MIAMI MARLINS NOTES:
MARLINS MINUTE
The Marlins today play begin a three-city, 10-game road trip with the first of three at San Francisco. Following this weekend, the trip continues with four games at Colorado, and wraps up back in California with three games at Los Angeles (AL). Are coming off a six-game homestand in which Miami took the final of three vs. Cincinnati before sweeping a three-game series against Washington.
- The Marlins have won 6 of their last 7 series finales.
- Miami is in a current stretch of 13 straight days with games until their next off day on Memorial Day (May 29).
YESTERDAY’S RECAP
Miami won their fourth straight game on Thursday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over Washington to secure their second sweep of the season. RHP Eury Perez earned his first Major League win after 5.0 innings of 1 run ball with 6 strikeouts, allowing just 3 hits. The Marlins scored 1 run in five different innings, including 3 2-out RBI from CF Xavier Edwards (2×4), 1B Garrett Cooper (1×3) , and C Nick Fortes (2×4). LF Bryan De La Cruz (1×4) extended his career-high hitting streak to 12 games with a solo homer, and 3B Jean Segura (1×4) continued his season-high hitting streak to 5 games. RHP Dylan Floro notched his fourth save.
FISH OUT OF WATER
Miami now stands at 23-21 through the club’s first 43 games, improving to a .522 winning pct. Marks the latest in a non-shortened season the club has owned a winning record since August of 2017.
DE LA CRUZIN’
OF Bryan De La Cruz extended his career-high hitting streak to 12 games yesterday. In this 12-game span, is batting .362 (17×47) with 8 runs scored, 4 doubles, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 walks, and a .974 OPS. His 10 multi-hit games rank 2nd on the team behind only Arraez’s 16.
- Has hits in 13 consecutive starts dating back to May 2.
CLIMBING THE LADDER
RHP Sandy Alcantara has recorded 677 strikeouts in 118 starts as a Marlin, passing Anibal Sanchez for the fifth most in club history. Marked the fastest in Marlins history to record 670+ many strikeouts through as many starts; A.J. Burnett had 663 through 118 starts.
- Alcantara sits at 12th in club history at 35 wins in his Marlins career, trailing Tom Koehler’s 36.
- Also has pitched 759.0 innings with the club, just 0.2 innings behind Ryan Dempster’s 759.2 innings which currently rank 8th in club history.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
The Marlins secured their fourth sweep of the Nationals since the start of the 2022 yesterday and have won six of their last seven series vs. Washington with an 18-4 record over this span.
- Marked Miami’s second series sweep of the season (other, 3 gms vs. CHC, April 28-30).
- Became just second team in MLB, alongside Tampa Bay, to sweep Washington in a three-game series.
HE’S HERE AND HE’S PERFECT
RHP Eury Perez made his second Major League start yesterday vs. Washington, earning his first career win after going 5.0 innings in which he allowed 1 run on 3 hits with 6 strikeouts. Became the youngest starter in MLB to win a game since LAD’s Julio Urias at 19 years and 321 days on June 28, 2016. Marks the fourth-youngest pitcher to earn a win in the Majors since 1993, behind SEA’s Felix Hernandez (19 yrs and 123 days on Aug. 9, 2005), Urias, and LAD’s Edwin Jackson (20 yrs and 0 days on Sept. 9, 2003).
- Made his Major League debut last Friday at 20 years and 27 days, becoming the youngest pitcher in Marlins history. The previous youngest pitcher was Jose Fernandez, who debuted at 20 years and 250 days.
- Became the second youngest player (position / pitcher) to debut with the Marlins in club history, behind only INF Edgar Renteria who debuted at 19 years and 277 days.
- Became the youngest Dominican-born starting pitcher to debut in MLB, and the third-youngest DR-born pitcher (reliever / starter) at the time of his debut behind Elvis Luciano (TOR, 2019, (19 yrs, 44 days) and Jose Rijo (CIN, 194, 18 yrs, 328 days).
GOOD FIRST IMPRESSIONS
2B Luis Arraez leads MLB with his .378 batting avg. (56×148), ranks 3rd with his .433 on and 56 hits, and is tied for 3rd with 16 multi-hit games. Has struck out only 9 times in 164 PA (.054 K/PA), the lowest mark in MLB among qualified batters.
- Is the highest average through 40 games to a season since Cody Bellinger’s .394 avg. through 40 games with the Dodgers in 2019.
- With two hits on Wednesday night, reached the 500-hit plateau, becoming the seventh active player to reach 500 hits within their first 428 career games. Joined Bo Bichette (407), Mookie Betts (408), Mike Trout (423), Jose Altuve (426), and Whit Merrifield (426), and Jose Abreu (428).
DANCING ON A THIN LINE
Thus far in 2023, Miami is 22-2 when limiting opponents to 4 runs or less and has gone 1-19 when allowing 5 or more runs.
PODER SOLER
DH/OF Jorge Soler failed to reach in yesterday’s game but has hit safely in 10 of his last 13 games, including 4 multi-hit efforts. Is still batting .300 (15×50) with 6 home runs and 14 RBI in this span. With home runs on Tuesday and Wednesday vs. Washington, marked the 16th time in his career he has homered in back-to-back games, just the second time as a Marlin, and the first time since May 14-15, 2022.
- 7 of his 11 home runs this season have tied the game or given the Marlins the lead.
DON’T LOOK NOW
3B Jean Segura reached safely in the all 6 games of the past homestand and has recorded a hit in his last 5 starts. During this stretch, is batting .350 (7×20) with 1 run, 1 triple, 2 RBI, 5 walks, and a .930 OPS.
- His fifth inning triple on Wednesday was the 46th of his career (8th most among active players) and first since July 9, 2021 at BOS.
GROWING THE GAME
The Miami Marlins, the Miami Marlins Foundation, and City of Hialeah today held a special ceremony at Babcock Park in Hialeah, announcing the location as the Marlins Youth Academy programming headquarters. The partnership will add programming to the services already provided by the City of Hialeah Parks and Recreation Department at Babcock Park. The Marlins will introduce their plan for new educational programs for participants in the youth baseball and softball offerings that give children a place to learn, a place to play the game of baseball and softball, and a place to develop social and emotional competencies. The Marlins will continue with their extensive Youth Baseball and Softball satellite programming throughout Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
TODAY’S STARTER – #22 SANDY ALCANTARA
- The reigning NL Cy Young Sandy Alcantara will make his seventh career start (8 apps.) against the San Francisco Giants tonight. Will mark his ninth start of the season.
- In his last start vs. San Francisco on June 2, 2022, earned a win, tossing 7.0 innings and allowing 0 runs on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts on 111 pitches (73 strikes).
- In his most recent start on Saturday, May 13 vs. Cincinnati, went 7.2 innings and allowed 6 runs on 7 hits with 9 strikeouts.
- Alcantara’s fourth career shutout on April 4th marks the fourth time in club history that a Marlins pitcher has thrown a complete game shutout in the first six team games of the regular season (Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett, 2005 and Brad Penny, 2002).
- Since the start of the 2022 season, has gone 5-6 with a 3.51 ERA (125.2 IP/49 ER) and 117 strikeouts in 19 starts away, while posting a 2.16 ERA (154.1 IP/37 ER) with 139 strikeouts in 21 starts at home.
- Alcantara currently has 118 starts with the Marlins, the ninth-most in club history (9th on Marlins’ all-time list behind R. Dempster – 121).
- Alcantara finished his historic 2022 season with 32 starts going 14-9 with a 2.28 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 228.2 innings, along with 6 complete games, a 0.98 WHIP, and a .212 opponents’ batting average in 32 starts. He led Major League Baseball in innings pitched and complete games and led all NL pitchers with an 8.1 WAR (Baseball Reference). During Alcantara’s entire life (born Sept. 1995) only two pitchers reached the same statistical totals since the 1996 season: Felix Hernandez, SEA (2010) and Pedro Martinez, MON (1997).
- Won Baseball Digest’s MLB Pitcher of the Year Award. Became the second Marlin to win this honor (Dontrelle Willis, 2005). Was named the second an
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
DUEL OF THE FATES: The Giants are back from an off day and host the Marlins to resume this seven-day, six-game homestand…SF looks to even out the season series against Miami after dropping the first two games of a three-game series at loanDepot on April 17-19…the Giants are 3-0 so far in the homestand after sweeping the Phillies from Monday-Wednesday.
MOVEMENTS IN THE FORCE…: C Patrick Bailey (#14) and RHP Ryan Walker (#74) were selected from Triple-A Sacramento this morning…OF Cal Stevenson was designated for assignment and OF Heliot Ramos was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento and placed on the 60-day IL with a right oblique strain…additionally, C Joey Bart was placed in the 10-day IL (retroactive to May 18) with a left groin strain and RHP Ross Stripling was placed in the 15-day IL (retroactive to May 18) with a low back strain.
YOU MUST LEARN THE WAYS OF THE FORCE: With the two new selections in Bailey and Walker, SF could have six rookies make their debuts before the end of May with Beck, Sabol, Schmitt and Wisely having done so already…last year, the Giants saw a total of nine players make their MLB debuts (Sean Hjelle, Bryce Johnson, Jason Krizan, Yunior Marte, Michael Papierski, Ford Proctor, Heliot Ramos, David Villar and Cole Waites).
YOUNG PADAWAN: Bailey, who started the year with Richmond, made just 14 appearances at the Double-A level before earning a swift promotion to Triple-A on April 26…the 23-year-old hit .276 with four homers, 16 RBI and 13 walks in 28 games between Richmond and Sacramento this season.
THE NOT SO PHANTOM MENACE…: Since 2015, the Giants have gone 22-27 (.449) vs. the Marlins, the club’s third-lowest winning percentage against a National League opponent in that span…SF has only fared worse against the Cardinals (21- 30, .412) and Dodgers (65-81, .445) in that stretch.
RETURN OF THE JEDI: Giants starters given up 102 runs this year, tied with the Astros for fourth-fewest in MLB behind the Rays (67), Twins (90) and Braves (93)…coincidentally, Marlins have the third-fewest amount of runs scored off their opponents’ starting pitchers this year with just 94, trailing Detroit (91) and Cleveland (93) (Stats, LLC).
ORACLE PARK IS KINDA LIKE KAMINO?: The three-game sweep of the Phillies put the Giants at 13-10 at Oracle Park this season compared to a 7-13 record on the road…the winning home record is also due to the fact that the Giants have won 11 of their last 15 contests on the shores of McCovey Cove dating to April 22…during this stretch of solid home play the Giants have averaged 4.6 runs per game…in its first eight home games, SF was 2-6 and averaged 3.0 runs per game.
EASY AS DUNKING A MON CALAMARI: No team scores more of their runs via the long ball than the Giants this season, with 53.2% of SF’s runs coming via the homer…the percentage is highest in the Majors ahead of the Dodgers (52.7%) and Braves (52.2%)…last season, the Giants scored 41.6% of their runs from home runs, which ranked 13th in MLB (Stats, LLC)… SF has 63 homers this year, second-most through the team’s first 43 games behind the 2000 Giants (64)…the Giants’ 63 homers in 2023 are sixth-most in MLB.
A NEW HOPE: IF Casey Schmitt notched his 15th career hit with a single on Wednesday, the third-most hits by a Giant in their first nine career games…Schmitt has at least one hit in eight of his first nine career games and has successfully hit in each of his five home games…according to Stats, LLC, since moving to SF in 1958, the longest Giants home hit streak to start a career is seven games, done by Pablo Sandoval (2008) and Willie McCovey (1959)
Giants, Most Hits Through First Nine Games of Career – Since 1901
Player Hits
Al Gallagher (1970) 17
Sammy Strang (1901) 16
Casey Schmitt (2023) 15
Player Hits
Jim Davenport (1958) 15
Willie McCovey (1959) 15
Mike Schemer (1945) 15
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THAT TRIP TO MOS EISLEY’S CANTINA: Tonight’s game starts another 13-game stretch with no days off for SF…the club’s next off day is June 1 here at home… SF is in a stretch where they are playing 26 games in 27 days from May 5-May 31…thus far, the Giants are 7-6 in the first 13 games of this run.
WHAT IS LaMONTE’S MIDICHLORIAN COUNT?: IF LaMonte Wade Jr. is hitting .308 (24-for-78) with 16 runs scored, three doubles, one triple, six homers, 12 RBI, .a 432 OBP and a 1.034 OPS since April 20…his .435 OBP this season is second-best in the Majors behind ATL’s Ronald Acuña Jr. (.437) while his 162 wRC+ is tied for seventh-best in MLB and third-best in the NL behind Acuña (180) and STL’s Nolan Gorman (173).
TODAY’S STARTER – ANTHONY DeSCLAFANI RHP #26
2023 RECORD: 3-3, 3.06 ERA
TODAY’S OUTING: Gets the nod to make his ninth start of the season tonight against Miami…the veteran, who returns from an injury-plagued 2022, is in his ninth Major League season and third in a Giants uniform.
LAST TIME OUT: Suffered his second consecutive loss on Saturday at Arizona in SF’s 7-2 defeat to the Dbacks…matched a season-low 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on five hits with a walk…threw 77 pitches, his lowest since throwing 73 in his first start of the season (April 3 at CWS)…he was removed from the game due to injury after allowing the first three batters of the 6th inning to reach…it was revealed after the game that the nail on his left big toe was about to fall off and he’d been grinding through the pain for the first five innings…four weeks prior he was playing the piano with his son, Cru, and when he went to lift him off the piano bench the bench slammed directly down on his left big toe.
VS. MIAMI: Is slated to face Miami for the seventh time in his career tonight…the former Marlin is 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA and 36 strikeouts in the six career outings (33.1ip) against them…though originally drafted by Toronto in 2011, DeSclafani was traded to the Marlins on November 19, 2012 in a 12-player deal and made his MLB debut with Miami in 2014…he appeared in 13 games (five starts) for the Marlins that season, posting a 2-2 record with a 6.27 ERA…the right-hander was then dealt to Cincinnati at the end of that season and spent five years with the Reds before joining the Giants in 2021.
YOU SHALL NOT PASS: DeSclafani has been in control around the zone all season, issuing just five walks with 35 strikeouts in his first seven starts this year…his 0.90 walks-per-nine average is second-lowest in MLB behind SEA’s George Kirby (0.70), while his 7.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranks fifth in the Majors and the third-highest by a Giant in their first eight starts of the season since 1901.
PRESSURE POINT: DeSclafani has been outstanding this season with two strikes, holding batters to 11 hits in 91 at-bats (.121) with just three extra-base hits and three RBI…opponents have a .334 OPS off him with two strikes.
FIRST AND FOREMOST: Hasn’t walked any of the 72 batters he faced in his first time through the lineup this year…is the only player in MLB to have faced as many hitters without issuing a walk
QUALITY…AND QUANTITY: The veteran has reached the 5.0-inning threshold in each of his starts this season, with five of his eight outings so far this year earning the quality start status.
LUCKY CHARM: Since joining the Giants in 2021, SF is 28-16 (.636) when DeSclafani takes the hill, winning 12 of his last 19 starts.
