Bobby Miller gets surprise hero moment for Dodgers after very difficult road

Bobby Miller gave himself just one rule as he returned to the majors for the first time in more than a year on Sunday.“The mindset this year is just, don’t be afraid to go out there and fail,” the Dodgers pitcher said.“I’ve thrown really good games here.

I’ve thrown some really bad games here.So at the end of the day … I’m just going to go out there and not be scared to fail, and see what happens.”In the team’s 7-5 win over the Nationals, that mindset received the ultimate test.Summoned with the score tied in the sixth on a night the Dodgers’ pitching depth was running precariously thin, Miller found himself on the mound for three of the game’s highest-leverage — and most dramatic — frames.In his first inning of work, he pitched through an unheard-of Dodger Stadium rainstorm, in which he did well to limit damage to one run.In the next two, he had to keep the deficit there to set up Mookie Betts’ decisive three-run homer in the eighth.By the end of his three-inning, one-run, winning-decision outing, he had become the unexpected hero in a sweep-clinching victory.On the same mound where he once looked like a star in the making, then faded amid stark regression and repeated injuries, he finally got to take a victory lap again.“It’s [been] a very difficult road, and I give him a lot of credit for continuing to fight and to be a part of this,” manager Dave Roberts said.“He essentially won us the game,” echoed Betts.

“It’s great to see him out there after a couple years.His stuff looked great, confidence looked good.

So he’ll be a good piece for us.”Miller has not been talked about this way in long time, not since the promise of his breakout rookie campaign in 2023 (when he went 11-4 with a 3.76 ERA in 22 starts) was tarnished by a series of health- and performance-related detours in the three seasons since.In 2024, the former first-round draft pick and top minor-league prospect developed a shoulder issue after a scoreles...