ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS NOTES:
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SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres shut out D-backs in late game rally from Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr.
- Starter Seth Lugo matched his career high in strikeouts (9), and tossed 7.0 innings of scoreless ball with 3 walks and 5 hits allowed.
- The Friars were held hitless until Juan Soto’s 1-out double in the 7th inning.
- Ha-Seong Kim logged a 2-run single to center field in the 8th inning to put the Padres up 2-0, and Fernando Tatis Jr. followed later in the inning with a 2-run, 419 ft. home run to center field to make it 4-0.
Padres playing 13 games in 13 days & 19 games in 20 days
- Today and tonight will be the te 15th & 16th games of the Padres playing 19 games in 20 days…their sole scheduled off day in the span from August 4-23 was on August 10, and Sunday, August 19th will be an off day following Saturday’s double header…they’re also in a stretch of playing 32 games in 34 days (from August 4-September 6).
- Since Aug. 11, the Padres also began playing 13 games in 13 days, with 7 of those 13 games vs. Arizona. NL Wild Card race
- The Padres are 5.0 games back in the NL Wild Card race, behind the D-Backs (-2.0 games back), Cubs (-1.0 GB) and the Marlins, Reds, Giants, and Phillies…their next 5 games are against Arizona and Miami.
Friars & Snakes play a split doubleheader due to Hurricane Hilary
- Due to Hurricane Hilary’s expected arrival into Southern California this weekend, MLB rescheduled Sunday’s game as part of a split doubleheader at Petco Park on Saturday, August 19th.
- It’s the 2nd double header the Padres have played this season, the 1st coming on July 15 @ Philadelphia (lost both games).
- It’s the 7th doubleheader ever played @ Petco Park, joining the following dates: July 1, 2006 vs. SF (1-1), September 2, 2017 vs. LAD (2-0), August 27, 2020 vs. SEA ( 1-1), September 13, 2020 vs. SF (2-0), June 11, 2022 vs. COL (1-1), and August 2, 2022 vs. COL (2-0).
- Today is the 2nd doubleheader the 2 clubs have played against one another, with their 1st being at Qualcomm Stadium on August 31, 2001 (went 1-1).
Waldron recalled as club’s 27th man for G1 start, Darvish goes G2
- Matt Waldron makes his 2nd-career big league appearance, having made his debut earlier this season on June 24 vs. WSH (allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 4.2 innings of
work, getting saddled with the loss in San Diego’s 2-0 loss). - Yu Darvish, who just passed Hideo Nomo in his last outing for the most strikeouts of any Japanese-born player (has 1,919 in his MLB career now), will make his 23rd start of the year in Game 2…the Padres have lost each of his last 3 outings, and he’s looking to bounce back from his August 14 outing vs. Baltimore in which he allowed 4 ER in 7.0 IP.
Padres have 100 swiped bags in 2023
- San Diego is 1 of 8 teams to have 100+ stolen bases this year (including the D-backs, who have the 3rd most in MLB with 124)…it’s the 27th season in Padres’ history in which they’ve had 100+ stolen bags, the most since 2021 (110 SB)…the club record for SB in a season is 239 in 1980…Ha-Seong Kim’s 27 SB lead the team and rank 5th in the NL.
G1 STARTER – #61 MATT WALDRON
Waldron set for 2nd career big league in Game 1 of doubleheader
26-year-old Matt Waldron has been recalled as the 27th-man for today’s doubleheader and will make his 2nd career big league start/appearance…he made his ML debut June 24 @ WSH, allowing 2 runs off 2 solo HRs across 4.2 IP, striking out 2 and walking 1 in SD’s 2-0 defeat…today marks his 4th call-up of the season, but he’s made just the 1 appearance (his ML debut)….he utilizes a knuckleball, a pitch he threw 13 times out of 62 pitches, and opponents went 0-for-3 against it…the 2 HR came against his 4-seamer, which averaged 92.3 mph…he’s the first regular knuckleballer to pitch in the big leagues since Mickey Jannis did so for the Orioles in ’21…SD hasn’t had a regular knuckleballer since Charlie Haeger in 2008.
Waldron 1 of 6 Padres to make their debut this season
When Waldron took the ball for his debut in Game 2 of the 3-game set vs. WSH, he got the nod with Michael Wacha skipping a turn because of shoulder fatigue…he was the 3rd Padre to make their debut in ’23 (following Brett Sullivan and Tom Cosgrove), but the first to do so as a starting pitcher…since his debut, 3 other Padres have made their debuts (Alek Jacob, Taylor Kohlwey and Jacksn Wolf), with Wolf being the only other Friar to make their debut as a starting pitcher, before he was traded to PIT in the Rich Hill/Ji-Man Choi deal.
How’d he get the call?
Waldron learned the news of his big league callup on Thursday, June 22 when he was presented a scouting report on the Nationals lineup by Triple-A pitching coach Scott Mitchell, who asked, “How are you going to attack these guys?”
With El Paso
Besides his ML debut, the Omaha, Nebraska native has worked exclusively at the Triple-A level for the first time in his career this season, striking out 95 batters in 85.1 innings pitched (10.0 SO/9 IP ratio) across his 19 appearances (17 starts)…he allowed 8 runs (7 earned) and 7 walks in 2 relief outings and 4.2 IP to start the season (13.50 ERA)…he’s made 17 starts since, going 2-8 with a 6.92 ERA, and he’s completed 5.0 innings in 10 of the 17 starts, including striking out at least 5 in 11 of the 17…11 of his 16 HR allowed as a starter came across 4 starts, and he’s allowed 1 HR-or-fewer across the other 13 starts.
Acquired by Padres in 9-player trade in 2020 Trade Deadline
Waldron was acquired by San Diego from Cleveland on Nov. 8, 2020 as the player to be named later in the deal that sent RHP Mike Clevinger and OF Greg Allen to the Padres in exchange for C Austin Hedges, RHP Cal Quantrill, OF Josh Naylor, SS Gabriel Arias, LHP Joey Cantillo and SS Owen Miller (Aug. 31, 2020).
20211-22
In his first season in SD’s system in 2021, he split the campaign between Fort Wayne (A) and San Antonio (AA), striking out 103 and walking just 35 across 103.2 IP and 20 starts… he began the 2022 season at Double-A San Antonio, where he pitched to a 2.84 ERA (14 ER, 44.1 IP) and a 2-1 record across 9 starts before getting his first Triple-A promotion on June 28, where he went 3-9 with a 8.44 ERA (65 ER/69.1 IP).
About the knuckleball
Features a knuckleball that he first taught himself while playing catch with his twin brother while growing up in Omaha…with the encouragment of the Padres in 2021, he pushed the usage rate on his knuckler to over 70%, striking out 103 and walking just 35 in 103.2 regular season innings. Said Waldron to Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri during Spring 2023: “I didn’t really realize how big of a commitment it was…but fortunately it’s worked out.” The Padres set up Waldron on a few Zooms and phone calls with fellow knuckleballers Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey in 2022: “They want to see that pitch at the highest level again..
so they have that interest in it.”
G2 STARTER – #11 YU DARVISH
Darvish set for 3rd start of ’23 vs. ARI in Game 2
After going 0-2 with a 6.65 ERA vs. the D’Backs in 2021, his first year in Padres brown and gold, Yu Darvish was a perfect 4-0 in his 5 starts vs. ARI last season with 5 quality outings, posting 1.97 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and .138 opp. AVG…in his 2 starts vs. ARI so far in ’23, Darvish is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA (2 ER, 10.2 IP), including a 1.31 WHIP and .161 opp. AVG…his last losing decision vs. ARI came on Sept. 1, 2021, resulting in him going 5-0 with a 1.90 ERA (9 ER, 42.2 IP) over his last 7 starts (0.96 WHIP and .143 AVG) vs. the Snakes.
Darvish makes 2nd career start vs. BAL, his fewest against any team
After making just his 2nd career start vs. TEX on July 29, it left the Baltimore Orioles as the only team Darvish had made just 1 career regular season start against, which came on August 2, 2016 at Camden Yards while with TEX (6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER)…this past Mon vs. the Orioles, Darvish was tagged with the loss and had his record evened up at 8-8…he allowed 4 runs on 8 hits across 7.0 IP in SD’s 4-1 defeat…he threw 66 of his 81 pitches for strikes…he’snow made 4+ starts vs. every ML club except the Rangers and Orioles.
Darvish passes Nomo for most Major Leauge strikeouts for a Japenese-born pitcher
With his 6 strikeouts Mon vs. BAL, Darvish became MLB’s strikeout leader for a Japanese-born player, with his 1,919 career ML strikeouts passing Hideo Nomo’s 1,918 SO…Darvish’s 1st-career strikeout was in his MLB debut on April 9, 2012 with TEX vs. SEA (struck out SEA’s Dustin Ackley)…Nomo is serving in SD’s organization as an Advisor to Baseball Operations.
Run support issues
Among all pitchers who have made at least 6 starts since July 19, his 2.97 run support average is 6th-fewest in the Majors, trailing only last night’s ARI starter (1.50), Jose Quintana (1.51), Rich Hill (1.71), Jose Berrios (2.20) and George Kirby (2.37).
Second half punchouts
Yu posted a 9.42 SO/9 IP ratio across his 15 first-half starts in ’23…in his 7 second half starts this season, he’s punched out 42 across 42.1 IP (8.93 SO/9)…among all ML pitchers who have made at least 100 post-All Star starts, his 11.27 SO/9 IP ratio ranks T-1st all-time with Chris Sale, ahead of Randy Johnson (10.83), Gerrit Cole (10.82) and Max Scherzer (10.49).
Also making SD history with the punchouts
Darvish has struk out 527 batters through his first 82 games pitched with Padres, the most ever by any pitcher by this milepost for the franchise…among all hurlers in their first 82 app in Padres history, the next closest are Jake Peavy (468) and Chris Young (438).
2023 hit rate above his historic average
Yu Darvish has yielded 8.41 H/9 IP in ’23, the highest ratio of his career but is T-3rd-lowest H/9 rate (7.32) among all active MLB pitchers with Chris Sale (min. 1,000 IP), behind only Clayton Kershaw (6.82) and Jacob deGrom (6.90)…Darvish’s 7.32 H/9 rate ranks T-26th all-time with Sale (also min. 1,000 IP)
