ATLANTA BRAVES NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: The Braves and Padres tonight continue a three-game series with the sixth of seven games between the clubs this season…The two played just nine days ago at Truist Park in Atlanta.
• Atlanta scored a pair of runs in the first inning last night for the only tallies of the game, a 2-0 defeat of San Diego.
• San Diego won three-of-four games between the two clubs last week, outscoring Atlanta, 25-14… The Padres are responsible for three of the four losses Atlanta has this season…Against all other opponents, the Braves are 11-1.
• Atlanta went 3-4 against San Diego last season, snapping a streak of five consecutive years in which the Braves won the season set…Atlanta needs a sweep this week to win the season series.
• Atlanta is 9-2 in its last 11 games as the visiting team here at Petco Park, dating to the 2019 season…The Braves swept the Padres here in 2019 and 2021, and split four games last season.
• RH Spencer Strider has pitched in three games and made one start in his career against the Padres, compiling a 4.66 ERA (5 ER/9.2 IP) without a decision…The 6-foot-0, 205-pound right-hander faced the Padres just 12 days ago at Truist Park, April 6, allowing four hits and three runs over 5.0 innings in Atlanta’s win, 5-4…The Braves are 3-0 in his three turns this season.
• LH Blake Snell has made just two starts against Atlanta in his career, going 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA (5 ER/10.0 IP)…The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Seattle native faced Strider in that start on April 6 at Truist Park, and allowed six hits and four runs over just 3.2 innings…San Diego has yet to win a game started by Snell this season, going 0-3 in his turns.
WIN: Atlanta beat San Diego, 2-0, last night to win its seventh straight game…Austin Riley’s fourth home run of the season provided the game’s only runs.
• The win moved the Braves to 13-4 (.765) on the season, tying the club’s best mark through 17 games since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966… Just five other Atlanta teams have opened with a 13-4 record through 17 games since 1966; the 1982, 1983, 1994, 1997 and 2013 clubs all opened with the same record.
• Atlanta improved to 9-1 (.900) on the road this season, and has outscored opponents, 58-24, away from Truist Park…The Braves’ .900 winning percentage on the road is best in baseball…The Yankees rank second with a .667 mark (4-2).
• The Braves pitched their first shutout of the season last night, as Max Fried, Dylan Lee, Jesse Chavez and A.J. Minter combined to allow just six hits and one walk, fanning nine.
• Atlanta threw just nine total shutouts all of last season, tied for ninth fewest in the majors.
• Last night began the Braves’ sixth series of the season, and they have won the opener in all six.
FIRST TEN PITCHES: Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled on the first pitch of yesterday’s game, and Austin Riley deposited the sixth over the wall in left field for a 2-0 Braves lead…Atlanta never trailed.
• In the first 10 pitches of a game, Atlanta is batting .531/.543/1.125 with a 1.668 OPS…All of those marks are best in the majors.
• Atlanta also leads the majors in hits (17), homers (5) and runs (9) within the game’s first 10 pitches.
• In the first six pitches last night the Braves tallied exit velocities of 107.3 (Acuna Jr.’s double), 108.6 (Matt Olson lineout) and 110.3 (Riley’s home run)…Atlanta is averaging 97.6 mph on balls put in play within the first 10 pitches of a game, highest in the majors.
• In the entirety of the first inning, Atlanta is batting .403/.422/.805 with a majors-best 1.227 OPS, and its 17 total runs in the inning are tied for the most in baseball.
STREAK: Atlanta beat San Diego, 2-0, last night, and the Braves have won each of their last seven games…It is the longest active winning streak in baseball.
• The Braves’ run is the second-longest winning streak in baseball this season, trailing just a 13-game stretch by Tampa Bay…The Rays won each of their first 13 games of the season.
• Atlanta had three longer streaks all of last season, winning eight straight games twice and an MLB best-tying 14 consecutive games in June.
• The Braves are batting .283/.360/.508 during the run, and averaging 6.1 runs per game…Atlanta has 12 homers in that span, and has homered in all seven games.
• Atlanta pitchers have compiled a 3.09 ERA (22 ER/64.0 IP) during the streak, allowing opponents to bat just .236 (57-for-242) and fanning 9.8 batters per 9.0 innings.
MURPHY EXTRA BASES: Each of Sean Murphy’s last 10 hits have gone for extra bases, dating to a fourth-inning double on April 6…He has seven doubles and three homers during the streak…Murphy is hitless in his last eight at-bats over the previous two games.
• The streak matches the longest run of consecutive extra-base hits in Atlanta history (since 1966), tying the mark set by Gary Matthews, Sr. in 1979… Matthews had 10 in a row from June 17-23.
• Only one player in Braves franchise history (since 1900) has a longer such streak…Wally Berger of the Boston Braves had 12 such hits in August of 1935.
• The last player in baseball with at least 10 consecutive extra-base hits was Houston’s Alex Bregman, who had 11 straight in August of last season.
• The last catcher with such a streak was Detroit’s Dustin Garneau in 2021, who tallied 11 straight from August 22 to October 3.
• Research courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.
Tonight’s Starting Pitcher – #65 Spencer Strider
Today’s Game
• Strider is set to make his fourth start of the season and second against San Diego.
• Fanned nine Padres hitters while allowing four hits, three runs, three walks and a home run on April 6 earlier this year.
• Enters play with seven consecutive games of at least nine strikeouts dating to September 1, 2022.
• It is the longest active streak in baseball and ranks tied for sixteenth-longest in the modern era (since 1900).
• Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz’ eight such games are the most in franchise history.
• The most in MLB were 11 games by HOF’er Nolan Ryan.
• In his last start against Cincinnati struck out nine hitters while allowing four hits, three runs and two walks.
• His last outing against the Reds marked seven consecutive games with at least nine punchouts.
• Among active pitchers, only Chris Sale, Gerrit Cole and Shane Bieber have recorded a longer streak of consecutive games with at least nine strikeouts.
2023 Recap
• Started the second game of the season for Atlanta and earned the win, fanning nine hitters while pitching 6.0 scoreless innings against Washington.
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Despite a career-high 6.0 innings from Ryan Weathers, Padres are shut out for the 2nd straight game
• Ryan Weathers toed the slab and hurled a career-high 6.0 innings with a career-high 94 pitches, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 5 punchouts and 2 walks.
• At the dish, however, the Friars went 0-for-4 with RISP and had just 1 extra-base hit (an Austin Nola double).
• It marked the 1st time the Padres had been shut out in back-to-back games at home since April 5-6, 2016 (both vs. LAD). Elias Says…
• Based on games already played so far this season, the Padres have 2nd most difficult strength of schedule in the Major Leagues at .608 (and the most difficult schedule in the NL), trailing just the A’s .617…the strength of schedule is the cumulative sum of SD’s opponent wins divided by their cumulative sum of their opponents wins + losses.
1998 Padres
• Tonight, the Padres will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the 1998 NL Championship Series club…staff and players from the ’98 club will be honored pregame on the field.
• The 1998 team went 98-64 (.605) in the regular season, the most wins in a season in Padres’ history (next most were the ’84 club’s 92 wins)…they defeated the Braves in the NLCS in 6 games, and their World Series advancement vs. the Yankees was the Padres’ most recent WS app. (lost in 4 games).
Quality can’t be wasted
• The Padres pitching staff have compiled 6 quality starts so far this year, but they’ve lost the last 3 of them…their last 2 games have also been quality outings by San Diego starters (Yu Darvish went 7.0 IP with 1 run allowed and Ryan Weathers went 6.0 IP with 2 runs allowed), and the Padres have not scored a single run in either game.
• It’s also the 1st time since 2014 in which the Padres had back-to-back quality starts in which the Friars didn’t score a single run…the club has never had 3 straight games. Padres have lowest batting average in Majors since April 10 (.211), are 2-6 since their series in Atlanta
• San Diego batters have hit a Major-League low .211 (55-for-261) in 8 games since April 10, and they’ve scored a ML-low 2.63 runs per game in that span.
• Including last night’s defeat, San Diego has won just 2 of their last 8 games since April 10, and they’re
Blake Snell looks for his 1st win of 2023
• SD’s Opening Day starter has gone 0-2 in his 3 previous starts this year, and the Padres have yet to win any of his starts…opponents have hit .327 against him so far, the 7th-highest opponent clip vs. any NL starter with at least 3 GS.
• Snell has thrown a total of 13.0 innings in his 3 starts, and his 2.15 WHIP (walks + hits per IP) is the 5th highest of any starter thus far.
Today is Game 13 in a stretch of playing 18 games in 18 days; 21 games in 22 days
• San Diego had their 1st off day on April 5 in Atlanta and won’t enjoy their 2nd until April 24, playing 18 games in 18 days from April 6-23 and 21 games in 22 days from April 6-27…their 3rd off day will be on April 28 (in Mexico City).
• ..their 1st off day in San Diego won’t be until May 4.
STARTING PITCHER – BLAKE SNELL 4
Snell set for 2nd start of season vs. Braves 3 0 – 2 6.92 3 13.0 18 11 10 3 10 16 66 281/152 30-year-old left-hander Blake Snell is set to make his 2nd start in his last 3 outings vs. the Braves after facing off against ATL at Truist Park Thurs, April 6…he did not factor into the 7-6 defeat, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits while walking 6 across 3.2 innings and 88 pitches…it will be just his 3rd career start vs. ATL, with the other coming with TB on May 8, 2018 in the Rays’ 1-0 defeat (6.1 IP, 4 H, ER, 2 BB, 5 SO). Snell is in search both his first winning decision of the season (0-2) and SD’s first team win in one of his starts (0-3). Kevin Pillar’s 23 at-bats vs. Snell are the most among Braves hitters, as he has gone 9-for23 (.391) against him…Matt Olson is 1-for-8 (.125) vs. Snell, while Ehire Adrianza and Eddie Rosario are both 4-for-6 (.667) vs. Snell, while Ronal Acuna Jr. is 2-for-5 (.400) and Ozzie Albies is 1-for-5 (.200).
Walks pile up vs. Mets in last outing.
Last Wed @ Citi Field, Juan Soto gave Snell a 2-run cushion in the top of the 1st and worked his way out of a bases loaded ham in the bottom of the 1st…but the Mets worked their way back from the early deficit with a run in the second and one in the third, took the lead with a run in the fifth and added on with a run in the sixth, all of which were charged to Snell. Snell has issued 10 free passes to the 66 batters he’s faced across 13.0 IP…his 6.92 BB/9 IP ratio is the 6th highest and his .152 BB/BFP is 7th-highest in the NL among all hurlers who have made at least 3 starts. Snell is also only getting ahead in counts on the first pitch a little over half of the time…his 51.5 first-pitch strike percentage is 10th-lowest among all NL hurlers (min. 3 starts).
