Astros: The Miley Chronicles Vol. 7, The Unvarying Miley Grind

The Houston Astros won the game on June 29th, and a lot of it had to do with Wade Miley and another one of his gritty performances.

What did happen is the Astros won 2-1, and the only real blemish was the solo home run he gave up to Austin Nola, the older brother of Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies.

This was a game where the offense didn’t do much until after Miley exited the game. What he did do is get another quality start going six innings and despite only two strikeouts, he only walked two and gave up just three hits. The Miley acquisition is one that I think we will look back on as one of the smartest moves Jeff Luhnow made in the offseason.

When you look at moves teams make, the big names always get the most publicity and they should, and that is why I chose Wade Miley to focus on in 2019. He, of all people, was a perfect fit for this club. While he may not compete for a Cy Young, what he does do is add stability. You know what he’s going to give you when he’s on the bump.

After the game, Miley recognized that he got behind in his counts a lot. But he mentioned, that with the team he has behind him, you still know you can battle and win games. “That’s what great teams do”, Miley said. He knows that he could have done more, but also realizes it takes all nine players to bring the club a win some days.

Going into Denver is not usually friendly to pitchers home or away. Coors Field has yielded the most home runs in its existence than any other park. So with Miley coming into a dry and high altitude, he knew he had to keep the ball down and hit his spots.

Miley walked the first two batters he faced and only ended up surrendering a single hit that scored Charlie Blackmon, tying the game at one apiece after one inning of work. Control seemed to be an issue early on and after a mound visit by Brent Strom, he settled down and got back on track. In the next two innings, he would record two strikeouts and only two more hits.

Innings four through six, Miley had even more success racking up four additional strikeouts and only surrendering three more hits. He added another quality start, bringing his record to 7-4 with a 3.28 ERA, an OPP AVG .227, and BB/K 33/86.

With the sample size we have, I think it is safe to say that Wade Miley has embraced this club and has been embraced by the entire organization. “You have one job,” and he is doing what he is called on to do. The southpaw is making a name for himself and I see him contributing to this club all the way into October.

NOTES: Wade Miley has 11 quality starts out of 18, has allowed 3 runs or less in 16 of his 18 starts. Miley has also struck out seven or more batters five times, he has only surrendered three walks or less in four out of his 17 starts and only given up four walks in one game. Wade is also sporting a career-low WHIP of 1.171.