LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
No team release available.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:
GAME #64 RECAP: The Phillies fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-0, at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly … Starter Aaron Nola (L, 5-5) went 6.1 innings and allowed 6 runs on 7 hits with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts … Bryson Stott led the Phillies with 3 hits and Dylan Covey and Kody Clemens made scoreless appearances in relief of Nola.
10 YEARS FOR WHEELS: Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler officially reaches 10 years of major league service time today … Wheeler, who turned 33 on May 30, made his ML debut on June 18, 2013 at ATL (with NYM) … Wheeler signed a five-year contract with the Phillies on December 9, 2019 … Last postseason Wheeler made six starts for the Phillies and posted a 2.78 ERA (11 ER, 35.2 IP) with a 0.73 WHIP … His 0.73 WHIP ranks 3rd-lowest in MLB history among all pitchers who made five starts during a single postseason – only Curt Schilling (0.64 WHIP) in 2001 with ARI and Madison Bumgarner (0.65 WHIP) in 2014 with SF posted a lower WHIP in one postseason … The only other Phillies player scheduled to reach 10 years of service this season is Nick Castellanos who will do so on Aug. 19.
LET THE GOOD VIBES ROLL: The Phillies have won six of their last seven games (6/3-current) – last night’s loss snapped Philadelphia’s season-best six game winning streak which was their longest since another six-game streak, Aug. 22-27, 2022 … The Phils are 18-11 in 29 games at Citizens Bank Park this year and their .621 winning percentage at home ranks 2nd in the National League (LAD, .667) and 4th in MLB, trailing only TB (.811), TEX (.700) and LAD … Through 29 games at CBP, the Phillies are averaging 39,054 in attendance per game which ranks 5th among all clubs in MLB behind only the Dodgers (47,916), Cardinals (40,253), Yankees (40,173) and Padres (39,206) … Of Philadelphia’s first 29 games at home, 15 have been sellouts (52%) and 20 have been over 35,000 (69%) … Among all clubs in MLB, the Phillies have the largest year-to-year increase in attendance per game this season at +11,611 (up from 27,443 per game through 29 home games in 2022) … The Toronto Blue Jays rank 2nd behind the Phillies among all clubs in year-to-year attendance growth at +6,300 and the Pittsburgh Pirates rank 2nd among NL teams at +4,903 … The Phils have welcomed 1,132,569 fans to CBP so far this year – through 29 games last season, the Phillies had 795,855 in attendance (+336,714 in 2023).
SCHWARBERFEST IS ON: Over the last three months of June (since 6/1/21), Kyle Schwarber has played in 63 games and has hit 32 home runs which leads MLB (2nd: Shohei Ohtani, 22 HR) – he is slashing .271/.376/.716 with a 1.092 OPS in 279 plate appearances during the month … Of his 64 hits during the month over the last three years, 50% are home runs … Winner of each of the last two National League Player of the Month Awards in June, Schwarber’s .613 career SLG during the month ranks 8th among all players in the Modern Era (min. 500 PA, since 1900) – Lou Gehrig ranks 1st (.739 SLG), Babe Ruth 2nd (.710), Larry Walker 3rd (.641), Ted Williams 4th (.635), Hank Greenberg 5th (.621), Jim Thome 6th (.616) and Jimmie Foxx 7th (.615) … His 9.63 AB/HR average in June ranks 1st among all players in MLB since at least 1900 (min. 500 PA) – Babe Ruth ranks 2nd at 10.63 … Since being inserted back into the leadoff spot on June 2 at WSH, Schwarber is slashing .276/.432/.793 with a 1.226 OPS in 37 plate appearances – he has 8 walks to 8 strikeouts in that span and the Phillies are 6-2 in those eight games.
STARTING TO FIND IT: The Phillies have gotten at least 6.0 innings from their starting staff in each of the last six starts (since 6/4 at WSH) – in that span the rotation has posted a 1.77 ERA (8 ER, 40.2 IP) and has held the 156 batters they have faced to a .484 OPS … In their recently completed three-game series against the Tigers, all three Phillies starting pitchers carried a no-hitter into the 5th inning (Nola, Walker, Wheeler) … The Phillies are just the seventh team in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to no-hit an opponent in the first four innings of three straight games within a single series, joining CLE (vs TB, 6/29-7/1/15), PIT (vs CHI, 6/7-9/13), LAD (vs ATL, 7/7-9/08), NYM (vs HOU, 4/28-30/92), NYM (vs SD, 7/19-21/79) and LAA (vs NYY, 4/30-5/2/63) … The Phillies starting rotation leads the National League with 6.6 fWAR this season which ranks 3rd in MLB behind only MIN (7.8) and SEA (7.3).
PHILLY SPECIAL: Since Rob Thomson took over as manager on June 3, 2022, the Phillies are 23 games over .500 at Citizens Bank Park (53-30) and their .639 winning percentage at home ranks 4th in MLB, trailing TB (.711), LAD (.701) and ATL (.701) … The Phillies have an 18-6-2 series record under Thomson at Citizens Bank Park.
TURNING A CORNER: As laid out in the chart below, Trea Turner has seen most offensive metrics/stats improve from month to month this season – he has increased his average exit velocity on balls in play from 86.5 MPH in April to 96.0 MPH in June and he has cut down on his swing and miss rate from 34.4% in April to 28.2% in June … He has also more than doubled his hard-hit rate on balls in play from 30.8% in April to 63.0% in June … In the month of June, Turner ranks 8th in hard hit rate and 9th in average exit velocity among all qualified hitters in MLB.
TODAY’S STARTER – TAIJUAN WALKER • RHP #99
2023: 5-3, 5.04 ERA Career: 59-53, 3.97 ERA
LAST START: 6/6 vs DET: W, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 SO … Walker vs Alexander … The Philies defeated the Detroit Tigers, 1-0, at Citizens Bank Park in South Philly … The game’s only run came on a Kyle Schwarber leadoff home run … Seranthony Domínguez (hold) and Craig Kimbrel (save) made scoreless appearances in relief of Walker and combined to strike out 5 of the 7 hitters they faced.
TODAY’S START:
- Dub City: Walker is the 2nd Phillies starter to reach 5 wins this season, joining Aaron Nola who earned his 5th victory on 6/5 vs DET. The Phillies are 1 of 16 clubs to have 2 or more hurlers with 5+ wins this year. On 6/6 vs DET, Walker completed 7.0 innings for the 1st time since 9/16/22 vs PIT (7.1 IP) with a season-high 8 strikeouts. It was his 1st scoreless outing of at least 7.0 innings since 7/10/22 vs MIA. His 2 hits allowed were his fewest in an outing of at least 7.0 innings since also giving up just 2 hits across 7.1 innings on 9/29/21 vs MIA.
- Doing the Splits: Walker has used his splitter 35.8% of the time in 2023, the highest rate of his career (previous: 27.6% in 2022) … He has thrown it more often than any other pitch (383 times, next: sinker, 245 times) and has surrendered just 3 XBH (2B, 3B, HR) on it. Walker threw his splitter for 46 of 85 pitches on 5/7 and 46 of 105 pitches on 4/9, the most he has ever thrown the pitch in a game in his career (previous: 43 times, 6/2/22 & 8/8/16). 27 of his 53 strikeouts have come via the splitter and his 24.8 strikeout percentage and 26.1 whiff percentage with the pitch are the 6th-best marks in the NL (min. 25 PA).
- Limiting Lefties: This season, Walker has held lefties to a .213 (23-108) AVG (18th in NL), compared to a .273 AVG (36-132) against righties … Since his debut year, 2013, Walker has limited left-handed batters to a .231 AVG (395-1711), 13th-best among active right-handed arms during that span (min. 1,500 LHB faced).
- Pick ‘em Off: Walker’s 20 successful pickoff attempts since the start of the 2015 season are tied for the 6th-most among active major league pitchers in that span and 3rd-most among active righties. Is one of 11 right-handed hurlers with multiple successful pickoffs this season.
- From the Ground Up: Walker’s 48.7% ground ball rate is the 10th-highest among all NL pitchers (min. 40.0 IP).
- vs NL West: 12-11, 3.80 ERA (81 ER, 191.2 IP) in 35 starts.
HOME:
- 2023: 2-0, 2.67 ERA (8 ER, 27.0 IP) in 5 starts.
- Career: 26-21, 3.75 ERA (195 ER, 468.1 IP) in 85 games (83 starts).
- CBP: 3-1, 3.88 ERA (22 ER, 51.0 IP) in 10 starts.
2023 SEASON:
- 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 World Baseball Classic, 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.
