Wade Miley got yanked after five pitches, and here’s why

Wade Miley started Game 5 of the NLCS for Milwaukee and was pulled after five pitches.

Seeing a manager lumber out of the dugout and trot out to the mound is never something a pitcher wants to see, especially in the postseason. Watching a manager come out pitches into a start is unfathomable, but it’s what happened on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

Call it a plot twist, but Milwaukee Brewers starter Wade Miley was pulled from Game 5 of the NLCS after five pitches and one batter. He was on four days rest, having pitched in Game 2 on Saturday, was not injured and had not allowed any runs. He was simply pulled from the game in what is being deemed strategy.

What happens after this will determine what we make of this move as far as it’s brilliance or stupidity. Almost immediately after Miley was yanked, we were offered a good — or at the very least a — reason why.

Craig Counsell is planning on pitching Miley in Game 6 of the NLCS, which will be played on Friday in Milwaukee. Some of you may be thinking ‘well why send him out there at all if he’s going to pitch again in two days’ and you wouldn’t be wrong. This is where the strategery comes in; Miley is a lefty which means Dave Roberts set his lineup for Game 5 based on the fact that his hitters were facing left handed pitching. When Miley comes out for Brandon Woodruff — a righty — the Dodgers lineup is at a disadvantage.

Roberts lineup was based on Miley being the starter for more than five pitches. That’s why he was yanked.

It’s a seemingly small thing, but one that could throw an entire analytical preparation out of whack. There’s a reason managers want certain pitcher-hitter matchups and that has everything to do with how well hitters perform against certain style of pitching.

Counsell is going for the ultimate subterfuge by bullpenning five pitches into a game, but it’s a power move that commands our respect. Whether or not the gamble ends up paying off is yet to be seen.