:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35079369/20140624_pjc_ak4_190.JPG.0.jpg)
|
|
Diamondbacks Lineup
- Ender Inciarte - CF
- Martin Prado - 3B
- Paul Goldschmidt - 1B
- Miguel Montero - C
- Aaron Hill - 2B
- Cody Ross - RF
- David Peralta - :LF
- Nick Ahmed - SS
- Wade Miley - P
This will be one of my shorter previews, since I only started putting it together after the second Belgian goal went in against the United Stats, effectively ending it as a contest. And as I write that, of course, the United States pulls a goal back, so I sense this preview may be very short, as I spend the next 13 minutes running back and forth to the living-room, just in case. This is a series between two clubs who probably could be classed as underachieving in the first half: I'm fairly sure the Pirates were hoping to build on last year's success, rather than finding themselves occupying fourth place in the NL Central, and hovering around .500.
Wade Miley has had a disappointing 2014 campaign, managing a quality start in less than half of his 17 starts for the Diamondbacks. Like Brandon McCarthy, his struggles are mostly the result of a sharply increased home-run rare. He's allowing hits and walking people at about the same rate as last year, and Miley's K-rate has increased from 6.5 to 8.2 per nine innings. However, his home-run rare has ballooned from 0.9 to 1.5, and that has taken Wade's ERA with it. He has lost once in six games when not allowing a home-run; his record is 2-2 when allowing exactly one; and he is 0-3 with a 7.43 ERA in four games where he has allowed more than one.