Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Dodgers return couldn't come soon enough after Bobby Miller mess

When the Dodgers rolled into Anaheim for a quick two-game set against the Angels, it looked like (and should've been) an easy sweep opportunity. Put the .600 Dodgers up against the .400 Angels and the odds are obviously, squarely in the former's favor. Game 1 went about the way everyone expected, with a 6-2 win for the Dodgers, but then Bobby Miller got the ball for the start of Game 2.

Miller all but cemented his status as washed with his showing in Anaheim. The Angels got the scoring started immediately with a two-run single off the bat of Anthony Rendon (Anthony Rendon!) in the bottom of the first, which Mickey Moniak then tacked three more runs onto with a homer. Miller got out of the inning with three strikeouts, but then Niko Kavadas joined in on the slugfest with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the second.

The third and fourth went by without issue, but in the fifth Miller gave up another homer to Taylor Ward, walked back-to-back batters, and got lucky when Rendon grounded into a double play and Moniak lined out. The Dodgers, meanwhile, couldn't put a single run on the board until the seventh, when Andy Pages picked up his first RBI since being called back up to the majors.

Thankfully, the Dodgers announced before the game that a key asset would be headed back to the majors next Tuesday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will return after almost two months on the IL and presumably kick Miller right back to Triple-A.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto set to return to Dodgers on Tuesday as clear replacement for still-struggling Bobby Miller

Miller's start was confusing. He gave up three walks and three bombs, but he also only gave up two other hits for singles and struck out eight batters. If this was April or May, then the Dodgers might keep him the majors and work with him on the long ball problem while encouraging more of that swing-and-miss. But it's September, and Miller has already been injured and demoted, so patience should be nonexistent.

The Dodgers really had no other choice when Yamamoto wasn't an option, but now that he will be again, Miller should already be expecting to pack his bags and head back to Oklahoma City.

Miller's decline this season, like Walker Buehler's, has been mystifying, but he very well may be consigning himself to the life of a Quad-A, emergency call up starter in 2025 -- or for as long as it takes for him to show that he's still capable of capitalizing on the promise he displayed in 2023.