Indians' Miller defends Showalter for saving Britton

Buck Showalter's decision to not use Zach Britton against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League wild-card game generated plenty of scorn from the baseball world, but not from one of his former pitchers.

Cleveland Indians reliever Andrew Miller, who played for the Baltimore Orioles under Showalter in 2014, still describes the skipper's bullpen management skills as second to none despite the dubious decision to hold back Britton in a must-win game.

"He's getting buried right now, but I tell people all the time how good he was," Miller told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick on Wednesday. "That's his reputation. It's not just me that's out there saying it. Today might not be the day to do it, but if you polled front-office guys who are out there, I think in general he would be as well-regarded as anybody at that particular skill.''

Showalter neglected to use Britton - a Cy Young candidate with a 0.54 ERA who converted all 47 of his save opportunities in the regular season - against the Blue Jays, waiting for an opportunity when his club had the lead. In the 11th inning, however, Showalter's patience backfired when Edwin Encarnacion hit a walk-off, three-run shot off Ubaldo Jimenez to send the Blue Jays to the ALDS, and the Orioles home.

"I'm as surprised as anybody Britton didn't find his way into that game,'' Miller told Crasnick. "But even with the earlier moves, (Darren) O'Day and (Brad) Brach did such a good job, it almost looked like, 'Buck knows what he's doing. He's got something going on.' It just backfired.

"If it worked out, everybody would have said he was a genius and had it all figured out. That's just the way it goes.''