MILWAUKEE BREWERS NOTES:
BREWERS vs. GIANTS
SUMMARY: Are 78-95 all-time, including 0-1 this season…..went 3-4 last season.
at MIL: Are 44-46 all-time, going 37-38 at American Family Field and 7-8 at County Stadium…..went 2-1 last season.
at SF: Are 34-49 all-time, going 29-45 at Oracle Park and 5-4 at Candlestick Park…..are 0-1 this season…..went 1-3 last season.
THIS AFTERNOON’S GAME: Is game 5 (0-4) of a 6-game road trip to Colorado (0-3) and San Francisco (0-1)…..the team returns to American Family Field following this trip for 6 games in 7 days against Los Angeles-NL (3g) and Kansas City (3g).
IN THE TRAINER’S ROOM: RHP Jason Alexander (right rotator cuff), LHP Aaron Ashby (left labrum), RHP Matt Bush (right rotator cuff), RHP Adrian Houser (right groin), OF Garrett Mitchell (left shoulder), INF Luis Urías (left hamstring), RHP Gus Varland (right hand), LHP Justin Wilson (left elbow) and RHP Brandon Woodruff (right shoulder) are on the injured list…..Alexander, Ashby, Mitchell, Urías and Wilson are on the 60- Day IL.
IN THE STANDINGS (37 days): The Brewers have spent the following number of days alone or tied at each position in the NL Central standings: FIRST: 22, SECOND: 13, THIRD: 2, FOURTH: 0, FIFTH: 0…..the team is currently in second place, trailing the first-place Pirates by 1.5 games…..the team has been in second place for 13 straight days.
SERIES-LY SPEAKING: The Brewers are 6-4-0 in series play.
Game 1: 5-6, Game 2: 7-3, Game 3: 5-5, Game 4: 1-0
Sweep Wins (2): vs. NYM (3g, 4/3-4/5), at SEA (3g, 4/17-4/19)
Sweep Losses (1): at COL (3g, 5/2-5/4)
AT HOME: The Brewers are 9-6 at home, going 3-2-0 in series play…..the team went 46-35 at home last season, going 15-8-4 in series play.
ON THE ROAD: The Brewers are 9-8 on the road, going 3-2-0 in series play…..the team went 40-41 on the road last season, going 9-12-5 in series play.
TONIGHT’S STARTER: #48 – RHP COLIN REA (4gs, 0-2, 4.79)
REA AT A GLANCE: Colin Rea, 32, will be making his fIfth start…..Rea last started last Sunday vs. Los Angeles-AL in a 3-0 loss (5ip, 3h, 2r, 2er, 1bb, 9k, 2hr, 86 pitches)…..his 9 strikeouts marked a career high…..the team is 2-2 in his starts…..opponents are batting .208 (15-for-72, 4hr)…..Rea joined the Brewers from Triple-A Nashville, where he was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 2 starts (7ip, 6h, 2r, 0er, 0bb, 9k)…..after pitching in Japan in 2022, he re-signed with Milwaukee on January 27 (non-roster invitee)
LAST SEASON: Rea pitched in Japan, where he went 5-6 with a 3.96 ERA in 23 games/16 starts with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
CAREER: Is 8-10 with a 4.89 ERA in 40 games/31 starts (175ip, 95er)…..has pitched for San Diego (2015-16), Miami (2016), Chicago-NL (2020) and Milwaukee (2021, ‘23)….. is 7-10 with a 4.91 ERA as a starter (159.1ip, 87er) and 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA as a reliever (15.2ip, 8er)…..Rea was originally selected by San Diego in the 12th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Indiana State University…..he underwent “Tommy John” surgery on 11/11/16, causing him to miss the entire 2017 season…..he was named 2019 Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year after going 14-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 26 starts at Triple-A Iowa (Cubs).
CAREER AT AMERICAN FAMILY FIELD: Is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 2 starts, both coming this season (10ip, 6er).
CAREER ON THE ROAD: Is 3-4 with a 5.17 ERA in 18 games/11 starts (71.1ip, 41er)…..is 0-0 with a 4.22 ERA in 2 starts this season (10.2ip, 5er).
CAREER vs. GIANTS: His only career outing vs. San Francisco came in a start with San Diego on 5/17/16 at Petco Park (5ip, 4h, 3r, 3er, 2bb, 3k, 1hr)…..he took a 5-1 loss.
SAN FRANCISCO NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: Winners of three straight, the Giants will look to claim their second home series victory with a win today in the middle game of this three-game set with Milwaukee…the only other home series that the Giants have won this season was their last home set when they took three-of-four from St. Louis April 24-27 before heading out to México City.
WE STREAKY, STREAKY, STREAKY: This three-game winning streak for SF followed a four-game losing streak, which followed a five-game win streak…needless to say, the Giants have been a streaky team as of late…through 31 games, the Giants have already had a five-game winning streak (April 22-26), a five-game losing streak (April 12-18), a four-game losing streak (April 27-May 1) and a three-game winning streak (May 2-present)…oddly enough, the Giants did not win consecutive games this year until April 22-23 vs. New York-NL, which started that five-game winning streak.
THIS IS MORE LIKE IT…: With last night’s win, the Giants have now won six of their last seven home games dating to April 22 after going 2-6 in their first eight home games of 2023… overall, SF is 8-7 at Oracle Park this season but has a -12 run differential…from 2020-2022, the Giants were 117-78 (.600) in the confines of Oracle Park with a +125 run differential.
PUSH TO START: San Francisco has received excellent production from their starting staff this season…over their last 12 games, SF starters are 6-1 with a 3.00 ERA, second-best in MLB since April 22 behind the Texas Rangers (2.96)… overall, the Giants rotation has a 3.47 ERA (sixth in MLB) with a league-low 34 walks in 161.0 innings.
HOMER HAPPY: The Giants have hit 51 home runs through 31 games, fourth most in the Majors behind the Rays (69), Braves (55) and Dodgers (54)…the Giants have homered in 24 of their 31 contests and have received home runs from 12 different player…SF has scored 58.2% of their runs on homers in 2023 (82/141).
SET THE TONE: Led by IF/OF LaMonte Wade Jr., the Giants have received great production from their leadoff spot (.956 OPS is second in MLB)…Wade’s .465 on-base percentage as a leadoff hitter is best in the Majors, and his 1.021 OPS ranks second behind TB’s Yandy Díaz (1.047) and ATL’s Ronald Acuña Jr. (1.022)…overall, Wade’s 22.7% walk rate is highest in MLB while his .444 OBP is second-best in the Majors…his
172 wRC+ is ninth among qualified Major Leaguers in 2023.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE: Furthermore, Wade is seeing 4.59 pitches per plate appearance this season, tops in the Majors just ahead of SD’s Ha-Seong Kim (4.58) and PIT’s Connor Joe (4.50).
JUST DINGERS: IF J.D. Davis smashed his team-leading seventh homer in yesterday’s win…since joining the Giants at the deadline last August, Davis’ 15 home runs lead the team… he’s posted an .866 OPS in that span.
ÉL DE BEJUMA: IF Thairo Estrada enters play today inside MLB’s top-10 in hits (40, T-9th), batting average (.339, 4th) and stolen bases (9, T-10th)…the 27-year-old has played in 30 of the Giants 31 games this season and has been worth 1.5 fWAR to date after being worth 2.7 fWAR a season ago in his breakout campaign…Estrada’s 1.5 fWAR leads the team ahead of J.D Davis (1.1) and LaMonte Wade Jr. (1.1).
COBBER: RHP Alex Cobb makes his seventh start of the year and has posted a 2.43 ERA through his first six starts of the campaign, his lowest ERA through the first six starts of a season in his career…since joining the Giants prior to the start of last year, Cobb is 7-7 with a 2.52 ERA (30er, 107.0ip) in 19 starts here at Oracle Park…he’s allowed one homer here in his last seven starts spanning 44.0 innings dating to last September…in his last outing here on April 24 vs. St. Louis he twirled his second career shutout (9.0ip, 6h, bb, 4k).
LET’S MAKE A DEAL…NO LHP’S THIS SERIES?: Both the Giants and Brewers have struggled against opposing lefthanded pitching in 2023…Milwaukee’s .615 OPS against LHPs is worst in the Majors while the Giants .643 OPS against lefthanders 27th of 30 MLB teams.
IT’S AN AMBUSH!: The Giants have a 1.090 OPS and .383 batting average on the first pitch of an at-bat…SF now has 10 home runs on the first pitch (fifth in MLB) of an at-bat after J.D. Davis’ two-run smash on the first pitch in his first at-bat last night vs. Corbin Burnes.
HELLO WISCONSIN: DH Joc Pederson has feasted on Milwaukee pitching throughout his career…his 13 big flies vs. the Brewers are his most against non-NL West foes (Stats, LLC) and his .948 OPS is best against teams he faced at least 15 times.
Active Players, Highest Career SLG vs. Brewers; min. 150 PA (Stats, LLC)
Player SLG
Nolan Arenado .637
Jesse Winker .605
Paul Goldschmidt .579
Player SLG
Joc Pederson .574
Nick Castellanos .557
Corey Dickerson .528
SPEAKING OF JOC…: When Pederson has been in the starting lineup this year (17 games), the Giants as an offense are slashing .248/.341/.465…in the 14 games where he hasn’t started (both due to injury and coming off the bench), SF has slashed .229/.298/.379).
TODAY’S STARTER – ALEX COBB RHP #38
2023 RECORD: 1-1, 2.43 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in his 12th Major League season and his second with the Giants…he’s in his second year of a two-year contract (with a third-year team option) with the Giants that he signed on November 30, 2021.
LAST OUTING: Started game two in México City for the Giants on April 30 against the Padres…tossed 5.0 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts in the Giants 6-4 loss to San Diego…his seventh strikeout of the game marked his 1,000th career strikeout…according to SIS, the average exit velocity vs. Cobb in Mexico City was 96.5 MPH, which is 4.5 MPH higher than any other start this season.
VS. MILWAUKEE: Will face the Brewers for the fourth time in his career…is 1-1 with a 0.84 ERA, 23 strikeouts, 0.84 WHIP and a .171 opponents average over three career starts against the Brewers…last season he faced Milwaukee on July 16 at Oracle Park and threw a season-high 7.1 innings, allowing one unearned run with five strikeouts in the Giants 2-1 victory…among the 100 active pitchers with at least 20.0ip against Milwaukee, only Aroldis Chapman (0.64) has a lower ERA than Cobb (Stats, LLC).
BETTER WITH AGE: Is 1-1 with a 2.43 ERA (9er, 33.1ip), 33 strikeouts and a 1.29 WHIP over his first six starts this year, which is the best six-game start in his 12-year MLB career (Stats, LLC).
(DON’T) WALK THIS WAY: Cobb has walked just four hitters through his first six starts of the season (33.1ip)…his 2.8% walk rate (four walks/141 batters faced) is the second lowest walk rate in the National League behind teammate Anthony DeSclafani (2.1%).
RISP MANAGEMENT: Opponents are hitting .313 (26-for-83) off him with seven extra-base hits with no one on base…however, he’s holding opponents to a .167 average (6-for-36) with runners in scoring position…last season, he allowed a .295 average with RISP.
AGE IS BUT A NUMBER: Only four Giants over the last 10 years have started a game at an older age than Cobb, who in his last start was 35 years, 204 days (Stats, LLC)
OLDER AND WISER: Threw his second career shutout on April 24 in the Giants 4-0 victory over the Cardinals…he allowed six hits and one walk with four strikeouts over his 9.0 innings of work…Cobb’s previous shutout came over 10 years ago, according to Elias, the 10 years, 244 days that separated his shutouts marked the third-longest span between a pitcher’s first and second career shutouts since 1900…he became the first pitcher in MLB history to throw a shutout before turning 25 years old (August 23, 2012, with the Rays) and after turning 35 years old, but have no shutouts in between (Stats, LLC)…. at 35 years, 199 days old, he became the oldest Giant to throw a shutout since Mark Gardner did so on August 14, 1998 vs. the Florida Marlins at 36 years and 166 days old.
