PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES:.. Earned the win in the series opener in San Diego against the Padres last night by a score of 8-4, improving to 2-2 on the current six-game road trip.
- After this trip west, the Bucs will return home to play a three-game set against the in-state rival Philadelphia Phillies (July 28-30), followed by two games against the Detroit Tigers (August 1-2).
TODAY’S TRANSACTIONS: The Pirates today selected INF Alika Williams from Triple-A Indianapolis…To make room on the 40-man roster, INF Tucupita Marcano was placed on the 60-day Injured List (right knee ligament injury).
- Williams’ first appearance will be his Major League debut, making him the 11th player to debut for the Pirates this season.
DRINK IT IN. IT ALWAYS GOES DOWN SMOOTH: Since the start of the 2019 season, the Pirates have gone 15-9 (.625) against the Padres, their highest winning percentage against any NL opponent in that time.
- The Pirates have now won four in a row against the Padres, their longest streak vs. SD since winning six consecutive games against them during the 2019 season.
- The Bucs swept a 3-game series vs. San Diego earlier this season from June 27-29.
YOUNG BUCS: The Pirates this season have used a total of 15 players 24-years-old and younger, by far the most by any team in Major League Baseball (second most is the Angels with 10)…They’ve also used 20 players 26-years-old or younger, also tops in the game (Cleveland is second with 17).
- With Quinn Priester (22 years, 312 days old) earning his first Major League victory and Liover Peguero (22 years, 205 days) hitting his first career home run last night in San Diego, it marked the first time in franchise history that the Pirates had a player 22 years old or younger earn his first win and a player 22 or younger hit his first home run in the same game [source OptaStats].
- The Pirates are the only MLB team in the modern era to have 3 different players under the age of 25 notch their first career homer (Liover Peguero), first career win (Quinn Priester) and first career catcher caught stealing (Endy Rodríguez) in the same game [source OptaStats].
- With Peguero’s home run last night, the Bucs have had six players this season record their first career home run, five of which have come since June 1…In the expansion era (since 1961), the Pirates have had one season in which they’ve had seven players record their first career home run: 1969 (Steve Blass, Richie Hebner, John Jeter, Jose Martinez, Manny Sanguillen, Carl Taylo and Al Oliver).
WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND THIS ONE: With Rich Hill taking the mound for the Pirates tonight, it’ll be his 15th career start against the Padres and sixth at Petco Park…The 19-year veteran made his Petco Park debut on May 22, 2007 while with the Chicago Cubs, a game which he was opposed by RHP Jake Peavy and was eventually closed by RHP Trevor Hoffman.
- Needless to say, 27 different players appeared in that game and Hill is the only player still active…To take it a step further, the last player to be active from that contest was Adrian Gonzalez, who retired following the 2018 season (nearly five years ago).
TWICE IS NICE: With a pair of home runs last night, Carlos Santana recorded his 16th career multi-homer game and his first of the season… It was the seventh multi-homer game by a Pirates player in 2023, their highest total since recording 12 such games in 2019.
- Santana also recorded a double last night, bringing him to 10 total bases on the night…He was just the third Pirates player 37-years-old or older to record 10+ total bases in a single game, joining Willie Stargell (1980) and Honus Wagner (1912).
LIKE A FINE WINE…: With his stolen base in the third inning last night, Andrew McCutchen now has 10 stolen bases and 10 home runs this season, making him the third Pirates player to record 10 HR/10 SB in his age-36 or older season and the first since Lee Lacy hit 12 homers and stole 21 bases in 1984.
- He’s the first Major League player to accomplish this feat since Shin-Soo Choo did so for the Rangers in 2019 (24 HR/15 SB)…The last player to do this entirely with a National League team was Jimmy Rollins with the Dodgers in 2015 (13 HR/12 SB).
- McCutchen is the only active player to have accomplished this feat in their career.
FRIAR TIES: The current Pirates roster has several ties to the Padres organization, including:
- AUSTIN HEDGES: Played 406 games for the Padres over parts of six Major League seasons after being selected by San Diego in the second round of the 2011 Draft.
- DAVID BEDNAR: Played 17 games over parts of two Major League seasons with the Padres after being selected by San Diego in the 35th round on the 2016 draft.
- TUCUPITA MARCANO: Played 21 games for the Padres in 2021…Signed with San Diego as an international free agent in 2016.
- JACK SUWINSKI: Played parts of five Minor League seasons in the Padres system after being selected by San Diego in the 15th round of
the 2016 draft. - TARRIK BROCK: Was San Diego’s Outfield and Baserunning Coordinator in 2015 and Major League first base coach in 2016.
THE CENTER OF ATTENTION: Jack Suwinski has established a new career high with 21 home runs this season… He is just the 14th player in Pirates history to record a 20+ home runs in his age-24 season or younger, and the first since Josh Bell hit 26 in 2017…He reached 40 career home runs in 194 games and 592 at-bats, the fastest to the milestone in team history in terms of AB’s (Dick Stuart second at 602) and third-fastest in terms of games (Dick Stuart – 174; Jason Bay 193) [source Elias Sports Bureau].
- He has hit 20 of his 21 home runs this season as a center fielder…Suwinski is tied for second in Major League Baseball in home runs at the position with Jose Siri of the Rays, trailing only Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox (28).
STARTING PITCHER – 44 – LHP RICH HILL
RICH HILL: The 43-year-old left-hander will make his 21st start of the season tonight…Did not factor into the decision in his last outing on July 19 vs. Cleveland after allowing 4 runs on 8 hits over 5.2 innings of work…Has lost four of his last five decisions…Has gone 2-2 with a 3.49 ERA (11 ER in 28.1 IP) when getting 6+ days between outings (will have had six days between starts on Tuesday).
vs. SAN DIEGO:7-4 with a 3.26 ERA (77.1ip/28er) in 14 career appearances/starts…1-0 in one start this year after winning a 9-4 decision (6.0ip/4r) on 6/27 at PNC Park…Lost each of his first three starts against San Diego…Since 9/3/16 he is 7-1 with a 2.14 ERA (63.0ip/15er) in 11 starts.
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Ha-Seong Kim homers twice, but Friars fall to Pirates in series opener
- The Padres kicked off their 9th homestand of the season with an 8-4 loss to the Pirates…starter Yu Darvish allowed a career-high-tying 4 home runs in his outing, tossing just 4.1 innings and allowing 7 runs (all earned) on 8 hits.
- Ha-Seong Kim hit his 3rd leadoff homer of the season and later homered in the 5th for his 1st-career multi-homer game…Trent Grisham and Luis Campusano both doubled, but San Diego went just 1-for-2 with RISP.
Padres are 0-4 in ’23 vs. the Pirates
- The Padres have gone 0-4 vs. the Pirates so far this year, tying with their 4 losses to the Cubs this year for their 2nd most losses against a single opponent (behind just their 5 losses vs. the Dodgers).
- Padre pitchers have posted a 7.36 ERA against Pittsburgh so far this season, their highest ERA against any one opponent this year (2nd highest is their 5.77 ERA vs. the D-Backs).
- Prior to the Friars’ series in Pittsburgh on June 27, the Pirates had lost 13 of their prior 14 games played, and they ended up sweeping San Diego…prior to their current series against the Padres, the Pirates had lost 14 of their previous 19 games since they last played the Padres.
Outs above average
- Ha-Seong Kim and Manny Machado tie for the team lead in outs above average with 9, also ranking T-4th among all infielders…San Diego as a whole lead all of baseball with their 21 OAA.
Padres lead the Majors in walks
- San Diego’s 422 walks lead all of baseball…94 of that total has come solely from Juan Soto (next most walks are CHC Ian Happ’s 68).
STARTING PITCHER – #4 BLAKE SNELL
Snell set for 4th career start vs. PIT, first win vs. club Blake Snell takes the mound for his staff-leading 21st start of the season, his 10th at home, and the 4th of his career vs. PIT…he is 0-2 in his 3 career starts vs. PIT with a 8.49 ERA (11 ER, 11.2 IP)…he tossed a quality outing but was tagged with the loss in his June 28th start @ PNC Park in SD’s 7-1 defeat earlier this season.
Snell ties career-high with 7 walks last Thurs @ TOR
Blake Snell lowered his ERA for the 11th consecutive start last Thurs @ TOR, when he sat at 5.40 after his May 19 outing vs. BOS…but he’s worked his way back to being the ERA leader among all qualified starters (2.67)…he had his career-high 22.0 scoreless-inning streak snapped in the 2nd inning, his only run allowed in the game…it’s the longest scoreless-inning streak by a Padre SP since Kevin Correia’s 23.1 consecutive scoreless IP in ’09…he issued a career-high-tying 7 walks in the contest, and in the last 11 seasons (since 2013) it was 1 of just 19 instances of of a pitcher allowing 1 ER-or-fewer while walking 7+…and he joined Wade Miley and Tyler Chatwood as the only 3 pitchers since ’13 to do this twice.
Shutouts/Punchouts/Quality Starts/100+ Pitch Outings
Snell has tossed 7 scoreless outings this season across 5.0+ frames – the most such starts in the NL and tied with TEX’s Nathon Eovaldi and TOR’s Chris Bassitt for most in the Majors..all 7 of those starts have come in his 1- outings since May 31….he’s reached the 100 pitch plateau 10 times this season, tied for the 4th-most 100+ pitch outings this season… he’s posted quality outings in 7 of his last 10 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…he’s punched out 10+ in 5 of his last 8 outings, and 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).
Leader of the pack since May 25
Among all qualifying pitchers since May 25, Snell ranks 1st in ERA (0.71 – next closest is Musgrove’s 2.00), total strikeouts (95), opp. AVG (.167), opp. OPS (.488), H/9 IP (5.14) and FIP (2.32)..he also ranks 2nd in SO/9 IP (14.03)
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).
