Miles Mikolas isn't supposed to be a dominant pitcher. In fact, he's not even supposed to be pitching in the big leagues. Not now, maybe not ever, who knows? But due to the Rangers' circumstances this year, that's exactly what he's doing.
On Tuesday, he opened a series in his native Florida against the Miami Marlins and improved over his past two outings but still wasn't good enough to pitch the Rangers to victory.
Mikolas worked just five innings and allowed three runs on eight hits while striking out six, always working in pressure situations with runners on base. For the most part, he got out of the trouble while racking up his pitch count, but the Marlins got to him just enough as they ended up edging Texas in the 10th inning while Mikolas took a no-decision.
Ron Washington said after the game he was happy with Mikolas' stuff but wished he would've worked deeper into the game like he has twice recently when he's pitched into the eighth inning in a win over the Yankees and a tough-luck loss to Cleveland.
Mikolas said he was excited to pitch in front of friends and family near his hometown of Jupiter, Fla.
"It was great, friends and family came out," Mikolas told reporters. "All my coaches and teammates from back at [nearby Nova Southeastern University] came, my high school coach, my high school teammates. It was fun to know that they were out there."
