CHICAGO CUBS NOTES:
No team release available.
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres rout Marlins 10-1 in Miami, claiming series victory
- Newest Padre Gary Sánchez homered for his 2nd time in as many days, and he went 2-for-4 with a 3 RBI (now has 4 hits in his 1st 3 games as a Padre)…Fernando Tatis Jr. had his 1stcareer 3-double game, logging 4 RBI in the contest…Brandon Dixon, Xander Bogaerts, and Kim also doubled in the game.
- The day after going 2-for-28 on Wednesday, the Padres went 11-for-36 on Thursday.
- Starter Joe Musgrove went 6.0 innings with 1 unearned run allowed and 3 hits…he punched out 3 with 3 walks.
Padres end roadtrip on a high note, hit 15 home runs and go 5-4 on 11-day, 9-game trip
- The Friars return home today from an 11-day, 9-game road trip in which the Friars went 5-4…in the Padres last 9 games since the start of the trip, the Padres have hit the 3rd-most home runs in baseball with 15 HR, trailing just the Dodgers (17 HR) and Angels (18 HR) since May 23.
Padres and MLB commemorate the 3rd annual Lou Gehrig Day
- Today, MLB and the clubs announced efforts to commemorate the 3rd annual Lou Gehrig Day today, in which they will collectively raise awareness and research funds for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
- MLB will run a special charitable auction at auctions.mlb.com, featuring 30 autographed and authenticated Lou Gehrig Day bats, including players selected by MLB researcher and analyst Sarah Langs…the players were selected based on a personal connection to ALS, their support of the ALS Community, or a symbolic connection to Gehrig by either their passion for the game, character or a unique statistical connection…the Padres representative is Austin Nola, and the Cubs’ is Trey Mancini… Austin and Aaron’s uncle, Alan Andries, attended almost every LSU game in which they played, and he passed away after a 6-year battle with ALS on February 10, 2021.
- Fernando Tatis Jr.’s career .714 SLG across his 47 games during June ranks 2nd all-time (since 1901) to Lou Gehrig (.739 SLG).
Padres induce 8 ground ball double plays in the 3-game series
- San Diego’s 8 induced ground ball double plays in their 3-game set @ Miami were the most of any team in a 3 or 4-game series in 2023…it tied the Padres record for induced GIDP’s in a 3-game series (now done 4x, and it was the 1st since 2016 also vs. Miami).
Pitching is a bright spot in rough slugging in May
- This past month, the Padres won 10 of their 26 games for a .385 winning %, tied for the 5th lowest in MLB in May…however, in the month, San Diego pitchers had the best ERA of any team (3.20) and the 2nd best opponent average (.221) behind just the White Sox’s .220.
- Conversely, San Diego batters hit .212 in May, the lowest batting average of any NL team and the 2nd lowest in MLB to just the A’s .208 average.
STARTER – MICHAEL WACHA 52
Wacha set for 20th career start vs. CHC
31-year-old Michael Wacha takes the mound tonight for his 11th start of the season, his 5th at Petco Park and the 20th of his career vs. CHC…his 22 career appearances and 19 starts vs. the Cubs are the 2nd-most he’s made against any team, trailing only 25 outings and 21 starts vs. CIN…he made his 5th start in SD brown and gold at Wrigley Field, but did not factor into SD’s 5-3 victory behind 5.0 innings of 3-run ball…Wacha has just 5 quality outings in his 19 career starts vs. the Cubs, going 4-8 with a 6.31 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and .280 AVG against…he’s allowed a career-high 8 runs twice in his career, and both instances have come against the Cubs – once in 2016 and again in 2018…his last winning decision vs. CHC came as a memvber of the Cardinals on June 22, 2016.
Wacha earns first-career Pitcher of the Month award
After going 3-0 with a 0.84 ERA in 5 May starts, Wacha becomes the 2nd Padres pitcher of the month winner in the last 3 instances, with rotation-mate Yu Darvish in September/ October of last season…in 32.0 IP, he allowed just 3 earned runs on 16 hits with seven walks and 26 strikeouts, while holding opposing batters to a .147 AVG…during the month of May, he led the Majors in ERA, WHIP (0.72), AVG against and opposing OPS (.405).
The month of May overview
He opened his award-winning month with 6.0 scoreles IP in a no-decision vs. CIN on May 2, holding the Reds to two hits….he then picked up the victory in 3 consecutive starts on May 9 @ MIN, May 15 vs. KC and May 21 vs. BOS…he compiled 15.0 consecutive scoreless IP after firing 7.0 scoreless IP of one-hit ball with a career-high 11 strikeouts in the start against Kansas City and hurling 6.0 scoreless frames against BOS…he took a no-hitter into the 8th inning of his start vs. KC before surrendering a leadoff single in the eighth to Michael Massey.
The 2nd-best winning percentage in MLB since ’22
Enters play today with a 5-1 record on the season and the Padres are 7-3 in his starts… among all pitchers who have made at least 30 starts since the beginning of 2022, Wacha’s .842 winning percentage (16-3) is 2nd-best in the Majors, trailing only LAD’s Tony Gonsolin (.905, 19-2)…his winning percentage is ahead of Kyle Wright (.778, 21-6), and Justin Verlander (.769, 20-6) and Zac Gallen (.760, 19-6).
Wacha’s pitch mix
Wacha throws his changeup 32.1% of the time, and is limiting opponents to a .205 AVG against it (16-for-78)…his cutter drops an average of 24.5 inches – which is 4.5 more inches and 15% more rise than other ML cutters – the 5th-most vertical movement of any cutter in the Majors (min. 100 throws)…but opponents are hitting .333 (11-for-33) against it, with 2 of his 4 5R allowed coming against the pitch…opponents are hitting .175 vs. his 4-seamer, .290 vs. his sinker and .200 vs. his curveball.
Hard hit%
Is getting hit hard 31.3% of the time (87th percentile), his 2nd-lowest hard hit % behind only 30.1 % in 2017…his career average hard hit % is 35.2%, and the MLB average is 36.0%.
Barrels and contact
He’s allowed 4 barrels across his last 5 starts, and has allowed 14 barrels in his 925 pitches thrown and 166 batted balls (8.4% barrel rate), 2nd-highest barrel rate of his career (10.5 in ’21)…17.9 percent of his pitches have been put in play (18.4 career average), and his 34.9 ground ball percentage is the lowest of his career (44.9 % career-ground ball rate)…his 33.1 % fly ball rate is the highest of his career (21.6% career fly ball rate).
