LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S STARTER at GUARDIANS: LHP CLAYTON KERSHAW (11-4, 2.48 ERA in 18 GS)
2023 SEASON NOTES:
- In his last start against the Brewers on August 16, he tossed 5.0 innings, giving up three hits, one run, and two walks while striking out two earning his 11th win of the year
- Over 18 starts, the Texas native owns a 11-4 record with a 2.48 ERA (29 ER/105.1 IP) with 111 strikeouts against 26 walks and has generated a 1.03 WHIP
- Notched his 200th career win in his start on April 18 against the Mets, making him the only Los Angeles Dodger to win 200 games with the same franchise…joins Don Sutton (233) and Don Drysdale (209) on the Dodger all-time list
- Currently 21st all-time on the Major League strikeout list with 2,918…he needs 82 more to become the 20th player in Major League history with 3,000 strikeouts
- Has fired 6.0+ strikeouts in 12 out of his 18 starts this season
- He was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for April after posting a 5-1 record with a 1.89 ERA (8 ER/38.0 IP) and 41 strikeouts and a 0.76 WHIP
VS. GUARDIANS:
- Will face Cleveland for the fourth time in his career…is 1-0 with a 3.71 ERA (7 ER/17.0 IP) and 13 strikeouts against six walks
- Last faced the club on June 17, 2022, tossing 5.0 innings, giving up five hits, one run, and one walk while punching out four in the no decision
CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
A SUSPENSION IS IN ORDER
Game one marks a resumption of last night’s contest with Los Angeles-NL leading Cleveland 3-1 through 2 innings of play…following leadoff singles from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, Will Smith hit a sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers ahead 1-0…Max Muncy hit a double in the next at-bat before Kiké Hernández roped a 2-RBI-double to give Los Angeles-NL a 3-0 cushion…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ homered in the 1st to trim Cleveland’s deficit to 3-1…following scoreless half-innings by both sides, the game was initially delayed due to weather, then suspended until today.
According to Elias, this marks the sixth suspended game that Cleveland has been a part of since 1994…the Guards most recent suspended game took place in 2014 at Kansas City when the two sides began play on August 31, then had the game suspended until September 22, 2014 when Cleveland won a close 4-3 contest at Progressive Field…last night marked the first suspension of a game in Cleveland since facing New York-AL on June 24-25, 1994, a contest that New York won 11-6…since 1994, Cleveland is 3-2 overall in suspended games that were resumed…stats from game 1 will be reflected as August 23 once the game is completed.
KOLE-BLOODED
After his 3-run home run to cap off a 5-run 7th inning on Tuesday, KOLE CALHOUN extended his hit streak to 8 games and has registered a base hit in 11 of his 13 games played with Cleveland this season…the 35-year-old is hitting .355 (11-for-33) with 5 runs scored, a double, 2 home runs, 7 RBI and a 1.009 OPS during his 8-game run…Calhoun’s most recent hit streak of 8-or-more games lasted from July 30-August 8, 2021 (8 games) when he was with the Diamondbacks…the 35-year-old Calhoun is the oldest Cleveland hitter to post a hitting streak of 7-or-more games since Jim Thome (8 games, September 7-23, 2011) when he was 41 years old…Calhoun was traded to Cleveland from Los AngelesNL in exchange for cash considerations…he was hitting .308 (44- for-143) with 5 home runs and 28 RBI in 35 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City, Los Angeles-NL’s Triple-A affiliate.
START ME UP! I’ll NEVER STOP.
Cleveland’s starting rotation currently possesses a 3.91 ERA (298ER/686.0IP) this season, ranking 6th in the AL/7th in MLB…the pitching staff’s 13 shutouts this season are 1st in the AL and 2nd in MLB, trailing Atlanta (14)…in the second half, the Guardians starting rotation has held opponents to 3-or-fewer earned runs in 31 of their 36 starts since July 14 and have lasted 5.0-or-more innings in 30 of their 36 starts since the All-Star break, with 3 of those 6 outings being XZAVION CURRY’s spot starts…the 2.98 ERA from the rotation (65ER/196.1IP) to start the second half is the lowest in MLB, 23 points lower than the next-best team (Toronto, 3.21)…the table above shows how Cleveland’s starting pitching ranks among MLB teams since the All-Star break.
YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…
Cleveland’s bullpen has allowed 20.8% of inherited runners to score this season (32-of-154), the lowest pct. in MLB ahead of Toronto (21.5%)…SAM HENTGES leads MLB with a rate of 8.0% (2-of-25), while NICK SANDLIN is 2nd in MLB with a rate of 11.4% (4-of-35)…ENYEL DE LOS SANTOS (6-of-26, 23.1%) is T16th in MLB…over the past calendar month, the pen has inherited 41 runners and allowed just 6 to score (14.6%), leading MLB ahead of Minnesota (17.2%).
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Since the Trade Deadline on August 1, the Guardians have turned 19 double plays in 19 games, ranking T3rd in the AL/T6th in MLB with Boston, St. Louis and Texas…Seattle leads MLB with 22 double plays during that stretch…prior to the deadline, Cleveland ranked 27th in double plays turned with 75 in 107 games…since the deadline, Cleveland is turning one double play per game, compared to a 0.7 rate prior.
WELCOME TO CLASE, I’M YOUR CLOSER, EMMANUEL
EMMANUEL CLASE currently has 100 career saves and 99 with Cleveland…his 99 saves with the Guardians are 6th-most in club history and 5 saves away from tying José Mesa (104) for 5thmost in club history…his 33 saves this season lead the American League and are tied with SF’s Camilo Doval for 2nd-most in MLB, behind CIN’s Alexis Diaz…his 58 appearances this season rank T3rd in the American League and T4th in MLB with TOR’s Erik Swanson and MIL’s Hoby Milner…since July 7, Clase has gone 9 of 11 in save opportunities with a 1.72 ERA (3ER/15.2IP) across 16 appearances… since the start of last season, Clase leads MLB with 75 saves and 135 appearances, while his 129.0IP rank 3rd in MLB during that stretch.
THE DRUMBEAT LIVES ON FOREVER
Today marks the 50th anniversary of John Adams’ drum debut at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and Guardians players will wear the JA Memorial Patch during the originally scheduled game…the Guardians are also proud to announce that beginning Opening Day 2024, Progressive Field Bleachers will be named after John Adams with new concourse signage in that area…additionally, due to renovations at Progressive Field, the Guardians will be loaning John’s drum to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where it will be displayed for the foreseeable future…to honor his legacy, President of the John J. Adams Scholarship Fund Vicki Dolinsky-Arida will present a gift pregame of $5,000 to The Music Settlement to support the Center for Music Therapy.
TONIGHT’S STARTER – #44 XZAVION CURRY RHP
CURRY AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 2-0 2.48 16 3 40.0 32 12 11 12 30
Career 2-1 3.10 18 5 49.1 45 19 17 18 33
CURRY’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 3-1 3.24 31 6 75.0 68 29 27 21 52
Career 3-2 3.52 33 8 84.1 81 36 33 27 55
TONIGHT’S START
The 25-year-old right-hander made his seventh start of the season, ninth of his career, in the middle of this 3-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers…in 6 starts this year, he owns a 3.60 ERA (10ER/25.0IP)…his last relief appearance came on August 1 at Houston (1.0IP, 2H, 0R/ER, 3SO)…is pitching on 4 days’ rest; has 2 career starts on 4 days’ rest with a 6.30 ERA (7ER/10.0IP)… » Curry has served mainly as a reliever this season, owning a 3-0 record with a 3.06 ERA (17ER/50.0IP) in 25 relief appearances…16 of his relief appearances have been more than 1.0 inning…was selected in the 7th round (220th) of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech…last night, he pitched 2.0 innings while allowing 3 runs (earned) on 5 hits with one strikeout.
LAST TIME OUT
Curry’s last start came on August 18 in a 4-1 victory vs. Detroit in the second game of a doubleheader…he did not factor into the decision despite a career-high 6.0 innings of work where he allowed 5 hits on one run (earned) with 2 walks and a career-high 6 strikeouts on a season-high 81 pitches…after striking out 2 of 3
hitters in the 1st, he worked out of the 2nd after an outfield assist from STEVEN KWAN on a Zach McKinstry single ended the frame…after a scoreless 3rd, Curry faced trouble in the 4th when a Riley Greene infield single led to an Andy Ibáñez RBI-double… after a Javier Báez infield single put runners on the corners,
Curry escaped the jam with an inning-ending strikeout…following scoreless frames in the 5th and 6th innings, his outing came to an end…marked the fifth time that Curry lasted 5.0-or-more innings in an outing in his career and the third straight such outing.
THE X-FACTOR
Curry has faced the NL 11 previous times in his career, making 2 starts…he is 1-0 with a 2.73 ERA (8ER/26.1IP) in his career in Interleague play…has made 4 previous appearances against the NL West, possessing a 3.38 ERA (3ER/8.0IP).
He has limited hitters to a .088 batting average, .139 OBP and .218 OPS in situations with RISP and 2 outs this season…he ranks among MLB pitchers in such situations this season (min. 30 BF) in OPS (.257, 2nd), OBP (.139, 3rd), BABIP (.107, 4th), SLG (.118, 6th) and batting average (.088, 9th)…is also holding hitters to a .182 average (12-for-66) with RISP this season.
LIMITING LEFTIES
Over his last 13 outings since June 23, Curry has handcuffed left-handed hitters, holding them to just 9 hits in 57 at-bats (.158) and a .508 OPS…conversely, right-handed hitters own a .272 average (22-for-81) with a .875 OPS during that stretch…overall, lefties are hitting .211 (27-for-128) with a .555 OPS against Curry
this season while righties are batting .265 (41-for-155) with a .806 OPS, recording 7 of the 8 home runs he’s allowed this season.
CURRY’S ARSENAL
In 2023, Curry utilizes a traditional 4-pitch arsenal, primarily relying on his 4-Seam Fastball, adding in a curveball and slider as secondary offerings, and occasionally mixing in a changeup:
2023 XZAVION CURRY PITCH ARSENAL
Pitch #pitches RHB/LHB %usage AVG. velo BAA
4-Seam FB 548 275/273 48.6% 92.7 .266 (34-for-128)
Slider 401 280/121 35.5% 85.4 .189 (20-for-106)
Curveball 134 54/80 11.9% 75.2 .265 (9-for-34)
Changeup 45 3/42 4.0% 88.1 .357 (5-for-14)
