LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
TODAY’S STARTER at PADRES: RHP TONY GONSOLIN (6-4, 4.11 ERA in 17 GS)
2023 SEASON NOTES:
- Earned his sixth win of the season against the Athletics on August 2, tossing 5.0 innings, giving up five hits, one run, a homer and two walks while striking out three
- 2022 All-Star got his first win of the season on May 14th against San Diego after firing five scoreless innings and giving up two hits, one walk, and six strikeouts
- In his rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on April 20th, he hurled three innings, allowing one hit, two earned runs, two walks while sitting down seven
- Made one Spring Training start, tossing 2.1 innings, allowing no runs on three hits, while walking two and striking out two
- Gonsolin is 32-10 in his career and is tied for the second fewest decisions all-time among pitchers to reach 30 victories. In addition, his 27-6 (.818) record as a starter is the best in the modern era through 60 games started.
VS. PADRES:
- Will face San Diego for the 8th time in his career…is 5-0 with a 1.25 ERA (5 ER/36.0 IP) and 38 strikeouts against 5 walks
- Last faced the club on May 14, firing five innings, giving up two hits and one walk while striking out six in the win
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres fall to Dodgers on Sunday Night Baseball
- In Rich Hill’s Padres debut, he was saddled with the loss, allowing 6 runs (all earned) with in his 3.0 innings with 2 homers…he allotted 4 hits and a walk with 4 punchies.
- Gary Sanchez hit his 15th homer of the season in the 3rd inning, and Jake Cronenworth homered in the 7th for his 9th… the Friars went 0-for-5 with RISP.
- San Diego had a shot to get back to .500 for the 1st time since May 11 (19-19)…despite yesterday’s loss, the Padres have won 3 of their last 5 games and 6 of their last 9.
Padres in a stretch of 19 games in 20 days
- Today is the 4th game of the Padres playing 19 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.
- Following today’s game, the Padres will fly to Seattle for a brief 2-game series against the Mariners, have an off day on Thursday, and then play a 3-game set in Arizona against the D-Backs…when they begin their series @ AZ on Friday, it’ll be the start of playing 13 games in 13 days.
San Diego starters lead Majors in ERA, NL in quality starts
- Despite Rich Hill’s 6 earned runs allowed yesterday, Padres starting pitchers have a Major League-best 3.68 ERA this season, and the Dodgers’ 4.61 ERA are ranked 19th…SD starters have held opposing batters to a .238 clip
- The Padres’ 53th quality starts this year are the most of any NL team. Friar offense since the beginning of July
- Since July 1, the Padres offense have plated the 3rd most runs of any team in baseball (169), behind just the Dodgers (179) and Cubs (205).
- The Friars’ 50 homers hit since the beginning of July are T-2nd most in MLB with the Astros (behind just the Braves’ 59 and ahead of the Dodgers’ 49).
1-run & extra-inning games
- The Padres’ .250 winning percentage in 1-run games (6-18) is the lowest in the big leagues this year, and they are the only team to have yet to win a single extra-inning game (0-10).
- Last year, the Padres led the National League in extra-inning wins (12) and in 1-run wins (30)
Statcast Says…
- The Padres’ 27 outs above average lead MLB, and Manny Machado’s 12 are the most on the club and are ranked T-3rd in the Majors.
- SD pitchers have induced a 87.9 mph average exit velo from their opponents, which is the lowest average exit velo of any pitching staff in baseball…their 35.8 hard hit percentage against them is also the best in MLB.
’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.
STARTING PITCHER – #67 SETH LUGO
Lugo set for 2nd career start vs. LAD
33-year-old Seth Lugo’s first career appearance vs. LAD on Aug. 5, 2017 came in a start (5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 HR), but since then he’s made 10 consecutive relief appearances vs. the Dodgers from 2018-22, going a combined 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA(3 ER, 11.0 IP), 1.00 WHIP, .220 opponents’ AVG and 11 SO vs. 2 BB.
Lugo posts new career high in strikeouts (9) behind career-high-tying 7.0 IP (6x) last Mon @ COL
Lugo reached the 7.0 inning mark for the 2nd consecutive start, 3rd time this season and the 6th time in his career last Mon @ Coors Field…he set a new career-high with 8 strikeouts, and is now quality in 5 of his last 6 outings since June 30…his 10 quality outings tie are 3rd-most on SD’s staff, behind only Snell (11) and Musgrove (11). Last winning decision came in first career app vs. DET,
leaving Mets as only team yet to face
Lugo picked up his 1st winning decision since May 3 three starts ago on Fri, July 21 @ DET… he has a 3.74 ERA since May 10, and is the only pitcher in baseball to have just 1 winning decision across at least 10 starts and a sub-4.00 ERA since May 10…his 3.25 run support average is 3rd-fewest in the Majors since May 10 (min. 10 starts)…the Tigers were his 29th team to face, and he’s now sqaured off against every ML club except his former squad, the New York Mets.
Limiting the free passes
Lugo has walked 2-or-fewer in 13 of 16 starts in ’23, including 6 starts with 0 free passes… the 6 starts with 0 walks allowed over 5.0+ IP is T-2nd most among all NL pitchers this season…he ranks in the 90th percentile in BB%, and his 5.2 BB% is 2nd-lowest in his career (5.1 BB% in 2019).
First time through
Yu Darvish (.182) and Michael Wacha (.184) rank 4th and 5th, respectively, among all qualifying NL starters in opponent AVG the first time thru a batting order…Lugo doesn’t qualifying, but his .209 AVG the first time thru woud rank T-9th in the NL…today’s SP for LAD, Tony Gonsolin, has a ML-leading leading best .146 opp. AVG the first time thru
Inside the curve
Just like in ’22 (99th %), Lugo ranks in 1 of the 2 top percentiles in curveball spin rate (100th), averaging 3,242 rpm, but opp are hitting .265 against it compared to the .159 clip against it in ’22…he is averaging 60.8 inches of vertical drop on his curve – which is 5th-highest vertical drop – and an average of 7.6 inches and 14% more drop – of all ML curveballs.
