Mason Miller‘s unreal homerless streak came to an end in the top of the ninth inning at Petco Park on Tuesday night via a go-ahead solo shot from Oneil Cruz, the only run of the game in the San Diego Padres‘ 1-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Up until then, Miller hadn’t given up a home run in over a calendar year.
After the game, Padres manager Craig Stammen summed up the rare misstep from baseball’s most dominant closer in a few words.
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“He’s human,” Stammen told reporters. “Part of the gig when you’re pitching. Every once in a while, someone’s gonna get you.”
Or, as Miller put it when his manager’s comments were relayed to him, “Humans can be idiots sometimes.”
“Tip your hat,” Miller told reporters. “Good swing. Crushed it obviously. But I just can’t be throwing that pitch in that spot.”
The pitch, a changeup, was perhaps just as rare a sighting from Miller as the long ball. It’s the third pitch in his repertoire, but his fastball and slider are both so effective that he only throws it 2% of the time this season, according to Baseball Savant. And of that 2%, he’s thrown the changeup exclusively to left-handed batters.
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Miller felt good about his pitch selection, which he says was part of his plan from the scouting reports and prep work he had done leading up to the series against the Pirates. He tried to place it low and away but, instead, left it hanging over the inside part of the plate; a disastrous location against lefties, especially those with as much pop as Cruz.
The result was predictable: a 111.8 mph missile over the porch in right field.
“Looking back, I can be a good enough self-evaluator to say that that was a stupid pitch,” Miller said. “But, yeah, I was convicted in it and had a plan. Didn’t execute it.”
Miller’s status was unclear throughout most of Tuesday, as he had thrown 30 pitches in Monday’s 12-inning loss to the Pirates and pitched in three of their last four games. But Miller said that didn’t factor in. He went through his normal pregame routine and let Stammen know he was ready if he needed to be called upon.
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“I felt good enough to go today,” Miller said. “We had a lot of guys throw yesterday. That’s part of my value and part of my responsibility to this team and to my teammates − to be available any time that I can.
“My workload’s been high. But it wasn’t: ‘Yeah, I wasn’t feeling good, didn’t have my best stuff.’ I think it was just one dumb pitch, and that’s kind of the story.”
Stammen, meanwhile, wasn’t going to be one to question his shut-down closer in that situation.
“When a pitcher like Mason says ‘Hey, give me the ball,’ you’re willing and able to give him the ball,” Stammen said. “Especially where we’re at in the season.”
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The Padres, one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past month, entered Wednesday just a half-game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final wild card spot in the National League.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘He’s human’: Mason Miller gave up his first home run in over a year
