MLB Preview: Miami Marlins (64-61) at San Diego Padres (59-66)

MIAMI MARLINS NOTES:

MARLINS MINUTE
The Marlins today continue a six-game, two-stop road trip with the first of a three-game set at the Padres. The trip began with a three-game series at the Dodgers that saw Miami drop two of three, including both legs of a doubleheader on Saturday due to the impending effects of Hurricane Hilary. Did not play yesterday due to rain from the storm.

• Following this series, will head home for a two-series homestand against Washington (Fri-Sun) and Tampa Bay (TuesWeds) with two off-days.

FISH BYTES

• Miami ranks 2nd in the NL with a .260 batting average (4th in the Majors), behind Boston (.262), Texas (.270), and Atlanta (.274) and ranks 3rd in the NL with 1,107 hits behind Atlanta (1,152) and Washington (1,112).
• The Marlins pitching staff leads the National League with 1,178 strikeouts (2nd most in Majors behind MIN-1,193).

FACING OFF
The Marlins return to Petco Park this week, where they took 1 of 4 last year but are 27-33 all-time against the Padres here. Overall, Miami is 102-112 against San Diego, including dropping 2 of 3 in their matchup earlier this year at loanDepot park.

LONG TIME NO SEE
LHP Ryan Weathers will make the start for Miami tonight, marking his first start as a Marlin and his 2nd appearance since being acquired by the club from San Diego on Aug. 1, 2023 in exchange for INF Garrett Cooper, RHP Sean Reynolds, and cash considerations.

• Weathers was selected 7th overall by San Diego in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft and made his Major League debut with the Padres in Game 1 of the 2020 NLDS at 20 years and 294 days old, becoming the second-youngest player to ever debut during the postseason. He is the son of Florida Marlins’ alum David Weathers, who pitched for the organization from 1993-96.

ELITE OF THE ELITE
Miami’s Luis Arraez and San Diego’s Juan Soto are the only two qualified hitters in Major League Baseball that have walked more than they have struck out since the 2020 season, with Arraez posting a 1.02 BB/K ratio and Soto leading the pack with a 1.32 BB/K ratio. Houston’s Alex Bregman (0.98), Cleveland’s Steven Kwan (0.95), and Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk (0.95) round out the top 5.

SATURDAY’S RECAP
The Marlins were swept in their doubleheader at Dodger Stadium, losing both games by a score of 3-1:

• Game 1: RHP Eury Perez toed the rubber for Miami, tossing 6.0 scoreless innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts, allowing 2 hits and 0 walks. LF Bryan De La Cruz drove in Miami’s lone run with RBI double to scored 3B Jake Burger. RHP David Robertson blew his 2nd save as a Marlin, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits with 2 walks in the 8th inning. • Game 2: LHP Braxton Garrett held the Dodgers to 3 runs over 6.0 innings, allowing 5 hits and striking out 6 with 0 walks. DH Josh Bell accounted for the Marlins’ only run with a solo shot in the 1st inning, his 17th of the year.

DOUBLE DIPPING
The Marlins on Saturday played the 63rd doubleheader in franchise history. Marked the 16th time the Marlins were swept in a doubleheader. In the only other doubleheader this season on April 22 at Cleveland, when the club won 6-1 in Game 1 and 3-2 in Game 2, marking the club’s 12th doubleheader sweep.

BABY GOAT GOES HOLLYWOOD
Marlins rookie Eury Perez struck out a career-high 10 batters during Game 1 of the doubleheader on Saturday, becoming the youngest pitcher (20-162) to record double-digit strikeouts in a game since Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (19-129) struck out 11 batters on Aug. 15, 2005 vs. the Royals.

• He became just the 8th Marlins pitcher (9th occurrence) to strike out 10+ Dodgers’ hitters in a game and the first since Sandy Alcantara struck out 10 in his complete game vs. LAD on Aug. 27, 2022 at loanDepot park. Perez is only the 2nd pitcher in Marlins history to accomplish the feat at Dodger Stadium, joining Trevor Richards on April 25, 2018.
• Perez on Saturday joined 1998 Kerry Wood as the only two pitchers in MLB history to toss 6.0+ innings and allow 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 or fewer hits, and 10+ strikeouts in a start before their 21st birthday. Wood’s start of that caliber featured a 20-strikeout complete-game shutout on May 6, 1998 vs. Houston.

HIGH 5
The Marlins on Friday night hit a season-high 5 homers, marking the club’s first 5-homer game since July 3, 2012 at Milwaukee and just the 8th in club history. Were one home run shy of the club record, 6 home runs, set on April 11, 2008 at Houston.

• Miami had one 4-homer game earlier this season, on June 11 at Chicago-AL (Soler, 2x; Cooper, and Segura).

FALSE STARTS
Miami had dropped 6 consecutive series openers on the road prior to its series opening victory at Dodger Stadium on Friday. Have gone 16-24 in the first game of a series this year, while going a combined 45-34 in games two and three.

HOME OF BÉISBOL
Attendance at loanDepot park is up nearly 25% through the first 64 home games compared to the 2022 season. The Marlins are coming off the largest attended series in ballpark history, when they hosted a total of 100,001 fans at the three game set vs. the Yankees last weekend. Last year’s attendance total (907,487) is expected to be surpassed during the next Marlins home game.

HOMESTAND HAPPENINGS
The Marlins this upcoming weekend will host the Washington Nationals. The 11th homestand of the year will be a busy one:

• Friday: Flashback Friday, Women’s Empowerment Night, and a Post-game Drone Light Show
• Saturday: Colombian Heritage Celebration and Faith & Family Night
• Sunday: STAR WARS Day and Jewish Community Celebration

STARTING PITCHER – #60 RYAN WEATHERS

• Ryan Weathers, 23, will make his first start as a Marlin (second app.) and 11th start of the season today. Marks his first career start against his former team in the Padres.
• In his Marlins debut on Aug. 5 at Texas, allowed 6 runs on 6 hits (2 home runs) with 4 walks and 5 strikeouts over 3.2 innings.
• Recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville prior to today’s game. In 2 starts for Triple-A Jacksonville since the trade, has gone 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA (12.0/3) and 3 walks with 15 strikeouts.
• Originally selected by San Diego in the first round (7th overall) of the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
• Had a 5-13 record with a 5.73 ERA (143.0/91), 51 walks, and 104 strikeouts, while holding batters to a .292 AVG (162×555) over parts of 3 seasons with San Diego (2021-2023).
• Made a combined 18 starts (20 appearances) between the San Diego Padres and Triple-A El Paso this season, posting a 5.29 ERA (85.1/50) with 41 walks and 81 strikeouts.
• Became the first Padre and second-youngest player to make MLB debut in Postseason; debuted on Oct. 6, 2020 vs. Los Angeles-NL in the NLDS.
• RHB vs. Weathers in 2023: .303 AVG (37×122), .380 OBP, .872 OPS. LHB vs. Weathers: .143 AVG (10×70), .277 OBP, .577 OPS.

SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:

Padres swept by Arizona in Sunday’s double header

• The Padres fell 6-4 in Game 1 on Sunday and 8-1 in the 2nd, dropping 3 of 4 games to the D-backs after taking 2 of 3 from the Orioles…7 of the Padres’ last 10 games have been against AZ, and they went just 2-5 against them.
• Due to Hurricane Hilary’s arrival into Southern California this past weekend, MLB rescheduled Sunday’s game as part of a split doubleheader at Petco Park on Saturday, August 19th… it was the 2nd DH the Padres played this season, the 1st coming on July 15 @ Philadelphia (lost both games)…it was the the 7th doubleheader ever played @ Petco Park and the 1st since August 2, 2022 vs. COL (2-0).
• In Game 1, Matt Waldron was added to the roster as the club’s 27th man, and was saddled with the loss in his start, allowing 5 earned runs on 5 hits with 5 SO and 3 walks…Ha-Seong Kim hit his 5th leadoff homer of his career, and Manny Machado homered twice (in the 1st and 8th innings).
• In Game 2, Yu Darvish allowed 4 ER on 9 hits in 5.0 IP, fanning 7 with a walk…Xander Bogaerts’ 5th inning solo homer was the Padres’ sole extra-base hit of the game, and they went 0-for-3 with RISP.

Padres in a stretch of playing 19 games in 20 days

• Tonight’s game will be the 17th game of the Padres playing 19 games in 20 days…their sole scheduled off day in the span from August 4-23 was on August 10, and yesterday, August 19th was an off day following Saturday’s double header due to Hurricane Hilary…they’re also in a stretch of playing 32 games in 34 days (from August 4-September 6).

1-run games: Compare & Contrast

• The Padres have the Majors’ worst record in 1-run games this year at 6-19 (.240) while the Marlins have the best in baseball (27-11, .711).
• However, when San Diego gets a lead at any point in a game at home this year, they have a 33-8 (.805) record, the 3rd best record in the National League when having a lead of 1+ run at home…on the road, the Padres are only 26-21 (.553) after leading in a road game.

Padres and Marlins lead MLB in strikeout differential since the start of June

• Since June 1, the Marlins lead MLB in SO differential (their pitchers struck out 663, MIA batters struck out 513 times for a +150 differential)…in that time, the Padres rank 2nd just behind them (SD pitchers fanned 647 and SD batters struck out 530 times for a +117 differential).

Soto vs. the Fish

• Juan Soto’s .442 career on-base percentage against the Marlins is T-5th highest of any player in MLB history against the Marlins (with at least 250 PA)…he ties with Jason Kendall and trails Barry Larkin (.445), Ray Lankford (.447), Larry Walker (.450), and Barry Bonds (.487)…Soto has walked 69 times against the Marlins for his career, 3rd among active players behind Bryce Harper (109) and Freddie Freeman (103).

NL Wild Card race

• The Padres are 6.0 games back in the NL Wild Card race, behind the D-Backs (-1.0 games back), Reds (-1.0 GB) Marlins (-1.0), and the Cubs, Giants, and Phillies.

STARTING PITCHER – #52 MICHAEL WACHA
Wacha set for 6th career start vs. MIA
32-year-old Michael Wacha takes the mound for his 6th career start vs. the Marlins and his first since the 2020 campaign with the Mets…he is 3-1 with a 4.05 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and .267 opp. AVG.

The 2nd-best winning percentage in MLB since ’22
Enters tonight’s start with a 9-2 record and the Padres are 1-5 in his 16 starts…his last outing vs. BAL last Tues, Aug 15 was his first since July 1 @CIN, and he tossed 5.0-shutout innings of 3-hit ball in SD’s 19-3 defeat…among all pitchers since the beginning of 2022 (min. 35 starts), Wacha’s .833 winning percentage (20-4) is the best in the Majors, ahead of Tony Gonsolin (24-6, .800), Kyle Wright (.778) and Clayton Kershaw (.767).

Owner of the 4th-most consecutive starts with 2 ER-orfewer in franchise history
Dating back to May 2, Wacha posted 11 consecutive starts allowing 2 ER-or-fewer, which is the 4th longest streak in SD history, behind only Mat Latos (15 in 2010), Blake Snell (13 in ’23) and Joe Musgrove (13 in ’21)…over that stretch, he is 7-1 with a 1.10 ERA (8 ER, 65.1 IP), a 0.86 WHIP and .162 opp. AVG.

While he was away
After posting his 9th quality start and 3rd in a row June 19 @ SF, Wacha had his turn skipped in the rotation twice due to shoulder fatigue before improving to 8-2 in his 15th start on July 1 @ CIN…he was then placed on the 15-day IL with right shoulder inflammation on July 4… he threw 2.0 shutout innings for Triple-A El Paso on August 5 before throwing 5.0 simulated innings in Arizona Thursday, Aug 10 to complete his rehab assignment.

Happy 10.000
On Mon, July 17, Wacha reached 10.000 years of ML service time…he’s currently 1 of 7 Padres with 10.000+ years of service time, with Xander Bogaerts recently joining the club Aug 6

Wacha’s 7 scoreless starts across 5.0+ T-most in Majors
Despite having made just 2 starts since June 19, Wacha’s 7 scoreless starts of at least 5.0 IP are tied for most in the Majors rotation-mate Blake Snell, Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Bassit’s 7…his 34 career such starts are T-23rd most in the Majors since his debut 2013 season… Clayton Kershaw (60), Max Scherzer (52) and Zack Greinke (50) have the most such starts since the start of ’13.

First time through
Michael Wacha (.179) and Yu Darvish (.195) rank 3rd and 5th, respectively, among all qualifying NL starters in opponent AVG the first time thru a batting order…among qualifying NL starters the first time through, Wacha trails only Dustin May (.149) and Tony Gonsolin (.149), while Darvish also trails only Corbin Burnes (.192)

Offspeed pitch rate highest of Wacha’s career
Wacha is throwing his change up 32.0% of the time, which is the 7th highest offspeed pitch rate in the Majors (min. 1,250 total pitches thrown), trailing only Logan Webb (40.0 %). Kevin Gausman (38.3%), Kyle Hendricks (37.7%), Alex Cobb (35.7%), Tyler Anderson (34.9%) and Taijuan Walker (33.5%)…it’s the highest offspeed pitch usage of Wacha’s career.