Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley has admitted that self-imposed pressure has played a role in his recent struggles.
Miley has not won since May 10, which covers his last eight starts. Though he has pitched decently, never giving up more than four earned runs during that stretch, his 3-6 record and 4.78 ERA are a far cry from what he had achieved in the previous two seasons. And his problems have been magnified with Arizona on pace to lose nearly 100 games.
"I really shouldn't put that burden on myself," Miley told the Arizona Republic. "It's a thing you tend to do because, yeah, I want to be there for my teammates, but I haven't had any consistency. I've had a couple good games, then a bad one. ... I've just got to go out and pitch when it's my turn to pitch and not worry about everything else.
"...I've got to learn to leave all the other stuff behind, whether we're struggling and lost three in a row or whatever, and don't try and say, 'Hey, I've got to try to pull us out of this.' You get caught up in trying to be the guy that turns everything around and you just create more struggles for yourself."
Miley is coming off his worst start in two months, a four-inning effort against Cleveland in which he gave up four earned runs.