Against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, Wade Miley only had one bad inning. It was the second inning, when the Reds had three men cross the plate when the first four batters reached safely. Todd Frazier singled, Scott Rolen walked in a 15-pitch at-bat, Chad Heisey singled and Ryan Hanigan singled. But the inning was really quite unfortunate on the whole, according to manager Kirk Gibson.
"That was just a tough inning," said Gibson after the ballgame. "Wade did a really good job, actually." He noted that the three hits were off the end of the bat and that Rolen's walk, the 15-pitcher, was the result of a "crafty" guy who has been around the game a long time.
Gibson said the inning "wasn't really fair," but gave credit to the Reds hitters. "You've got to give those guys credit for putting it in play," Gibson said. "It just didn't fall our way that inning."
Miley was a bit more critical of himself.
"I made some bad pitches in the second," he said. "Rolen...great at-bat. Everything I threw up there he got a piece of and drew a walk and -- a big inning...He was battling. I threw him in, out, up, down and he was just nicking it."
The opposing pitcher, Johnny Cueto, was tough. Arizona was able to scratch through a couple of runs, but that was it. They had four hits on the night.
Gibson gave Cueto, a 17-game winner on the year now, a lot of credit. "He's good. He's really good," he said. "His slider's really good. From a hitter, everything comes out of the same slot. It's unusual. He's very good and you've got to take advantage of any situation you got."
They really did. It just wasn't enough.
Catcher Miguel Montero had more praises for Cueto.
"He mixed his speeds pretty good and he locates his fastball pretty well, too, and keeps the ball down," he told reporters after the game. "He's good, man. You've got to give him credit. he just pretty much never gave in, and he's a tough guy to phase because when you go out there looking for something, it's like he just reads your mind. It's like he never throws you what you're looking for...He's have a hell of a year."
He said that, despite throwing a 94-mile an hour fastball, "it's a kind of sneaky 94 that's even harder" because he is able to hide the ball well. "His secondary stuff is a plus, too," Miggy added.
In the end, the result was a tough night overall. Arizona loses for the fifth time in a row and the seventh time this homestand. They now sit eight and a half games out of the division lead and seven and a half out of the wild card. They are struggling at the worst time of the year.
It looks like everyone is waiting for someone to do something get the team started, but no one is doing anything. If that keeps up, the end of the season will turn out ugly.
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