Shohei Ohtani moves closer to 50-50, but Bobby Miller struggles again as Dodgers lose to Marlins

MIAMI — The best thing that can be said about Bobby Miller’s sophomore season is that it’s almost over.

Miller gave up four runs in the first two innings against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night, raising his ERA for the season to 8.52. The Dodgers matched that but went on to lose, 11-9.

Along the way, Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run, his 48th home run of the season. Ohtani is one home run short of matching Shawn Green’s franchise record for home runs. Already historic as a 48-48 season – no player has had such high totals in both categories – Ohtani is two homers and two stolen bases short of the first 50-50 season in baseball history.

“No pressure. Just trying to maintain quality at-bats no matter the situation – something I’ve been trying to do over the course of the season,” Ohtani said through his interpreter of approaching history.

“It’s something that’s obviously been cumulatively been added to during the year. That really shows I’ve been contributing to the team. That being said, the team is going through a little bit of a struggle so my focus is trying to contribute to the team regardless.”

The Dodgers are indeed struggling with five losses in their past eight games, leaving the door open to the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West and the Milwaukee Brewers in the race for postseason seeding.

But no individual has struggled more than Miller this season.

After a promising rookie year in which he went 11-4 with a 3.76 ERA, much was expected of Miller this season. But he suffered a shoulder injury after making just three starts this season, returned in mid-June then was demoted to Triple-A at midseason. Things haven’t gotten better.

The Marlins didn’t hit Miller hard Tuesday. But they hit him. Five singles in a 35-pitch first inning produced two runs. Two more hits and a walk resulted in two more runs in a 30-pitch second inning.

“The main thing was just working behind hitters today. I mean yeah, I finally kept the ball inside the ballpark, but I mean the downside, two innings and a lot of pitches,” said Miller, who had given up at least one home run in every start since his first of the season. “The main goal today was keep the ball down and keep the ball on the ground, which I did for the most part. It was just finding gaps out there.

“At the end of the day, I was just falling behind in counts. That’s really just the main thing. I didn’t have my best pitch working for me, the changeup. I was leaning a lot more on the two-seamer today. I thought that was working out pretty well, getting a lot more ground balls. But yeah, it was finding gaps and working behind in counts.”

Miller’s ERA is now the highest in MLB for any pitcher who has thrown more than 42 innings. It has been a bruising year for the 25-year-old and Manager Dave Roberts said “we’ll see” if the Dodgers keep running him out there for another start or two this season.

“As I’ve talked about, performance at this point and time of the year is everything,” Roberts said. “We’ve certainly given him opportunities to right the ship so I think we’re going to circle up and we’ll make that decision possibly tomorrow.”

The poor performances have made an impact on Miller’s confidence, Roberts acknowledged.

“Yeah. And to be frank, I think it is mental,” he said. “I think he feels good physically. I think in ’pens, in side sessions, it’s been a lot better than it has been in the game. With that, there’s a mental component or a lack of confidence. There’s some block there that we unfortunately haven’t been able to break through this year.”

Miller acknowledged the season has been “definitely very frustrating” but expressed confidence that he will turn around his decline.

“I know I’m going to come out of this,” Miller said. “I’m going to be working harder than I ever have to come out of this. There is no doubt in my mind. Whenever that may be, I’m going to be back better than I ever have.”

The best part of Miller’s night came in the top of the third inning when the Dodgers scored four times to tie the game – taking him off the hook for the loss and having to go back out for another inning.

The highlight of that four-run third inning was Ohtani’s homer. But he struck out three times while going 1 for 5 and is 5 for 27 (.185) with 10 strikeouts over his past seven games – an indication he might be feeling the pressure of pursuing 50-50.

“I don’t think it’s pressure. I do think that it’s front of mind. And I do feel that’s somewhat natural,” Roberts said. “I think he just wants to get it over with, but with the fact that he’s still trying to compete and help us win baseball games.”

The Marlins kept scoring, making that difficult. The Dodgers tied the game again on Miguel Rojas’ solo home run in the fourth inning.

But the Marlins regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth against Michael Grove and Alex Vesia then extended it with two runs in the sixth against Ryan Brasier and two more in the eighth against Daniel Hudson.

All those add-ons were needed by the Marlins when Max Muncy made it a five-RBI day with a two-run double in the ninth. That brought the tying run to the plate with two outs but Tommy Edman struck out.

Only the historically dreadful Chicago White Sox have scored fewer runs than the Marlins this year but they piled up 15 hits and came up one short of matching their season-high in runs Tuesday against the Dodgers.

In their past eight games (only three wins), Dodgers starting pitchers have managed only 30⅓ innings – with a 7.71 ERA – while the relievers have had to absorb 38⅔ innings.

“It’s not easy. It’s not fun. I give the bullpen a lot of credit as far as taking the baseball,” Roberts said. “But it wasn’t a good day for the bullpen either.”