Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani heads back to the dugout after striking out against San Francisco Giants reliever Erik Miller in the seventh inning of a MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, May 15, 2023. LOS ANGELES — As a middle reliever, Erik Miller doesn’t typically handle many media responsibilities. But a few hours prior to first pitch Tuesday afternoon, a crowd of reporters huddled around the left-hander’s locker in the visitors’ clubhouse.
San Francisco Giants’ Erik Miller pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Cleveland. “Anytime you strike him out, it’s cool,” Miller said. “You always want strikeouts, but obviously there are certain guys that it feels a little better with.”
“I mean, I only have three pitches, so he’s seen all the tricks I’ve got at this point,” Miller said. “I think it’s now just a sequencing thing, like can you do something he hasn’t see before? At some point if you face a guy long enough, it’s just like mano a mano, can I beat you? Here’s my best stuff.”So, what is it about Miller that makes him so difficult on the game’s most-feared hitter? It’s not the platoon advantage.