Andrew Miller continued his postseason dominance Friday night against the Blue Jays, throwing two scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Miller has now struck out 17 of the 28 batters he has faced this postseason. In the World Series era, 1,874 pitchers have pitched at least five innings in a single postseason. Only Miller has struck out over half the batters he has faced.
Historic strikeout rate
Miller has faced 12 batters this series and struck out 10 of them. Only Josh Donaldson (single in Game 1) and Ezequiel Carrera (groundout in Game 2) have even made contact.
He is the first reliever in MLB history with at least five strikeouts in back-to-back games, and the sixth to have multiple five-strikeout games out of the bullpen in a single series. Between Games 1 and 2, he struck out seven straight batters, tying a postseason record set by Phil Coke in the 2012 World Series.
The 10 total strikeouts are tied for the most by a reliever in an American League Championship Series. The only reliever with more strikeouts in a single LCS was Brad Lidge in the 2004 NLCS (14).
Dominant slider
His best weapon this postseason has been his slider. Sixty percent of Miller's pitches this postseason have been sliders. Of his 17 postseason strikeouts, 15 have come with his slider. That's the most strikeouts by any pitcher in a single postseason with his slider.
All 10 of his strikeouts against the Blue Jays have come with that pitch. Twenty-six of his 31 sliders this series have resulted in strikes. Of the 16 times the Blue Jays swung at his slider, they missed 12 times, fouled pitches off three times and put the ball in play just once (Donaldson's single in Game 1). Out of the 12 swings-and-misses, seven came on pitches the Blue Jays chased out of the zone, including five times in two-strike counts.
