San Francisco Giants left-hander Erik Miller will serve as the team's opener for Friday's series opener against the hosting Cleveland Guardians. While Miller has been successful as an opener for the Giants this year, it's a bad matchup and he's not going to be in the game long enough to qualify for a win. The 26-year-old southpaw has gone 2-2 on the season with a 3.69 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with 44 strikeouts in 39 innings of work over 40 appearances (eight starts). In his eight "starts," he's posted a sharp 1.04 ERA and 1.27 WHIP with nine strikeouts and five walks in just 8 2/3 innings pitched. After Miller is pulled from the game on Friday, the most likely candidate to work in a bulk-relief role for San Francisco will be Spencer Bivens.
Erik Miller Opening, Spencer Howard To Serve As Bulk Reliever On Monday
The San Francisco Giants announced that pitcher Erik Miller will open the game against the Chicago Cubs on Monday. Miller last pitched on June 19, where he also started, and threw one scoreless inning with one walk and two strikeouts. The left-hander will start on Monday, but Spencer Howard is expected to follow him out of the bullpen and serve as the bulk reliever. Howard has struggled as of late on the mound, giving up seven runs (six earned runs) with five walks and four strikeouts over his last 3 1/3 innings of work. He does get a favorable matchup against a Cubs offense that ranks in the bottom half of the league in most categories. Still, Howard should only be considered in extremely deep formats on Monday.
San Francisco Giants left-hander Erik Miller (calf), who was unavailable due to a sore calf over the weekend, will serve as the team's opener on Tuesday night against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies. Triple-A Sacramento right-hander Spencer Howard was being discussed as a candidate to be promoted to pitch in a bulk capacity. Miller, a 26-year-old rookie, tossed a scoreless inning in Monday's win over the Phillies but hasn't gone more than 1 2/3 innings in any of his first 26 major-league appearances this year, which includes two opening assignments already this year. Because he probably won't go more than one inning in this contest, he's completely off the streaming radar. Miller currently has a 4.38 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with 14 walks and 31 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings in his rookie season.
Erik Miller
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Giants
