LOS ANGELES ANGELS NOTES:
LEADING OFF:HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!…Today, the Angels play the seventh (4-2) and final game on a road trip against the Texas Rangers (3-1) and Kansas City Royals (1-1; June 16-18)…Halos went 5-1 on last homestand against the Chicago Cubs (3-0) and Seattle Mariners (2- 1)…LAA was 3-4 on last road trip against the Chicago White Sox (2-1) and Houston Astros (1-3).
UNIQUE STREAK: Shohei Ohtani has recorded an extra-base hit, walk and run scored in six straight games…The only other players to do so are Babe Ruth (7 straight games in 1921) and Barry Bonds (6 straight games in 1997). (credit: STATS Perform)
FAMILIAR FACE: For the second straight day and third time in the last five games, the Angels opposing starting pitcher is a former member of the Halos…Zack Greinke made 13 starts for the Angels in 2012, going 6-2 with a 3.53 ERA (89.1 IP – 35 ER) and 78 strikeouts.
HEATING UP: Angels have won 10 of last 13 games… The stretch includes a five game win streak from June 4-9, which matched the longest win streak of season (also won five straight from April 30-May 5).
WINS AND LOSSES: With a win today, Angels would match season-high at eight games over .500 (were 40- 32 following Friday night’s game at KC).
‘PEN PALS: Since June 4, the Angels bullpen ranks second in the American League with a 2.91 ERA (46.1 IP – 15 ER).
LEAGUE LEADER: As a pitcher, Shohei Ohtani leads the Majors in opponent batting average (.178) and ranks fourth in strikeouts (105)…With the bat, he also leads the Majors in home runs (23), total bases (171), XBH (40), slugging percentage (.626) and OPS (1.011), and is tied for first in RBI (56).
SHO BUSINESS: During last series at Texas, Shohei Ohtani batted .583 (7/12) with six runs scored, one double, four HR, eight RBI, seven walks and a 2.367 OPS.
4+ HOME RUNS & 7+ WALKS IN A FOUR-GAME SERIES (since 1901 – Sportradar) Hank Greenberg, DET (Sept. 18-19, 1940 vs. Phi. A’s) Ralph Kiner, PIT (Aug. 3-5, 1951 vs. Phillies) Shohei Ohtani, LAA (June 12-15, 2023 at Rangers)
SHO OFF: Thursday, Shohei Ohtani made the start on the mound for the Angels while also leading the American League in home runs as a batter…It was his first start of 2023 while leading the league in homers… In 2021 he made 14 pitching starts with at least a share of the MLB home run lead, and became the first player with multiple pitching starts in a season while leading Majors in homers since Babe Ruth in 1919.
SATURDAY SCARIES: Yesterday’s loss extended Angels Saturday losing streak to 10 games (last Saturday victory came on April 8 vs. Toronto)…It is the second-longest Saturday losing streak in franchise history (had an 11 game Saturday losing streak from Aug. 10, 1996 – April 26, 1997).
HOME RUN #150: Yesterday, Shohei Ohtani recorded his 150th career home run and became the fastest player in Angels history to reach the mark and is also the fastest Japanese-born player to reach 150 MLB HR…Among players with 150+ HR and 75+ SB, only Willie Mays, Jose Canseco and Alex Rodriguez reached both milestones in fewer games than Ohtani (ESPN Stats & Info).
PLAY FROM AHEAD: Halos have held leads in 59 of 73 games played this year (81%).
ESTÉVEZ ENDING: This season, Carlos Estévez is pitching to a 1.80 ERA (30 IP – 6 ER) and has converted all 18 of his save opportunities (the 18 saves are a new career high)…He is the first Angels pitcher to convert his first 18 save opportunities of a season since Lee Smith set the Club record with 19 consecutive successful save chances to start the 1995 campaign.
VS. KANSAS CITY: Angels lead the season series 3-2 after taking two of three from Royals from April 21- 23 at Angel Stadium and splitting first two games of current series…Since 2018, Angels hold a 20-10 record vs. KC…Halos have won or tied the last five season series vs. Royals.
THE DRAGON: Yesterday, Chris Devenski had his streak of 13.0 consecutive scoreless innings snapped…The streak spanned 11 games and he stranded 15 of 16 (94%) inherited runners in that span, allowing two hits with four walks with 14 strikeouts.
CATCHING ON: This season, Angels catchers rank third in the Majors with a .797 OPS and are tied for third in the Majors with 12 home runs.
ELIAS SAYS: According to ELIAS, Shohei Ohtani is the third Angels player with a .450 BA, 8+ HR and 18+ RBI over a 14-game span, joining Tim Salmon (1995) and Doug DeCinces (1982).
THE INJURED LIST: Halos currently have 12 players on the injured list and have used the IL 18 total times this year.
IT HAS HAPPENED!: Tuesday night, Zach Neto recorded the Angels first sacrifice bunt since the penultimate game of the 2022 season (Max Stassi – Oct. 4, 2022 at Oakland)…The streak of 69 games without a sacrifice set a new franchise record (previous was a 66-game streak from May 30 – Aug. 13, 2019).
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – LHP TYLER ANDERSON
3-1, 5.80 ERA
Ranks fifth in A.L. with 6.79 runs of support per nine innings
TODAY’S GAME: Making 13th start of the season and eighth on the road…Second start of 2023 vs. Royals… Is in eighth Major League season and made seventh straight Opening Day roster…Signed a three-year contract with Angels, Nov. 16, 2022.
- SUPPORTED: This season has a run support average of 6.79 (runs per 9 innings pitched), which leads the Angels and ranks fifth in the American League (min. 50 IP).
- UPS AND DOWNS: Pitched 6.0 scoreless innings in Angels debut on April 2 at Oakland, before allowing 5+ runs in each of next three starts…Followed that with a five start stretch with a 3.14 ERA (28.2 IP – 10 ER) and 19 strikeouts, before yielding 15 runs across last three starts.
- THE COUNTS: Opponents are batting .182 (22/121) in two strike counts, but have a .364 (12/32) average on the first pitch.
- LEFT OUT: This season, is holding left-handers to a .246 average (14/57) compared with a .299 (58/194) average against right-handers.
- LAST TIME OUT: Did not factor in decision in last start on Monday at Texas after tossing 6.0 innings and allowing five earned runs on eight hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
- KEEPING IT IN THE PARK: Has allowed just two home runs across last seven starts, after allowing six homers in first five starts.
- CHANGE CHANGE: Last season, held opponents to a .179 (41/229) average against his changeup, but opponents are batting .325 (26/80) this year.
- VS. KANSAS CITY: In four career starts vs. Royals, is 0-2 with a 4.44 ERA (24.1 IP – 12 ER) and 16 strikeouts… Took a no-decision earlier this season in first start vs. Kansas City on April 22 at Angel Stadium (5.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO).
- AT KAUFFMAN STADIUM: Is making second career start at The K today…Is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA (6 IP – 3 ER) following only previous outing at the ballpark on Aug. 14, 2022 for Dodgers (L; 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO).
- DECISIONS: Is 2-1 in last four starts after a streak of seven consecutive starts with a no-decision…The seven game streak tied for the second-longest in franchise history…Angels record streak was eight straight no-decisions by Jim McGlothlin between the 1966-67 seasons.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:
A DEBUT FOR THE AGES: The Royals snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 10-9 win over the Angels yesterday, in which they overcame a 6-run deficit in the 7th inning and clinched the victory on Samad Taylor’s 401-ft. walk-off single in the 9th, his 1st career hit in his Major League debut…he became the seventh player since 2000, according to Elias, to record a walk-off hit in his big league debut and the first in five years, since Oakland’s Ramón Laureano did it on Aug. 3, 2018 vs. Detroit…Taylor is only the second Royal to record a walk-off hit in his debut, following Kevin Seitzer, who did it on Sept. 3, 1986 vs. the White Sox.
Bobby Witt Jr. drove in 4 of Kansas City’s 10 runs—and delivered the game ball to Taylor after the game— including a 2-run double with the bases loaded in the 7th and the game-tying 2-run single in the 8th.
Went 6-for-10 in scoring situations—all from the 7th on—after going 10-for-69 during the 10-game skid.
In addition to the walk-off magic, Taylor also drew 2 walks yesterday, becoming the third Royal to draw 2 walks in his debut, following Eric Hosmer (2) on May 6, 2011 and Jorge Pedre (3) on Sept. 7, 1991.
Yesterday’s win was Kansas City’s 1st vs. a team with a winning record since May 2 vs. Baltimore.
COMEBACK KIDS: Kansas City’s win yesterday marked its 7th comeback victory of the year, the fewest in the Majors…the Royals trailed 8-2 in the 7th inning and appeared to be headed for their 11th consecutive loss, before they scored 3 runs in the 7th and 8th innings and 2 in the 9th to overcome a 6-run deficit, their largest comeback victory since last year’s home finale on Sept. 25 vs. Seattle, when they erased a 9-run deficit with an 11-run 6th inning, en route to a 13-12 win…yesterday marked the seventh time in franchise history that the Royals overcame a 6-run deficit in the 7th or later to win, and the first since May 28, 2016 vs. the White Sox, when they trailed 7-1 before a 7-run 9th inning lifted them to an 8-7 win…the Royals are the second team to do this in 2023 joining the Reds, who overcame a 6-run deficit in the 8th on April 25 to beat the Rangers, 7-6.
Prior to yesterday, the Royals had lost 178 straight games when trailing by at least 6 runs in the 7th or later.
The Royals are only the third team since 1900, according to Elias, to snap a losing streak of at least 10 games by overcoming a deficit of at least 6 runs en route to victory, joining the Astros, who snapped an 11-game skid on Aug. 29, 1995 by overcoming a 6-run deficit to win 11-9 in 13 innings in Atlanta, and the Brewers, who snapped a 10-game skid on Sept. 20, 1983 by erasing a 7-run deficit to win 11-7 in Cleveland.
ROSTER MOVE: The Royals announced this morning that they have selected the contract of right hander Brooks Kriske (No. 78) from Triple-A Omaha…Kriske, 29, had 5 saves in 25 appearances with the Storm Chasers and recorded 47 strikeouts in 27.0 innings (15.7 K/9, 37.6 K%)…Kriske was a non-roster invite with the Royals this spring, after breaking into the Majors in 2020 with the Yankees…he spent time in the Majors with the Yankees and Orioles in 2021, and last appeared in a Major League game on Oct. 1, 2021 with Baltimore, 625 days ago.
In a corresponding move, yesterday’s starting pitcher Mike Mayers has been designated for assignment.
FOR THE DADS: The Kansas City Royals join Major League Baseball and its teams today in celebrating Father’s Day, by wearing blue to raise awareness for prostate cancer…for the 27th season, Major League Baseball is partnering with the Prostate Cancer Foundation by hosting the Home Run Challenge…each home run hit from May 20 through today have raised money to fight prostate cancer…fans may visit pcf.org/homerunchallenge to pledge a donation for every home run hit through this weekend, or they can make a simple one-time donation.
The Royals are 26-29 all-time on Father’s Day, including a loss last season in Oakland…their last win on Dad’s Day came two seasons ago, on June 20, 2021 vs. Boston in a 7-3 victory in which they had 15 hits.
SERIES SPEAKING: After splitting the 1st 2 games of this series, the Royals will play their 6th rubber game of the season today and 1st since May 24 vs. Detroit…the Royals are 1-4 in their previous 5 series-deciding games, the only win coming on May 17 in San Diego…the Royals 1st series-deciding game of this season came two months ago in Anaheim, a 4-3 loss…the Royals are seeking their 1st rubber game win over the Angels since April 14, 2021, a 6-1 victory in which Salvador Perez and Carlos Santana homered and Brad Keller got the win.
The Royals are 10-20 vs. the Angels since 2018, a stretch in which they’ve lost three completed season series (2018-2019, 2021) and split the 6-game season series last year…the Royals are just 2-3 vs. the Angels this year pending today’s finale, meaning they can do no better than a split, which will make the 2023 edition of this matchup the Royals fifth straight winless season series since their last win in 2017 (6-1).
The Royals are winless (0-7-1) in their last eight series since they took 2 of 3 in San Diego from May 15-17.
ON DECK: Friday night began a stretch in which the Royals will play a game on 23 of 24 days, a run which will end with the All-Star break…their only break in the schedule over these 24 days will come on Monday, June 26, following their next trip…Friday night also began a stretch in which the Royals are playing an American League opponent in 20 of 23 games until the All-Star break, after playing National League foes in 20 of their previous 29 games, a run that ended last Wednesday night…their only Interleague action between now and the break will come two weekends from now, when the Royals host the Dodgers for a 3-game series from June 30-July 2.
Following today’s game, the Royals will fly to Detroit to begin a 7-game road trip, including 3 games vs. the Tigers starting tomorrow night and a 4-game set vs. the Rays in St. Pete starting next Thursday night.
WHAT A RELIEF!: Royals rookie Austin Cox pitched 2.0 scoreless innings Tuesday night, including a called strikeout of Shohei Ohtani in the 9th inning…through his 1st 4 big league appearances, Cox has recorded 7.2 scoreless innings with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts, and has not allowed a hit to any of the 25 batters he’s faced… according to Elias, it’s the longest streak of batters faced by a Royal without allowing a hit to begin a big league career, surpassing the previous mark held by D.J. Carrasco, who faced 23 batters before allowing a hit in 2003.
Lost in the madness of yesterday’s walk-off win was Shohei Ohtani’s 7th-inning HR off Taylor Clarke, which marked the 1st run allowed by Clarke since May 2 vs. Baltimore, snapping his career-best 16.0-inning streak…it was tied for the 2nd-longest active scoreless streak in the Majors and was the longest by a Royal since Brady Singer’s 18.2-inning streak from April 10-May 28 of last season.
TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP ZACK GREINKE (1-6, 4.65)
ZACK GREINKE is making his 15th start of the season and 529th of his career today vs. the Angels, matching Rick Reuschel (1972-91) for 36th place on the all-time starts list, 1 behind Hall of Famer Eddie Plank (1901-17)…it’s his 21st career start (22nd appearance) vs. Angels and 2nd this season…Greinke, now in his 20th season in the Majors, is a six-time All-Star, a six-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner and was named the American League Cy Young Award winner in 2009 with the Royals.
He is one of three pitchers in Major League history with at least six Rawlings Gold Gloves and six All-Star selections, along with Greg Maddux and Bob Gibson.
Among active pitchers, Greinke ranks 1st in starts (528) and innings (3318.2), 2nd in wins (224) and 3rd in strikeouts (2,936)…he is one of three pitchers in Major League history to win a Cy Young Award, a Rawlings Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award, along with Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser.
LAST START: Greinke did not factor into the decision of Kansas City’s 5-4 loss in 10.0 innings last Monday night vs. Cincinnati, in which he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits and no walks in 5.0 innings plus two batters…Zack scattered 4 hits through the first 5.0 innings, 2 of which were erased on the bases, including a 9-5 putout in the 1st inning and a 1-3 double play in the 5th…he led 3-1 after the 5th, the only run scoring on a home run by Stuart Fairchild to begin the 3rd…but he allowed back-to-back doubles on consecutive pitches to begin the 6th and exited in favor of Jose Cuas, who allowed the tying run to score on an RBI single by Jonathan India.
It was his 3rd start of 2023 in which he exited with a lead but did not earn a win.
The Royals are 3-11 in Zack’s 14 starts, including 6 consecutive losses.
WALKING ON WATER: Zack’s pinpoint control has been on full display this season, his 20th in the Majors…the 39-year-old has issued only 9 walks to the 292 batters he’s faced through 14 starts (71.2 IP) for a 1.1 BB/9 and 3.1 BB%, both of which rank 2nd in the Majors behind Seattle’s George Kirby…after issuing a season-high 2 walks in 3.2 innings on April 27 at Minnesota, he’s issued only 3 walks to 157 batters over his last 8 starts (40.2 IP), including no walks to his last 52 batters, since Nolan Arenado coaxed a free pass in the 1st inning on May 30 in St. Louis.
He has had 5 starts this year in which he did not issue a walk over at least 5.0 innings, which trails only Framber Valdez and Kirby (6 each) for the most such starts in the Majors in 2023…led by Greinke and Brady Singer (4), the Royals such 13 starts this season are 1 behind Seattle (14) for the most in the Majors.
MAY FLOWERS: Zack earned Royals Pitcher of the Month honors for May, in which he recorded a 2.30 ERA (8 ER in 31.1 IP) in 6 starts, the 7th-best mark in the American League and the best ERA by a Royal in the month of May (min. 30.0 IP) since Chris Young posted a 1.45 ERA (5 ER in 31.0 IP) in May 2015…this marked Greinke’s first monthly honor since re-joining the Royals last season, but it was his ninth career Royals Pitcher of the Month Award, breaking a tie with Joakim Soria for the most by a Royals pitcher since the award was established in 1995.
GRE1NKE: Zack’s May 13 start in Milwaukee ended on a called third strike of Milwaukee’s Joey Wiemer in the 5th inning, which marked the 1,000th different batter Zack has struck out in his 20-year career…he’s the fifth pitcher in Major League history, according to Kenny Jackelen of Baseball Reference, to fan 1,000 different batters, joining Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens…he’s since added 13 more victims to run his total to 1,013 players struck out.
Among the 1,013 batters he’s struck out includes Hall of Famers Chipper Jones, Frank Thomas, Scott Rolen, Derek Jeter, Iván Rodríguez, David Ortiz and Jim Thome…he’s fanned one father/son duo—Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and Jr.—and six current big league Managers, including Rocco Baldelli, Aaron Boone, Craig Counsell, Mark Kotsay, Phil Nevin and Skip Schumaker.
Zack is 64 strikeouts shy of becoming the 20th pitcher to reach 3,000.
SEEKING SUPPORT: The Royals offense has scored just 22 runs in Greinke’s 71.2 innings this season for a 2.76 run support average, which is the lowest mark among all qualified pitchers…the Royals have supported Zack with 1 or 0 runs in 9 of his 14 starts, and have supported him with a total of 4 runs over his last 5 starts (25.0 IP)…run support has been an issue for Zack since he returned to Kansas City last season…he’s won just 5 of his 40 starts since the start of last year, despite pitching to a 4.01 ERA (93 ER in 208.2 IP).
