Dodgers fans who closely follow their beloved team’s minor league affiliates have been looking forward to and waiting anxiously for this day to arrive – the day when 24-year-old right-hander Bobby Miller finally gets called up to ‘The Show.’

That day finally came on Tuesday morning, May 23, 2023, when the popular Elk Grove Village, IL native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2020 out of the University of Louisville was called up to the Big club to replace 30-year-old right-hander Tyler Cyr, who was placed on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder impingement and 25-year-old right-hander Dustin May, who was transferred to the 60-day injured list while recovering from a flexor pronator strain that is expected to keep him out of action for a minimum of four to six weeks.

Miller did not disappoint his fans, his teammates, and the hundreds of thousands on Dodgers fans watching their beloved team on national television take on the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon.

Miller went 5.0 innings in his major league debut, allowing only one run on four hits with one walk and five strikeouts to earn his first MLB win, as the NL West first-place Dodgers clobbered the NL East first-place Atlanta Braves by a lopsided score of 8-1.

“As confident as I looked out there, I was very nervous under that poker face,” Miller admitted to SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “But got to focus on my breathing and tell myself it’s the same game, so nothing changes, stick to the gameplan, trust (Dodges catcher) Will (Smith) behind the plate. I didn’t shake him off at all and he got me to the promised land.”

“For him to arrive and pitch like he did on a stage like this (against) a team like this, and the way he showed, really encouraging for all of us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his young right-hander postgame. “For me, the biggest takeaway is when it got a little hot, when he needed to make a pitch, he was able to not overthrow. Also really impressive how he held his velocity for 90 pitches.”

That velocity frequently hit – or topped – the century mark.

“He throws 100 mph. You’re going to go at guys and challenge them, but they were kind of on it, so we had to get off of that and go another route,” Smith said postgame of Miller’s fastball. “He did a good job of doing that.”

“Boy, there’s a lot to like about Bobby Miller,” quipped popular former Dodger Rick Monday during his AM 570 LA Sports radio broadcast of Tuesday’s game.

Miller became the 13th LA Dodgers starting pitcher to win his major league debut and the first to do so since former Dodgers right-hander José De León in 2016.

Of course, you don’t win your first major league game without help from your teammates, and Miller got plenty of that on Tuesday afternoon. The Dodgers amassed eight runs on nine hits, including home runs from right fielder Jason Heyward – a solo shot in the top of the second – and a morale-crushing (at least for Braves fans) three-run blast in the top of the ninth by Dodgers designated hitter J.D. Martinez to put the game on ice. It was Martinez’s third home run against the Braves, having homered twice in Monday’s 8-6 series-opening win over them.

It’s here, Dodgers fans…

‘It’s Miller Time!’

Play Ball!

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