Skip to content

No rest necessary for Redbirds’ Miller

No rest necessary for Redbirds’ Miller

Posted: Friday, October 5, 2012 7:01 pm

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis rookie right-hander Shelby Miller didn’t get much sleep Tuesday night.
Miller and his teammates celebrated until the wee hours as the Cardinals clinched the NL’s second wild-card berth when San Francisco beat Los Angeles.
Minutes after the 1 a.m., party started, Miller was informed that he would be making his first career start on Wednesday.
“I tried to gather myself and put together a quick game plan,” Miller said.
The tired Miller did more than that. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Matt Carpenter had a run-scoring single and St. Louis beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0.
The Cardinals, who won 12 of their final 16 regular-season games, will face the Braves in Atlanta on Friday.
Cincinnati, which has won four of seven, takes on NL West champion San Francisco in an NL division series beginning Saturday.
Miller gave up a two-out bloop single to Wilson Valdez in the sixth to end his no-hit bid. He struck out seven, walked two and allowed just one hit over six innings.
“I’d say Shelby looked terrific,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He came out there against a very good team and lineup. It was pretty impressive what he was able to do.”
Miller struck out four straight hitters on 13 pitches during the fourth and fifth innings.
“He threw the ball great,” Cincinnati third baseman Scott Rolen said. “You could tell by the swings guys were taking, guys were not comfortable up there.”
Reds starter Homer Bailey, who threw a no-hitter at Pittsburgh in his previous start, tossed four shutout innings and gave up four hits. He struck out six and did not walk a batter. He gave up a leadoff single to Adron Chambers on his third pitch of the game.
“I was actually glad the first guy got a hit so we could get that whole mess done with,” Bailey said. “I just went out there and tried to get my work in and still keep the competitive feel.  It was almost a tune-up, but you can’t think of it as a tune-up until you are done.” Published in The WCP 10.4.12