CINCINNATI REDS NOTES:
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SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres sweep Giants 2-0 in Mexico City Series, win 6-4 on Sunday
• In the 1st regular season series in Mexico City in MLB history (previous games were all in Monterrey), the Padres beat the Giants 16-11 on Saturday and 6-4 on Sunday, securing their 1st sweep of 2023…it was the Padres’ 1st “home” series win of the year, and they’re still in search of their 1st Petco Park series win.
• On Sunday, Yu Darvish went 6.0 innings with 4 runs allowed on 9 hits with 9 strikeouts…San Diego won on a 3-run 8th inning, powered by a Matt Carpetner 2-out, 2-run double.
• The series was the 1st MLB games to be played in the newly built Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium…it was the Padres 4th regular season appearance in Mexico, more than any other team…the Padres played in the 1st-ever Mexico Series in 1996 against the Mets in Monterrey (won 2-1), and they played their 1999 season opener in Monterrey vs. Colorado (lost 8-2)…the Friars returned in 2018 for a 3-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers (won the series 2-1)…the Padres overall regular season record in Mexico is 6-3 in 9 games.
Roadtrip recap
• The Padres return home today after their 11-day, 9-game trip that included the 2-game “home” series in Mexico City at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium against the Giants…after the Padres took 3 of 4 games against the D-Backs in Phoenix, the Padres lost the 3-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley 2-1…San Diego had an off day Friday, and after hosting the Reds for the 3-game set, they’ll have Thursday off before hosting the Dodgers for 3.
• The Padres went 6-3 overall on the trip, but before playing the Giants in Mexico City, they were shut out twice and scored 26 runs compared to their opponents’ 36 runs…in the 2 games along in Mexico, the Padres scored 22 runs and had 27 hits.
Spin it, Snell!
• Since the beginning of last season, Blake Snell is averaging 95.6 miles per hour with his fastball, which is ranked 6th among NL starters…his average spin rate with the pitch (2,426 revolutions per minute) since 2022 is the 5th highest on fastballs among NL starts, and his teammate Joe Musgrove’s 2,552 RPM on fastballs ranks 2nd.
Friars are 12-1 vs. Redlegs since 2021
• San Diego won all 6 games vs. the Reds in 2022, and since the start of 2021, they’ve gone 12-1 (.923) against the Reds…the Friars’ .923 winning percentage vs. Cincinnati in that time is the highest of any MLB team against any single opponent (minimum 10 games played).
Padre defense keeping it clean, made an MLB-low 7 errors
• San Diego’s .993 fielding percentage is the highest in MLB so far, committing just 7 errors this year…in fact, since the year 1906, their .993 % trails just the 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks as the highest fielding percentage of any team through the month of April in a season (with at least 1,000 fielding chances).
Soto starting to heat up
• Juan Soto has hit just .202 so far this season, but in his last 3 games, he’s gone 4-for-9 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 5 walks.
• Soto’s 57.4 hard hit percentage (balls hit with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher) is the 3rd highest in the National League, trailing just Patrick Wisdom’s 60.3% and Paul Goldschmidt’s 59.3%
STARTING PITCHER – BLAKE SNELL #4
Snell set for first career start vs. CIN, leaving TB as only team yet to face 30-year-old left-hander Blake Snell is set to make his 6th start 2023 and the 1st of his career vs. the Reds…it will be his 165th career start and the 29th team he has faced, leaving his former team, the Tampa Bay Rays, as the only team he is yet to square off against.
Snell looks to get in win column in 6th start
Blake Snell is set to make his 6th start of the season and is in search of both his first winning decision (0-4) as well as the first team win in one of his starts (0-5) tonight vs. the Reds…entering today, he’s 1 of 8 NL starters with 4 losing decisions, with SF Logan Webb’s and PHI Bailey Falter’s 5 leading the NL.
Can’t spell Blake without the K
Snell enters tonight’s matchup with 26 SO across 23.0 IP, but his 2023 K% (23.9) and SO/9 IP ratio (10.17) are both down this season compared to 2022 (32.0 K% and 12.02 SO/9 IP).
Long live the lefties
Since 2018, he’s posted the 3rd-most double-digit SO games (23) among all ML left-handers, trailing only Robbie Ray and Chris Sale, both w/ 26…he was 1 SO shy of double digits with 9 on Opening Day vs. COL, and he had 5 double-digit SO performances last season…digging deeper back to 2016, Sale (11.88 SO/9 IP) and Ray (11.48) are the only 2 left-handed starters (min. 200 IP) averaging more K’s per nine innings than Snell (10.93) since ’16.
Can’t stay ahead if you don’t get ahead
Snell is getting ahead in counts on the first pitch a little under half of the time…his 49.5 first-pitch strike percentage is 3rd-lowest in the Majors (min. 5 starts), behind only WSH Chad Kuhl (48.1 %) and MIL’s Wade Miley (48.7%).
Limit the free passes
Snell has issued 3 walks-or-more in 4 of his 5 starts so far this season, including each of his last 4, totaling 18 free passes to the 109 batters he’s faced across 23.0 IP…his 7.04 BB/9 IP and his .165 BB/BFP are both the 3rd-highest ratios in the Majors (min. 5 starts).
Call him ‘Swing and Miss Snell’
Blake is causing opponents to swing and miss 32.5% of the time, the 10th-highest swing and miss rate among all ML starters (min. 5 starts) and 6th-highest in the NL…his 32.5 whiff
% ranks in the 87th percentile.
Among all ML pitchers who have made at least 55 starts since 2021, which was Snell’s first season with the Padres, his 32.3 whiff % is the 5th-highest, trailing only Corbin Burnes (35.4%), Shane McClanahan (33.9%), Dylan Cease (33.3%) and Gerrit Cole (32.4%).
Spin rate
Since the beginning of last season, Blake Snell is averaging 95.6 miles per hour with his fastball, which is ranked 6th among NL starting pitchers…his 2,426 avg spin rate with the pitch is the 5th-hightest since ’22, trailing only Corbin Burnes (2,614 rpm), Joe Musgrove (2,552), Julio Urias (2,509) and Justin Steele (2,426) – min 1,500 pitches.
