The surprising part about this is that veteran lefthander Andrew Miller, the longtime bullpen star they signed to fix bullpen shortcomings, has been of little help so far.
In 13 games, the 33-year-old has retired the first hitter he’s faced only six times. He’s given up four home runs, one more than he allowed in each of the past two seasons, and three of those have come on two-strike counts. He’s walked eight and hit three batters in 11 innings. In spring training, he had an earned-run average of 11.81.
There have been flashes of the dominance Miller displayed in the American League, most recently with Cleveland and the New York Yankees.