LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S STARTER at PADRES: RHP BOBBY MILLER (6-1, 4.28 ERA in 10 GS)
2023 SEASON NOTES:
- In his last start on July 28 against the Reds, he fired 5.0 innings, giving up six hits, three runs, and a home run while striking out six in the loss…second consecutive outing with no walks
- Had the longest scoreless innings streak for the club this season with 20 consecutive innings (May 29-June 17)…it was snapped on the 17th against the Giants
- Became the first Dodger pitcher since at least 1901 with a 6.0+ IP scoreless start allowing one hit or fewer within his first three appearances (ESPN Stats)
- First Dodgers rookie starting pitcher to earn the win in his first two career starts since Jose De Leon (9/04/16 vs. SD and 9/12/16 at NYY)
- Illinois native picked up the win in his Major League debut against Atlanta May 23 after spinning five innings and giving up four hits, one run and one walk while striking out five
- Owns a 1-1 record across four starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City with a 5.65 ERA (9 ER/14.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts and just 6 issued walks…has limited the opposition to a .212/.295/.385 slashline
- Was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training…did not appear
VS. PADRES:
- Will face San Diego for the first time in his career
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Ha-Seong Kim and Gary Sánchez homer as Padres take the series over Rockies, enjoy an off day yesterday
- Nick Martinez got the start on Wednesday in Denver with slated starter Joe Musgrove experiencing right shoulder soreness…Martinez, starting his 1st game since April 19, pitched 3.0 scoreless innings with just 1 run allowed.
- Ha-Seong Kim led off with his 4th-career leadoff homer, and the Padres combined for 4 more: one from Juan Soto, one from Fernando Tatis Jr., and 2 from Gáry Sanchez.
Padres are in a stretch of 19 games in 20 days
- The Padres enjoyed an off day yesterday, but they will now play 19 games in 20 days with their sole off day in that span on Thurs, Aug. 10…they’re also in a stretch of 32 G in 34 days.
’23 Trade Deadline
- At 3:00 pm MT on Tuesday, the Padres announced the acquisition of LHP Rich Hill and 1B/DH Ji Man Choi from the Pirates in exchange for LHP Jackson Wolf, 1B Alfonso Rivas, and OF Estuar Suero…in the final hour of the deadline, the Padres acquired RHP Scott Barlow from the Royals in exchange for RHPs Jesus Rio and Henry Williams and acquired INF Garrett Cooper and RHP Sean Reynolds from the Miami Marlins in exchange for LHP Ryan Weathers.
100 big ones for Tati
- In the 9th inning on Wednesday in Denver, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 100th career home run…he reached the milestone in his 362nd game, becoming the 4th-fastest in terms of games played in MLB history, trailing just Ryan Howard (325 games), Pete Alonso (347), and teammate Gary Sánchez (355). WAR, what is it good for? (kind of a lot, actually)
- Per Baseball Reference, Ha-Seong Kim’s 5.4 WAR (wins above replacement) ties with Shohei Ohtani for the 2nd highest in all of baseball, trailing just Ronald Acuña Jr.’s 5.5 WAR…Freddie Freeman’s 5.3 WAR is 4th in baseball, Mookie Betts’ 5.0 is 5th, and Juan Soto’s 4.5 is 9th.
Since the start of July, SD has best winning percentage in NL
- San Diego’s .630 winning percentage since the beginning of July leads the National League and ranks 4th in the Majors (17-10)…their staff’s 3.23 ERA is the best in baseball in that time…at the dish, their 46 home runs rank 2nd to the Braves’ 53, their 154 runs scored rank 3rd behind the Cubs’ 191 and Dodgers’ 158, their .472 SLG is 4th…
- After sweeping the Rangers in San Diego, the Padres lost the 1st game of their series in Denver and then won the last 2, winning 5 of their last 6 games…it’s the 4th stretch this season in which San Diego won 5 games in any 6-game span (1st since July 4-14).
STARTING PITCHER – YU DARVISH #11
Darvish twirls 6.0 IP of 3-hit ball last
Saturday vs. TEX
Darvish posted his 3rd scoreless outing of the season and his 2nd in his last 3 starts last Sat vs. his former club, the Texas Rangers..he’s also earned the win in 3 of his last 4 starts since July 14 @ PHI, with 7 of his 8 ER allowed coming in 1 start (Mon, July 24 vs. PIT)…he’s faced all 30 ML clubs, and the
Orioles are now the only team he’s faced just once…he’s faced TEX twice, and he’s faced all other 28 teams at least 4 times.
Aiming for 4th consecutive win vs. LAD
Tonight marks Darvish’s 2nd start of ’23 vs. LAD and the 13th of his career…earlier this season on Fri, May 5 vs. LAD in Game 1 of the 3-game set, he tossed 6.2 IP of 4-hit, 2-run ball (1 earned)…Darvish didn’t face the Dodgers in his career until the 2019 season, and now has posted 8 quality outings in his 12 career starts vs. LAD…among all active pitchers who have made at least 10 career starts vs. LAD, his .180 opp. AVG ranks 2nd, behind only rotation-mate Blake Snell (.175)…his 0.92 WHIP also ranks 2nd and his 2.57 ERA ranks 4th.
Second half punchouts
Yu posted a 9.42 SO/9 IP ratio across his 15 first-half starts in ’23…in his 4 second half starts this season, he’s punched out 28 across 22.1 IP (11.28 SO/9)…among all ML pitchers who have made at least 100 post-All Star starts, his 11.43 SO/9 IP ratio ranks 1st all-time, ahead of Chris Sale (11.29), Gerrit Cole (10.91), Randy Johnson (10.83) and Max Scherzer (10.48).
Also making SD history with the punchouts
Darvish has struk out 513 batters through his first 79 games pitched with Padres, the most ever by any pitcher by this milepost for the franchise…among all hurlers in their first 79 app in Padres history, the next closest are Joe Musgrove (484 SO) and Jake Peavy (445).
2023 hit rate above his historic average
Yu Darvish has yielded a career-high 8.39 H/9 IP in ’23, but he owns the 3rd-lowest H/9 rate (7.31) all active MLB pitchers (min. 1,000 IP) behind only Clayton Kershaw (6.83) and Jacob deGrom (6.90)…Darvish’s 7.31 H/9 rate ranks 26th all-time (also min. 1,000 IP).
Free passes
Excluding 2018 when he made just 8 starts for the Cubs (11.7 BB%, 4.73 BB/9 IP), Darvish’s 8.4 walk rate and 3.19 BB/9 IP this season are both his highest marks since his 2nd season in the Majors (’13 w/ TEX; 9.5 BB% and 3.43 BB/9 IP).
