Voice of Brad Miller

By Greg Echlin

Cleveland Indians second baseman Brad Miller had the team’s only two hits, a single and a double, in the their 3-0 loss against the Kansas City Royals Saturday night.  He has a history for spraying the ball around at Kauffman Stadium.

Miller was close to hitting for the cycle at Kauffman Stadium three years ago, and he has a prediction on who will be the next Royals players to hit for one.  A Royals player hasn’t accomplished it since George Brett in 1990.

“I’m going to put my money on Whit Merrifield doing it at some point.  It would not surprise me,” said Miller before Saturday night’s game.

Despite Miller’s prediction, Alex Gordon nearly accomplished it in the series opener between the Royals and the Indians.  Gordon homered in the opening inning of a six-run outburst against Indians starter Carlos Carrasco, then doubled in the next inning.  When Gordon doubled again in the fourth, he was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple.

“The hardest one to get, especially for me, is probably the triple,” said Gordon after the game.  “That was a perfect situation.  They just had a good relay and I’m not that fast anymore.”

Gordon ended up matching his career-high with four hits after hitting a single in the eighth.

So why would Miller give the edge to Merrifield over Gordon and shortstop Adalberto Mondesi?

“I feel like Whit’s got that power-speed combination,” said Miller.  “It’s a great park for triples and every time I play him he gets four hits anyway.”

Miller was only a homer away from hitting for the cycle at Kauffmann on May 31, 2016, in his best season as a major leaguer with Tampa Bay.  He doubled in the first, tripled in the fifth and singled in the sixth.  But when Miller faced Chris Young, a former Mariners teammate who gave up 28 homers in ’16, Miller wasn’t able to seize the opportunity to complete the cycle.

Ironically, it was Miller’s best season as the every-day shortstop for the Rays hitting the long ball.  He slugged 30 homers to become the first left-hand hitting shortstop to reach that plateau.