Ex-Stanford lefty Miller mixes it up to get the best of Ohtani
LOS ANGELES — Erik Miller got a great deal of interest from the Japanese media covering the Dodgers on Tuesday because the San Francisco Giants’ reliever, in a very small sample size, owns Shohei Ohtani.
Miller has faced the two-time MVP four times, including once Monday in the series opener, and he has struck out Ohtani in each at-bat. Manager Bob Melvin noted postgame that he has Miller in mind for that part of Los Angeles’ lineup for that reason: to face the NL’s home run leader.
“Yeah, it’s not easy to do,” Melvin said, adding that Ohtani “obviously just doesn’t see him well at this point. But yeah, that’s why Miller is in the game there.”
Miller has struck out Ohtani with all his pitches: slider (twice), fastball and changeup.
“You’ve got to keep mixing it up,” Miller said. “I mean, I have three pitches. He’s seen all the tricks I’ve got at this point, so now it’s just you don’t want to see a pattern with the first, second pitch every time. It’s just kind of a sequence thing.
“At some point, when you’ve been around long enough, it’s kind of mano a mano. Like, can I beat you? Here’s all my best stuff. With him, it’s still really hard to do.”
Miller, a left-hander from Stanford, has been a strong addition to the bullpen this season. His 46 appearances are secondmost among rookies after Cleveland’s Hunter Gaddis, and over his past 11 outings, Miller has allowed one run and struck out 13 in 102⁄3 innings.
A great boost for a rookie is sparkly numbers against one of the game’s biggest names. “It always helps to have better numbers against one of a team’s better hitters,” Miller said. He called his success against Ohtani “weird” and said “the chances of that happening against someone who doesn’t strike out a ton is low. To do it four times is crazy.”
Miller agrees with Melvin that Ohtani must not see his pitching pattern yet, and he also thinks his stuff might match up well with Ohtani’s (very minor) vulnerable spots.
“Being able to go up in the zone with a fastball with higher velocity, then sliders out of the way and then mixing in changeups. It’s probably not something you see so often,” Miller said. “I don’t know how long I can keep it up, striking him out every time, but hopefully as long as I can.”
Giants add an outfielder: The Giants acquired outfielder Derek Hill, who is from Elk Grove (Sacramento County), on waivers from the Rangers before Tuesday’s game.
A right-handed hitter, Hill could report to the team this week , which probably points toward Luis Matos getting optioned.
The team had a spot on the 40-man roster open, but it needed one for Robbie Ray to come off the 60-day injured list to start against the Dodgers, so it would need to clear a second for Hill.
Hill is batting .256 with three homers in 16 games, and he’s considered a good defender with speed.
Ray was set to make his Giants debut Wednesday night against Los Angeles.