Wade Miley is now pitching like the ace we thought he could be. Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Finally. this is the guy who we thought who could be the ace. This is the pitcher who I thought could win 18 games. OK, so maybe Wade Miley won’t meet that lofty prediction in 2014 but his recent outings indicate that maybe his season-long slump is over. The 27-year old lefty recorded his third consecutive strong start yesterday as the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Francisco Giants by a score of 2-0.
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Miley has started a league-leading 20 games and is now 5-6 with a 4.18 ERA. He appears to be on pace to exceed his 33 starts and 202 2/3 innings for a season ago. Best of all, in four out of his last five starts, he has given up three earned runs or less. Moreover, he is starting to pitch like the #1 guy most of us thought he could be once Patrick Corbin was declared out for the season. Last Sunday, he allowed only one run over 6 2/3 innings to prevent the D’backs from getting swept at the hands of the Atlanta Braves. Yesterday, he was able to even the series against the Giants by throwing seven innings of shutout ball, allowing only four hits while walking three and striking out four. Frankly, he should be on a three- game winning streak as on July 1st, he shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates for eight innings. He allowed the first two hitters to reach base in the ninth before Addison Reed came in to give up the game. It was his best outing of the season as there were no walks and ten strikeouts.
The Diamondbacks may be 15 games under .500 but that doesn’t mean they won’t be interesting after the All-Star Break. One of the reasons will be Wade Miley, who we hope can finish strong and carry that momentum into 2015.