The red-hot Marlins suffered two big losses in one game Monday night: They lost for the first time since April 11 and after the game they put left-hander Andrew Miller on the disabled list.
Miller will be out at least two weeks with a strained right oblique. He was put on the DL after allowing four runs in 4 2/3 innings in Florida's 8-0 loss to the Pirates. "His arm is great, but instead of putting him in a situation where he may hurt his arm, let's back off for 15 days and take a step back and get going again," manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
"Sometimes you can't power balls in where you want to because of your back. He was pitching today at 86, 87 miles an hour. He's usually at 92, 91."
The Marlins will call up a pitcher Tuesday. Miller's next turn in the rotation is Sunday, but the pitcher who comes up from the minors might go to the bullpen, meaning the Marlins could move someone like LHP Dan Meyer or RHP Hayden Penn into the rotation.
"Obviously, I went out there, and essentially the way I threw put us out of this game," Miller said, trying to not use the soreness as any excuse. "It's not an excuse for any of the pitches I made, but it's just not getting any better. I didn't have that second gear when I wanted to put somebody away. When I wanted to throw harder I was pitching at 80, 85 percent."
PIRATES 8, MARLINS 0: The seven-game winning streak ended with a thud. After mounting ninth-inning comebacks in each of their last three games, the Marlins couldn't get anything going. Their lineup got two hits. And if giving up eight runs on 11 hits wasn't bad enough, their pitchers also unleashed three wild pitches, let runners steal three bases and committed a costly balk.
