Sometimes, it all evens out.
Two weeks ago, Wade Miley won a game in which he walked seven batters because the Boston Red Sox scored 12 runs against the Toronto Blue Jays. On Friday night, Miley was far less fortunate.
The left-hander tossed seven-plus shutout innings Friday, yet the Red Sox fell 1-0 to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mike Trout launched a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to hand Boston its first loss of the second half.
“Wade was outstanding. That was a well-played game and unfortunately we come up on the wrong side of a 1-0 score,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “But he was aggressive, he threw a lot of strikes, there were some at-bats he got behind in the count but found a way back in to salvage an at-bat. Makes a big pitch a couple of times on 3-2 counts. He was very good.”
Miley didn’t allow a baserunner until the sixth inning. He surrendered only one hit — a leadoff double by Kole Calhoun in the seventh inning — and struck out six before Farrell turned to the bullpen following an eight-pitch walk to David Freese to open the bottom of the eighth inning.
It was a strong performance spoiled by Boston’s inability to cash in with men on base. The Red Sox went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. They had one baserunner in each of the first eight innings against Angels starter C.J. Wilson.
“The inability to bunch the hits together,” Farrell said. “I thought David took some good swings against (Wilson). Pablo (Sandoval) with a couple of good swings. (Xander Bogaerts) obviously two base hits. … We I thought had a very good approach overall and yet the hits weren’t there to fall in.”
Miley, who also started Boston’s final game before the Major League Baseball All-Star break, opened the Red Sox’s second half by rolling through the first five innings. Chris Iannetta worked a five-pitch walk with one out in the sixth, but even then, Miley rebounded to record back-to-back outs.
Calhoun’s seventh-inning double ended Miley’s quest for a no-hitter. It also backed the lefty into a corner, as Calhoun advanced to third base two pitches later when Trout flied out to the warning track in right-center field. But Bogaerts made an excellent defensive play ranging into the hole with two outs to retire Erick Aybar and prevent the Angels from jumping into the runs column.
Farrell called upon Tazawa after Miley walked Freese in the eighth. Tazawa overcame hard contact to retire all three batters he faced, but Koji Uehara couldn’t send the game into extra frames. The Red Sox closer entered with a scoreless tie in the ninth inning and surrendered a towering, walk-off blast to Trout with two outs. Miley didn’t suffer the loss, but the Red Sox’s defeated certainly spoiled his effort.
Miley threw 11 first-pitch strikes in his seven-plus innings. He induced nine ground ball outs, which typically is a positive sign for Miley. The Red Sox definitely will take performances like that from their starters each time out. Unfortunately for Boston, it doesn’t work that way.
Good teams find ways to capitalize on opportunities. The Red Sox received a gem from Miley to begin their seven-game road trip — a stretch that could dictate their season — and they squandered it, dropping them to 7 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees in the American League East.
Thumbnail photo via Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports Images
