notes
Showalter: Miley living up to hopes
LHP produced quality start in loss; Pearce not in lineup against lefty
“You do look for it, but I would have been real surprised if it was a challenge for him,” Showalter said. “He's done it a lot and he rolls with the punches. He's very competitive and I think he's got a lot of confidence that he's going to be pitching every fifth day and he can do the job.”
After making his second Orioles start Tuesday night in Oakland, Miley conceded he's still getting accustomed to his new team, but said he felt much more comfortable in his second outing than his first. That showed on the mound, where Miley was able to mix his pitches well in a quality start against the Oakland Athletics in the Orioles' 2-1 loss at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Miley came to the Orioles with a reputation as a ground-ball pitcher, and nine of his 18 outs came on ground balls as he relied almost equally on his fastball (25 pitches), sinker (20) and changeup (24) to keep hitters off balance.
“A lot of balls on the ground,” Showalter said. “And [he] made very few mistakes. … Everything we were hoping we were getting with him. He's been impressive.”
Miley's outing was different from his first start with the Orioles on Aug. 4, when he relied more heavily on his fastball and allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings.
“I still have the jitters going in just like every start, but, yeah, it felt a lot better,” Miley said.
Pearce said he felt good enough to play Wednesday against Athletics left-hander
“I told them I could swing right now,” Pearce said. “I feel great. But they really want to make sure that it's completely gone. This is the competitor in me, the athlete. I want to get out there. I want to play. I feel great. But I think the smartest thing to do is let this thing completely heal up so I'm 100 percent down the stretch.”
The lineup allowed Showalter to stack the top of his lineup with five right-handed hitters against Detwiler. He also put second baseman
“It's a presentation of where they are in the bullpen,” Showalter said. “They took a left-hander out of there and have a left-hander tonight. It was the best fit to try to put Jon in a different place.”