SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres spoil Blake Snell’s 6.0 shutout inning start, lose Game 2 as Marlins plate 2 in the 9th & suffer their 4th walk off loss this year
- Leading 1-0 in the 9th inning, Josh Hader allowed 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk as the Marlins dealt the Padres their 4th walk-off loss of 2023…Hader was saddled with his 3rd blown save of the year and his 1st defeat.
- Blake Snell went 6.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing 3 hits and 3 walks with 7 punchies.
- Friar batters went just 2-for-28 in the game, with 1 of the hits being Gary Sánchez’s solo home run, his 1st as a Padre.
Padres hope to go home on a high notes, are 4-4 on current roadtrip entering today’s rubber game
- San Diego snapped their 5 series losing streak in their 1st series this roadtrip against the Nationals (won the series 2-1), but after losing Sunday’s rubber game against the Yankees, they entered Miami having lost 6 of their last 7 series.
- This 11-day, 9-game roadtrip is the Padres 1st 3-series trip of 2023, and a win in today’s rubber match would seal the series win…SD enters today having gone 4-4 on the roadtrip since its start on May 23.
MLB to produce & distribute Padres games
- Tuesday night, MLB announced it will take over production and distribution of all Padres locally distributed games starting on May 31…the new arrangement, which gives fans the option to watch on television or stream digitally, will allow fans in the Padres home television territory to watch games on linear television listed as San Diego Padres on the following channels: DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, COX, Spectrum, and MLB.TV.
No-No Joe gets the ball
- In his last outing on Friday @ Yankee Stadium, Joe Musgrove received his 1st win since his 1st start of the season on April 22 @ ARI, tossing a season-high 6.1 IP and working into the 7th inning for the first time since the decisive Game 3 of the the Wild Card Series vs. the Mets at Citi Field on Oct. 9, 2022.
- Today is his 7th start of the season, his 6th career start vs. the Marlins and his 4th road start of 2023.
Up next: Padres to return to San Diego for 5th homestand
- The Padres will host the Cubs for a 4-game set from Friday through Monday at Petco Park, and they’ll play a brief 2-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading out on their short 3-game roadtrip to Denver against the Rockies.
- The Friars will wear their City Connects for the 1st time since May 5 vs. the Dodgers (on May 19 vs. Red Sox, they wore their regular white pinstripes because they were also wearing their army green hats for Armed Forces weekend)…Friday will also be Educator Appreciation Night and the 3rd annual Lou Gehrig Day, through which MLB will collectively raise awareness and research funds for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
STARTER – JOE MUSGROVE 44
Musgrove set for 6th career start vs. Marlins
30-year-old right-hander Joe Musgrove is slated for his 7th start of the season, his 6th career start vs. the Marlins and his 4th road start of the season…it’s technically his 5th start away from Petco Park, as his 2nd start of the season came during the Mexico City Series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú vs. San Francisco, and San Diego was the home team…he has 4 consecutive quality starts vs. the Marlins, which all have come as a member of the Padres, and he has not issued more than 1 walk or 1 HR in any start vs. the Marlins.
Musgrove gets back in win column vs. Yankees
Last Fri @ Yankee Stadium, Musgrove received his first win since his first start of the season on April 22 @ ARI, tossing a season-high 6.1 IP and working into the 7th inning for the first time since the decisive Game 3 of the the Wild Card Series vs. the Mets at Citi Field on Oct. 9, 2022…it was Musgrove’s 16th career start allowing 0 home runs and 0 walks in the same start, and when he does so, he is now 11-1 (.917 winning %) and his teams are 13-3…he’s now tossed 5.0+ IP in 5 of his 6 starts this season.
Petco Park’s finest
He’s made 33 road app. (32 starts) since joining SD compared to his 35 home app (all starts)…on the road, he is 14-9 with a 3.32 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and .224 AVG…he is 1 of 13 pitchers who have made at least 35 career starts in Petco history (including Postseason), and Joe ranks 3rd in ERA (2.88), trailing only Andrew Cashner (2.76) and Jake Peavy (2.80)…his 1.13 WHIP ranks T-4th with Mat Latos and Cashner in downtown SD history, trailing only Yu Darvish (0.95), Peavy (1.09) and Chris Young (1.12), while his .223 opp. AVG ranks 6th.
Breaking bad
Yu Darvish (2,758 rpm) and Joe Musgrove (2,724 rpm) have the 2nd and 3rd-highest spin rates on breaking balls, respectively, among all NL pitchers since the start of last season (min. 1,250 pitches)…they trail only ATL’s Charlie Morton (3,068 rpm).
Four-Seam Spin
Since the start of last season, Musgrove has relied on his 4-seamer 24.9 % of the time with 2,568 rpm…it’s the 3rd-highest spin rate of all ML 4-seamers, trailing only STL’s Ryan Helsley (2,648 rpm) and CIN’s Alexis Diaz (2,642 rpm)..Musgrove is averaging 2,604 rpm in his 154 4-seam throws so far this season, ranking in the 99th percentile.
Musgrove makes the most of May
He has been among MLB’s best pitchers during May since May ’21, as his 2.60 ERA during the month ranks 7th among all ML pitchers (min. 85.0 IP), trailing only Shane McClanahan (1.99), Framber Valdez (2.25), Zack Wheeler (2.33), Kevin Gausman (2.36) Sonny Gray (2.43) and Marcus Stroman (2.57).
Expect the unexpected
Musgrove has allowed 6 HR so far this season, and his 1.78 HR/9 IP is the highest clip of his career…he surrendered a career-high-tying 3 HR (6x) on Sat, April 27 in a game that featured 11 HR at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú’s 7,349 feet of elevation…according to Statcast, of the 6 HR he’s allowed, 3-or-fewer of the 6 have been expected home runs in 23 of the 30 ML ballparks…Minute Maid Park and Citizens Bank Park are the only yards where 5 of the 6 HR he’s allowed have been expected home runs…only 2 of the 6 HR allowed would have been expected HR at Fenway, Wrigley and PNC Park.
MIAMI MARLINS NOTES:
No team release available.