LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S STARTER at PHILLIES: RHP BOBBY MILLER (2-0, 1.06 ERA in 3 GS)
2023 SEASON NOTES:
- The big right-hander followed his first two Major League starts with another solid showing against the Yankees, spinning six scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks while punching out a season-high seven batters…became the first Dodger pitcher since at least 1901 with a 6.0+ IP scoreless start allowing one hit or fewer within his first three appearances (ESPN Stats)
- First Dodgers rookie starting pitcher to earn the win in his first two career starts since Jose De Leon (9/04/16 vs. SD and 9/12/16 at NYY)
- Illinois native picked up the win in his Major League debut against Atlanta May 23 after spinning five innings and giving up four hits, one run and one walk while striking out five
- Owns a 1-1 record across four starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City with a 5.65 ERA (9 ER/14.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts and just 6 issued walks…has limited the opposition to a .212/.295/.385 slashline
- Was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training…did not appear
VS. PHILLIES:
- Will face Philadelphia for the first time in his career
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:
GAME #63 RECAP: The Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, at a sold out Citizens Bank Park … Starter Ranger Suarez (ND) went 6.0 innings and allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts … With the game tied at 4-4 in the 9th, Kyle Schwarber connected on his 4th career walk-off home run and first with the Phillies … It marked Philadelphia’s second consecutive game with a walk-off win (first time since three straight in June of 2021).
LET THE GOOD VIBES ROLL: The Phillies have won six straight (6/3-current) which is their longest winning streak this season and their first six-game streak since Aug. 22-27, 2022 … A win today would give the Phils seven straight wins for the first time since a nine-game streak June 1-11, 2022 … The Phils are 18- 10 in 28 games at Citizens Bank Park this year and their .643 winning percentage at home ranks 2nd in the National League (LAD, .667) and 4th in MLB, trailing only TB (.833), TEX (.700) and LAD … Through 28 games at CBP, the Phillies are averaging 38,864 in attendance per game which ranks 5th among all clubs in MLB behind only the Dodgers (47,916), Cardinals (40,081), Yankees (40,005) and Padres (39,206) … Of Philadelphia’s first 28 games at home, 14 have been sellouts (50%) and 19 have been over 35,000 (68%).
SCHWARBERFEST IS ON: Over the last three months of June (since 6/1/21), Kyle Schwarber has played in 62 games and has hit 32 home runs which leads MLB (2nd: Shohei Ohtani, 21 HR) – he is slashing .275/.378/.725 with a 1.104 OPS in 275 plate appearances during the month … Of his 64 hits during the month over the last three years, 50% are home runs … Winner of each of the last two National League Player of the Month Awards in June, Schwarber’s .617 career SLG during the month ranks 6th among all players in the Modern Era (min. 500 PA, since 1900) – Lou Gehrig ranks 1st (.739 SLG), Babe Ruth 2nd (.710), Larry Walker 3rd (.641), Ted Williams 4th (.635) and Hank Greenberg 5th (.621) … His 9.57 AB/HR average in June ranks 1st among all players in MLB since at least 1900 (min. 500 PA) – Babe Ruth ranks 2nd at 10.63 … Since being inserted back into the leadoff spot on June 2 at WSH, Schwarber is slashing .308/.455/.885 with a 1.339 OPS in 33 plate appearances – he has 7 walks to 8 strikeouts in that span and the Phillies are 6-1 in those seven games.
STARTING TO FIND IT: Over the last five games (since 6/4 at WSH), the Phillies starting rotation has allowed only 2 ER in 34.1 IP (0.52 EA) and has struck out 39 of the 128 batters they have faced (30.5% SO rate) … Per Elias (non-openers), this marks only the fifth time over the last 60 seasons that Phillies starting pitchers have tossed at least 30.0 innings with 2 ER or fewer over a five-game span – others: Sept. 27- pct. 2, 2010 (2 ER, 31.0 IP), Sept. 13-18, 2009 (2 ER, 34.0 IP), June 27-July 1, 1965 (1 ER, 41.0 IP) and Aug. 16-20, 1964 (2 ER, 32.0 IP) … Additionally, in their recently completed three-game series against the Tigers, all three Phillies starting pitchers carried a no-hitter into the 5th inning (Nola, Walker, Wheeler) … The Phillies are just the seventh team in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to no-hit an opponent in the first four innings of three straight games within a single series, joining CLE (vs TB, 6/29-7/1/15), PIT (vs CHI, 6/7-9/13), LAD (vs ATL, 7/7-9/08), NYM (vs HOU, 4/28-30/92), NYM (vs SD, 7/19-21/79) and LAA (vs NYY, 4/30-5/2/63) … The Phillies starting rotation leads the National League with 6.5 fWAR this season which ranks 3rd in MLB behind only MIN (7.6) and SEA (7.2).
JUNE BLOOM: Over the last three seasons (2021-23), the Phillies are 37-22 in the month of June and their .627 winning percentage ranks 4th among all MLB clubs behind only BOS (.667), ATL (.645) and HOU (.629) … During that same time, the Phillies are 32-50 in the month of May and their .390 winning percentage during May ranks 27th out of 30 MLB clubs … Over the last two seasons (since 2022), the Phillies are 25-10 in June and their .714 winning % ranks T-2nd in MLB (with NYY), trailing only ATL (.794).
PHILLY SPECIAL: Since Rob Thomson took over as manager on June 3, 2022, the Phillies are 24 games over .500 at Citizens Bank Park (53-29) and their .646 winning percentage at home ranks 4th in MLB, trailing TB (.719), LAD (.701) and ATL (.698) … The Phillies have an 18-6-2 series record under Thomson at Citizens Bank Park.
TURNING A CORNER: As laid out in the chart below, Trea Turner has seen most offensive metrics/stats improve from month to month this season – he has increased his average exit velocity on balls in play from 86.5 MPH in April to 96.4 MPH in June and he has cut down on his swing and miss rate from 34.4% in April to 23.9% in June … He has also more than doubled his hard-hit rate on balls in play from 30.8% in April to 64.0% in June … In the month of June, Turner ranks 3rd in average exit velocity and 7th in hard hit rate among all qualified hitters in MLB.
PHILLER: Phillies starter Zack Wheeler will hit 10 years of major league service time tomorrow (6/11) … Nick Castellanos is the only other Phillies player on track to hit 10 years this season (8/19 at WSH) … After getting ahead 1-0 in counts, Castellanos has posted a 1.209 OPS in 88 plate appearances – last season he posted a .575 OPS in 174 PA after getting ahead 1-0 … Craig Kimbrel (1,135 SO) is currently tied with Hall-of-Famer Mariano Rivera for 9th place since at least 1893 among all MLB relief pitchers in strikeouts.
GO YARD WITH RHYS HOSKINS: On Thursday, June 22, Rhys and Jayme Hoskins will host the 2nd annual “Go Yard with Rhys Hoskins” to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) … This year’s event will take place at Yards Brewery in Philadelphia from 7PM-10PM – to register or donate, please visit one.bidpal.net/goyardwithrhyshoskins … Registration fees for this event accelerate research, advance care and empower MDA families in our community living with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases
TODAY’S STARTER – AARON NOLA RHP #27
2023: 5-4, 4.30 ERA Career: 83-66, 3.65 ER
LAST START: 6/5 vs DET: W, 7.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 12 SO, 1 HR (108 p, 68 s) … Nola vs Wentz … The Phillies opened their 6-game homestand with an 8-3 win over Detroit … Nola carried a no hitter into the 7th inning and lost it on a 2-out, 3-run HR by Maton … All 3 runs were unearned due to a Sosa fielder error … Nola matched his career high with 12 SO and got a season-best 21 swings and misses … Was his 2nd double-digit SO game of 2023.
TODAY’S START:
Home Body: Nola has a 1.92 ERA (12 ER, 56.1 IP) with 14 BB, 68 SO and has held opponents to a .192/.249/.318 slash line over his last 9 home starts (since 8/25/22) … Philadelphia has gone 8-1 (.889) in those games and has won each of the last 4
Gone Streaking: Nola enters today’s start against the Dodgers having worked 6.0 or more innings in each of his last 10 starts which is the longest active streak in the majors … In Nola’s last 10 starts (6-4 team record), he has gone 5-2, 3.66 ERA (27 ER, 66.1 IP) with 18 BB and 62 SO … For his career, Nola’s longest streak of 6.0+ inning starts is 14, set last season
2023 SEASON:
Innings Eater: Since the start of the 2018 season, Nola’s 953.1 innings pitched are tied with Gerrit Cole for the most in the major leagues … This season, Nola is 3rd among all NL pitchers in IP and has gone at least 6.0 IP in 11 of his 13 starts in 2023 (85%) … Nola has gone 7.0 or more innings in 2023 … Among all NL pitchers, only Logan Webb and Alex Cobb have done so more times this year (6) Philly Value: Since 2018, Nola is the only pitcher in baseball to accrue more than 20.0 fWAR (22.9) and pitch for only one team … In that span, he ranks 5th overall
in fWAR behind only Jacob deGrom (27.1), Max Scherzer (26.6), Gerrit Cole (24.8) and Zack Wheeler (24.7) … His 31.2 fWAR as a Phillie is T-7th most in franchise history among pitchers with Hall-of-Famer Jim Bunning (31.2)
2023 NL Ranks: IP (3rd; 81.2), WHIP (3rd, 1.08), BABIP (4th; .254), AVG (8th, .223) and quality starts (T-9th; 7)
Phils’ Ranks: Recorded the 29th double-digit SO game of his career and 2nd of 2023 on Monday vs DET … Is now tied with Cole Hamels (29) for the 3rd most in club history (Curt Schilling is 2nd with 48)
Caught Lookin’: Entering play today, Nola ranks T-4th among all ML pitchers this year in called strikeouts with 25 … Since the start of the 2018 season, Nola’s 323 backwards K’s are the 2nd most for any pitcher in baseball behind NYY’s Gerrit Cole (327) … The next closest pitcher on that list is Sonny Gray who has 248 … Since 2018, 30.0% of Nola’s strikeouts have been called (323 of 1,084)
vs NL West: 11-10, 4.59 ERA (106 ER, 207.2 IP) in 35 starts
Recorded his 1,400th career strikeout on 4/21 vs COL, the 5thyoungest to reach the mark among the 20 active pitchers to do so at the time
Made his 6th straight Opening Day start, extending his MLB-best active streak of Opening Day starts … Was the 1st pitcher in MLB to make 6 straight Opening Day starts since Julio Teheran in made his 6th consecutive for ATL in 2019, and joins Robin Roberts (12) & Steve Carlton (10) as the only Phillies to do so
HOME:
2023: 3-1, 3.03 ERA (11 ER, 32.2 IP) in 5 starts
Career: 47-25, 3.18 ERA (233 ER, 660.1 IP) in 106 starts
