ANAHEIM — If Walker Buehler’s start against the Angels on Tuesday represented a step forward in his attempt to pitch his way onto the postseason roster, Bobby Miller came out moonwalking on Wednesday.
The first five Angels batters reached base and scored against Miller, who gave up seven runs in five innings as the Angels beat the Dodgers, 10-1, Wednesday night at Angel Stadium.
The nine-run margin of victory matched the largest of the Angels’ 58 wins this season. The two SoCal neighbors split their four meetings this season, with each team winning once at the opposing team’s ballpark.
The Angels made Miller’s night miserable from the start. Leadoff man Taylor Ward drew a seven-pitch walk, two close calls going against Miller. He hit Zach Neto two pitches later and Nolan Schanuel loaded the bases with a single.
Anthony Rendon drove in two runs with a ground ball single through the middle and Mickey Moniak jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Miller, sending it into the right-field seats for a three-run home run and a 5-0 lead.
Moniak has been the most threatening hitter in the Angels’ lineup since the start of August. In his past 22 games, he has batted .320 (24 for 75) with seven home runs (including four in his past five games) and a 1.030 OPS.
Miller struck out the side after Moniak’s latest home run, but he gave up a leadoff homer to Angels DH Niko Kavadas in the second inning. The No. 9 hitter came into the game batting .079 (3 for 38) in 12 games since being promoted for the first time.
Miller retired nine consecutive batters after Kavadas’ home run – then gave up another home run to Ward when he led off the fifth inning. That was Ward’s fifth home run during a 14-game hitting streak and the first of his three hits Wednesday.
Miller’s fastball remains his biggest problem. The velocity on his four-seamer was down at times this season after he returned from a shoulder injury. It was back up Wednesday to an average of 98.3 mph. But he didn’t get a single swing-and-miss on it and two of the home runs were hit off four-seam fastballs. The third was a two-seamer.
Miller’s ERA in his sophomore season is a bloated 7.79 with 15 home runs allowed in his 11 starts.
Angels starter Griffin Canning, on the other hand, spent the night solving his problems in his best start of the season.
The 28-year-old right-hander had a 7.10 ERA in the first or second innings of his previous 26 starts this season. It was such an issue the Angels used an opener for him against the Toronto Blue Jays two starts ago. He followed that with six scoreless innings.
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He was his own opening act Wednesday, retiring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in order in the first inning and giving up just two harmless singles through six scoreless innings.
Canning’s slider and changeup were particularly effective, getting 13 of his 18 swings-and-misses against the Dodgers.
He ran out of gas in the seventh and gave up a run on two more singles including a two-out RBI single by Andy Pages before Angels manager Ron Washington went to his bullpen. Nonetheless, Canning has a 2.04 ERA over his past three games.
The Angels added three runs in the eighth inning against Dodgers right-hander Michael Petersen and finished the night 6 for 13 with runners in scoring position. They were 20 for 147 (.136) with RISP in the previous 23 games.
More to come on this story.
Staff writer Jeff Fletcher contributed to this story.
