bottom of the fourth, which began with Boston trailing 4-3. Miley quickly retired the first two batters but threw a 90-mph fastball down the pipe for Machado, who crushed it deep into the left-center field bleachers.
Miley recovered with his third and final strikeout of the night, sitting Reimold down on three pitches. Red Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough, though, and decided to pull Miley after the inning.
When Farrell told Miley, the southpaw looked less than pleased.
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Miley returned to the dugout for the bottom half of the inning and appeared to be much calmer. But still, if this is what it looks like, it’s not a good situation for the Red Sox and really is a microcosm of the frustration that’s probably boiling inside the clubhouse.
Stay tuned for reaction from Farrell and Miley.
