SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Darvish goes 6.0 innings with 1 run allowed and 4 Padres homer as they take Game 1 in Philly 8-3
- The Friars saw home runs from Gary Sanchez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, and Juan Soto yesterday afternoon in the Padres’ 1st game back at Citizens Bank Park since losing Game 5 of the NLCS last season.
- Yu Darvish turned in a quality start, going 6.0 innings with 1 run allowed on 5 hits with 2 walks and 9 punchies…reliever Luis Garcia encountered trouble in the 9th with an 8-1 lead, tossing 0.1 IP with 2 runs allowed on 2 walks and 2 hits, but Josh Hader got the remaining 2 outs en-route to his 22nd save of the season.
- San Diego bats were 4-for-10 with RISP.
Padre batters riding a season-long streak of 11 straight games with at least 1 homer hit
- San Diego batters have hit a homer in 11 straight games, besting their previous 10-game streak with a homer this season from May 17-28.
- It’s just the 8th time in club history that they’ve had such a long home run stretch, and their 1st time since May 31-June 11, 2022 (11 game streak)…if a Padre homers again in Game 1, it’ll be their longest HR streak since their 13 straight games with a HR from July 15-27, 2017…the longest HR streak within a season in franchise history was 25 games from June 28-July 27, 2016.
Padres lead the Majors in runs scored in the month of July (60)
- The Padres opened up the 2nd half with a win, and they’ve now won 3 straight games…a win today Would be their season-high 4th straight win…they’ve also won 6 of their last 7, and 7 of their last 9. • In those 9 games since the start of July, the Padres have out-scored their opponents 60 to 33, playing 6.7 runs per game…those 60 runs are the most of any team so far this month and their most scored this season in any 9-game span.
- They’ve also hit 17 home runs since July 1st, tying with the Braves for the 2nd most in all of baseball this month behind just the Dodgers (20).
Snellzilla riding a 16.0 scoreless inning streak
- Blake Snell, June’s National League Pitcher of the Month, finished his 1st half with a 2.85 ERA (4th best among NL starters) and a .200 opponent average (had tied with LAD’s Tony Gonsolin for the lowest in the NL)…his 2.85 ERA is his lowest in the 1st half of a season since his 2018 Cy Young year (2.27)… Snell’s 132 strikeouts rank 2nd in the NL among starters, behind just Spencer Strider’s 166 punchouts.
- Snell is in the midst of his 3rd scoreless inning streak of at least 16.0 innings this season and enters today riding a 16.0 scoreless inning streak since the 2nd inning of his May 25 start @ PIT…he also had a 16.0 scoreless inn streak over parts of 3 starts May 25-June 5 and a 18.0 scoreless inn streak over parts of 3 starts from June 11-22…those streaks trail only his 20.0 scoreless inn from Sept. 16-Oct. 2, 2022.
Weathers gets the rock from Game 2
- Southpaw Ryan Weathers was recalled as the 27th man in today’s double feature, and he’ll get the ball to start tonight’s 2nd game…his recall today marks his 4th stint with the Major League club this season, and he’s made just 1 career appearance vs. PHI, which came in a relief role on August 22, 2021 in SD’s 7-4 defeat.
G1 STARTER – BLAKE SNELL 4
Snell set for 6th career start vs. Phillies in Game 1 Blake Snell takes the mound for Game 1 of today’s doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park, in what will be his 6th career start vs. PHI…he’s 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and .212 AVG against vs. the Phillies, with all 5 of those starts coming across the 2021-22 seasons as a member of the Padres…his lone career winning decision vs. PHI came in the NLCS last season, which was also the Padres lone win of that series, tossing 5.0 innings of 5-hit, 4-run ball in SD’s 8-5 Game 2 victory.
Shutouts/Punchouts/Quality Starts/100+ Pitch Outings
Snell faced another 2022 Postseason foe to finish the first half last Saturday, July 8 vs. the Mets, tossing 6.0 shutout innings of 1-hit ball…it was his 6th scoreless outing this season across 5.0+ frames, tied for the most such starts this season with Michael Wacha, Chris Bassitt and Nathon Eovaldi..all 6 of those starts have come in his 8 outings since May 31…. he reached the 100 pitch plateau for 9th time this season, tied for the 3rd-most 100+ pitch outings this season…he’s now posted quality outings in 7 of his last 8 outings since May 25, having his quality start streak snapped at 6 in a row on July 3 vs. LAA, tying his career high QS streak from April 10-May 8 during his Cy Young 2018 season…and he’s punched out 10+ in 5 of his last 6 outings, with the lone exception also being the July 3 game vs. LAA (7 SO)…. since 2018, he’s posted the most double-digit SO games (28) among all ML left-handers, ahead of Chris Sale (27) and Robbie Ray (26).
Owner of 3 of the 4 longest scoreless inning streaks
Snell is in the midst of 3rd scoreless inn streak of at least 16.0 innings this season and enters today riding a 16.0 scoreless inn streak since the 2nd inning of his May 25 start @ PIT…he also had a 16.0 scoreless inn streak over parts of 3 starts May 25-June 5 and a 18.0 scoreless inn streak over parts of 3 starts from June 11-22…those streaks trail only his 20.0 scoreless inn from Sept. 16-Oct. 2, 2022…its 3 of the 4 longest scoreless inn streaks by Padres pitchers this season, with Wacha’s 16.2 scoreless inning streak ranking 2nd in ’23.
Leader of the pack since May 25
Among all qualifying pitchers since May 25, Snell ranks 1st in ERA (0.68), total strikeouts (84), SO/9 IP (14.26), opp. AVG (.155) and H/9 IP (4.75) and FIP (1.96).
Not all the All-Stars were in Seattle
Among all NL pitchers in the first half of the season, Snell ranked first in batting average against (.200), 2nd in strikeouts (132) and 3rd in ERA (2.85)…there were 14 starting pitchers in MLB with an ERA of 3.09-or-lower in the first half, and Snell was the only one who was not been named to his league’s All-Star roster.
Snell faces 30th MLB team, his former club, in style
Sat, June 17 @ Petco Park, Snell squared off against the Rays for the first time in his career and has now faced all 30 MLB clubs…entering ’23, CIN and TB were the only 2 ML clubs Snell was yet to face….he struck out a season-high-tying 12 batters for the 2nd consecutive game (1 shy of his career high 13 SO – 4 times)…he also struck out all 9 starters for the 2nd straight start, becoming the 4th pitcher since 1961 to do so, joining Jacob deGrom (2021), Pedro Martinez (1999 & ’00) and Randy Johnson (1992 & ’99)…in his prior start on Sun, June 11 @ Coors Field, the 85 pitches it took him to get thru at least 7.0 frames were the fewest of his career, ahead of the 95 pitches in 7.0 IP Sept, 16, 2022 @ ARI.
G2 STARTER – RYAN WEATHERS 40
Weathers set for 10th start of season, 4th stint with Major League squad
23-year-old Ryan Weathers has been recalled today as the 27th man to start Game 2 of today’s doubleheader @ PHI…he’s made just 1 career appearance vs. PHI, which came in a relief role on August 22, 2021 in SD’s 7-4 defeat…it was a bullpen game, and Weathers relieved Craig Stammen’s 2.0 shutout innings with 2.0 innings of 5-hit, 3-run ball….his recall today marks his 4th stint with the Major League club this season.
As a Padre in ’23
Weathers made his 2nd career Opening Day roster (also 2021) before being optioned to Triple-A El Paso for the 1st of 3 times on April 26…after his 3 starts in SD’s rotation to begin the season (2.81 ERA), Weathers made 2 relief outings, earning his 1st career hold on April 22 @ ARI in SD’s 5-3 victory, allowing 1 hit while striking out 1…he tossed another scoreless frame on April 25 @ CHC, retiring all 3 batters he faced on 10 pitches. Since the 2 relief outings, he’s made 6 consecutive starts from May 14-June 15 for SD, going 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP and .366 opponents’ AVG.
As a Chihuahua in ’23
All 6 of Weathers’ appearances with El Paso have come as a starter, going 0-2 with a 4.03 ERA (13 ER, 29.0 IP), .245 opponents’ AVG and 11.8 SO/9 IP ratio…both of his 2 career double digit strikeout games (minors or Majors) have come in 2 of his last 3 starts (June 25 vs. Tacoma and July 6 vs. Las Vegas).
Tied for most pickoffs in Majors
2 big league starts ago on Sat, June 10 @ COL, Weathers converted his 4th pickoff of the season, which puts him in a tie for most pickoffs in the Majors in ’23 with Patrick Corbin, Taylor Clarke and Pablo Lopez…of the 4 hurlers, only Clarke (37.2 IP) has fewer IP than Weathers (40.0)…Lopez has compiled 111.0 IP and Corbin has 108.2 IP. Weathers (136.2 IP) became the 5th-fastest pitcher (in terms of IP) to 13 career pickoffs among pitchers to debut in Divisional Era (since 1969)…he trailed only Jerry Garvin in ’77 (92.0), Ryan Feierabend in ’14 (108.0), Greg Smith in ’08 (121.0) and Mark Guthrie in ’90 (126.2)…his 9 pickoffs in 2021 led the Majors.
Hard hit percentage in the top 15 percentile
Weathers is getting hit hard 32.8% of the time, which ranks in the 85th percentile this season….the MLB average hard hit percentage is 36.1%, while his career avg is 39.9%.
Barrel rate down in ’23
Weathers allowed 25 barrels in his 1,617 pitches thrown in 2021 for a 8.4 barrel %…this season, he’s allowed 8 barrels in his 711 pitches thrown for a 6.1 barrel that ranks in the 79th percentile this season.
Limiting lefties to a .242 clip
The southpaw has limited the 37 left-handed hitters he’s faced to a .242 clip with just 1 XBH allowed (Nolan Jones’ solo HR June 10 @ COL)…5 of the 6 HRs he’s allowed have come against righties, who are hitting .333 against him (137 batters faced).
4-Seamer velo in 70th percentile
After averaging 93.5 mph on his 4-seamer in ’22, which ranked in the 70th percentile with opponents hitting .444 (4-for-12) against it, his 4-seamer in ’23 is up a tick to 94.8 mph and ranking in the 70th percentile…but opponents are hitting .408 against it (29-for-71).
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:
GAME 90 RECAP: The Phillies opened the second half with an 8-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Fireworks Night at Citizens Bank Park … Starter Cristopher Sanchez (L, 0-3) went 5.0 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts … The Padres hit 4 home runs in the game and led 8-1 through the top of the 9th … The Phillies tried to mount a rally, they eventually had Bryce Harper in the on deck circle as the tying run after scoring twice in the 9th as 8 batters came to the plate.
FIRST HALF RECAP: This season, the Phillies got off to a 25-32 start and were seven games under .500 following play on June 2 … But since June 3, they have gone 23-10 and enter today six games above .500 at 48-42 … The Phillies went 16-11-2 in series play in the 1st half and were over .500 both at home (22-16) and on the road (26-25) for the 14th time in franchise history (last: 2022) … The first half included a franchise-record-tying 13-game road winning streak (6/13-7/7) and a franchise record 12-game Interleague winning streak (5/7-current).
A CASE FOR COOPERSTOWN: Phils reliever Craig Kimbrel, the reigning NL Reliever of the Month for June, was selected as an All-Star for the 9th time in 2023… Kimbrel is only the 13th pitcher in MLB history with 9+ career selections to the ASG – of those 13 players, 9 are enshrined in Cooperstown: Warren Spahn (14 ASG), Mariano Rivera (13 ASG), Tom Seaver (12 ASG), Tom Glavine (10 ASG), Randy Johnson (10 ASG), Steve Carlton (10 ASG), Goose Gossage (9 ASG), Juan Marichal (9 ASG) and Carl Hubbell (9 ASG) – the only four pitchers with nine+ ASG selections who are not in the HOF are Roger Clemens (11 ASG), Clayton Kershaw (10 ASG), Justin Verlander (9 ASG) and Kimbrel … Kimbrel currently ranks 8th in strikeouts as a reliever since at least 1893 (chart to the right) and earlier this season he became only the 8th member of the 400 save club – he enters today’s doubleheader with 408 career saves (8th all time, Jansen 7th at 411).
HATS OFF TO YOU, THOMS: Sunday in Miami marked the 200th game of Rob Thomson’s managerial career … Through his first 200 games as skipper, Thomson guided the Phillies to 113-87 record (.565 win %) and was 26 games over .500 with a +70 run differential (918-848) … Thomson, the 56th manager in Phillies franchise history, has more wins through his first 200 games than all but four managers: Steve O’Neill (1952-54, 118 wins), Pat Moran (1915-18, 117 wins), Dallas Green (1979-81, 116 wins) and Bill Shettsline (1898-1902, 116 wins).
THE GHOSTS OF RED OCTOBER: The Phillies welcome the Padres to South Philly and Citizens Bank Park for the first time since the 2022 National League Championship Series which the Phillies took, four games to one … With the series tied 1-1 following two games in San Diego, the Phillies won Games 3, 4 and 5, all in Philadelphia, to clinch the eighth pennant in club history and first since 2009 … Three different Phillies posted an OPS over 1.000 during the series (min. 20 PA): Kyle Schwarber (1.571), Bryce Harper (1.250) and Rhys Hoskins (1.189) … On the mound, Zack Wheeler made two starts and posted a 1.38 ERA (2 ER, 13.0 IP) as the Phillies won both games started by Wheeler, including Game 5 … In Game 5, Harper hit one of the most iconic home runs in franchise history as he put the Phillies ahead 4-3 in the 8th inning with a 2- run home run off Padres reliever Robert Suarez that spawned Bedlam at the Bank … Ranger Suarez was summoned for the final two outs and picked up the save.
CENTER OF ATTENTION: Yesterday, the Phillies recalled center fielder Johan Rojas from Reading (AA) … Rojas, the No. 6 ranked prospect in the Phillies minor league system by MLB.com, leads all minor league center fielders with 16 defensive runs saved this season – no other minor league CF has more than 4 DRS … Sports Info Solutions grades AA and AAA players on the major league scale – using that, Rojas would be tied for the major league lead in DRS among all players with COL 3B Ryan McMahon (also16 DRS) – Kevin Kiermaier currently leads MLB center fielders with 13 DRS … Rojas, slated to start Game 1 of today’s doubleheader in center field, will do so at 22 years and 335 days old … He will be the youngest Phillies player to start a game in center field since Lonnie Smith (22 years, 283 days) on Oct. 1, 1978 … He played 76 games for Reading this year and slashed .306/.361/.484 with 30 stolen bases, 34 extra-base hits (20 2B, 5 3B, 9 HR), 56 runs scored and 24 walks … At the time of his promotion, he led the Eastern League in hits (98), triples and runs and ranked tied for second in steals, third in extra-base hits and total bases and sixth in average
DUBS FOR T DUB: Game 2 starter Taijuan Walker has won six straight decisions (since 6/6) and has posted a 1.62 ERA (7 ER, 39.0 IP) while limiting opponents to a .181/.252/.304 slash line in those games … He is the first Phillies pitcher to win six straight decisions since Zach Eflin also won six straight, June 5-July 3, 2018 … The last Phillies starting pitcher to win seven straight decisions was Cliff Lee, July 30-Sept. 5, 2011.
BEDLAM AT THE BANK: Through 39 games at CBP, the Phillies are averaging 39,701 in attendance per game which ranks 5th among all clubs in MLB behind only the Dodgers (48,201), Cardinals (41,439), Yankees (41,033) and Padres (40,379) … Of Philadelphia’s first 39 games at home, 21 have been sellouts (54%) and 30 have been over 35,000 (77%) … Among all clubs in MLB, the Phillies have the largest year-to-year increase in attendance per game this season at +11,407 (up from 28,181 per game through 39 home games in 2022) … Per Baseball Reference, the last time a team saw a +10,000 spike in attendance from one year to the next was in 2010 when the Twins moved to Target Field from the Metrodome and saw a +10,332 spike from 2009 … The last team to see a spike of at least +11,000 in attendance from year to year was in 2005 when the Washington Nationals moved from Montreal and averaged 33,708 per game at RFK Stadium – The Expos averaged 9,357 per game in 2004 at Olympic Stadium (+24,351 spike from 2004 to 2005) … For reference, the Phillies saw a +12,224 spike in attendance in 2004 when CBP was opened (40,125 per game) after averaging 27,901 per game during the last year at Veterans Stadium in 2003.
TODAY’S STARTER – RANGER SUÁREZ • LHP #55
2023: 2-4, 3.77 ERA Career: 27-19, 3.22 ERA
LAST START: 7/8 at MIA: 5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO … Suárez vs Garrett … Trea Turner put the Phils ahead 1-0 in the 1st inning with a solo homer before Miami scored 3 in the bottom of the frame … The Phillies rallied with 2 runs in the 2nd inning to tie it at 3-3 but could not score again as Miami scored runs in the 4th and 7th … Alec Bohm had 2 more hits to raise his average to .283.
TODAY’S START:
- Postseason Hero: Suarez’s made three appearances last season against San Diego, two of which came in the postseason … Suarez became the only Phillie ever with a win in a start and a save in relief in the same postseason, doing so all in the NLCS – something no pitcher had done in an NLCS/WS since Madison Bumgarner in 2014 … His win came in a pivotal Game 3 of the NLCS and his save in the clinching Game 5, entering with 2 on and 1 out up by just 1 run
- Trouble With the Curve: Suárez has thrown his curveball 214 times in 62.0 IP this season after only throwing it 198 times in 155.1 IP last year … He is holding batters to a .116 average (5-43) with his curveball and has struck out 18 batters with a whiff rate of 35.5% … Suárez’s .116 OPP AVG against his curveball ranks 5th among all ML pitchers who have thrown at least 150 curveballs (best: Blake Snell, .087)
- Ground Level: Suárez’s ground ball % of 50.3% is 8th -highest among all National League pitchers with at least 60.0 IP and his ground ball/fly ball rate of 1.96 is 8th
- Pitch Usage: Sinker (28%), Curveball (21%), 4-Seam Fastball (20.7%), Changeup (17.5%), Cutter (12.4%), Slider (0.5%)
2023 SEASON:
- Recorded a 5-game streak with at least 6 IP and 1 or no runs (6/4-27) … It was the 10th time a Phillies Pitcher had done so and the first time since Cole Hamels in 2014
- Struck out at least 7 batters in four straight starts, which is the longest streak of his career
- Tied his career-high for strikeouts in a game (8) twice
HOME:
- 2023: 0-2, 5.92 ERA (16 ER, 24.1 IP) in 5 starts
- Career: 14-8, 3.45 ERA (72 ER, 188.0 IP) in 60 games (28 starts)
- 2022 Postseason: 1-0, SV, 1.59 ERA (1 ER, 5.2 IP) in 2 games (1 start)
TONIGHT’S STARTER – GM2 TAIJUAN WALKER • RHP #99
2023: 10-3, 4.02 ERA Career: 64-53, 3.90 ERA
LAST START: 7/5 at TB: W, 7.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 HR, 5 BB, 8 SO … Walker vs Littell … The Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays, 8-4, at the Trop in St. Pete … The Phils had 20 baserunners on the night (17 H, 3 BB) and put 19 balls in play over 95 MPH which matched a season high (also 7/2 and 4/16) … Bryson Stott went 4-for-5 and J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm each had 3 hits … The Phillies handed the Rays only their 2 nd series loss at home this season.
TONIGHT’S START:
- Pitch Usage: Splitter (35.7%), Sinker (24.2%), 4-Seam (18.2%), Cutter (14.0%), Sweeper (4.5%), Curveball (3.3%).
- Milestone Watch: Walker is 5.2 innings away from 1,000.0 innings pitched. He also is 9 strikeouts shy of 900 for his career.
- Celebrate: Walker has won a career-high 6 straight games for the 1st time since winning 6 contests over a 9-game stretch from 6/12- 7/31/22. He is the first Phillies starter to win 6 straight decisions since Zach Eflin from 6/5-7/3/18. The last Phillies hurler to win 7 straight decisions was Cliff Lee from 7/30-9/5/11.
- That’s Just the Way We Roll: Walker is the 1st Phillies starter to reach 10 wins this season, a mark tied for 4th in MLB. He has recorded double-digit victories in consecutive seasons for the first time in his career.
- Remember This: Walker allowed 1 run or less in 5 straight starts from 6/6-29, the longest such streak of his career. He tossed back-to-back scoreless starts of at least 5.0 IP on 6/6 and 6/11 for the 1st time in his career.
- Summer Baby: Walker’s 2.71 ERA (57 ER, 189.1 IP) in the month of June is his lowest ERA in any month of his career (next, 3.65, April). It is the 4th-lowest mark of any active pitcher (min. 160.0 IP) for June, behind Clayton Kershaw (2.67), Chris Sale (2.55) and Jacob deGrom (2.40). His 1.50 ERA for June in 2023 was 6th-lowest among starters for the month, while he was the only ML pitcher to tally 5 wins. Walker is the 1st Phillies pitcher since Zach Eflin (5 in 2018) to record 5 wins in the month of June.
- Much Better: Walker has used his splitter 35.7% of the time in 2023, the highest rate of his career (previous: 27.6% in 2022) … 42 of his 85 strikeouts have come via the splitter and his 26.9 strikeout percentage and 27.2 whiff percentage with the pitch are the 9th- and 11th-best marks in the NL, respectively (min. 25 PA).
- vs NL West: 13-11, 3.71 ERA (81 ER, 196.2 IP) in 36 starts.
HOME:
- 2023: 4-0, 2.13 ERA (9 ER, 38.0 IP) in 7 starts.
- Career: 28-21, 3.68 ERA (196 ER, 479.1 IP) in 87 games (85 starts).
- CBP: 5-1, 3.34 ERA (23 ER, 62.0 IP) in 12 starts.
2023 SEASON:
- Threw a career-high 14.0 scoreless innings from 6/6-16, surpassing 2 scoreless 13.0-inning stretches from 7/4-16/22 and 6/26-7/7/15 … Completed 8.0 innings on 6/16 for the 1st time since 4/27/17 vs SD while with ARI.
- On 5/21 vs CHI, Walker made his 1st career start on 3 days rest.
- Made his Phillies debut on 4/3 at NYY after signing a 4-year contract with the club in December.
- Pitched for Team Mexico in the 2023 WBC, making 1 start in Pool Play against Great Britain … He threw 4.0 scoreless IP with 2 baserunners allowed and recorded 8 of his 12 outs via strikeout.
