MILWAUKEE BREWERS NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME: Is game 4 (1-2) of a 10-game road trip to Arizona (1-2), San Diego (4g) and Seattle (3g)…..following this trip and an off day on April 20, the team returns to American Family Field for a 9-game homestand against Boston (3g), Detroit (3g) and Los Angeles-AL (3g).
IN THE TRAINER’S ROOM: RHP Jason Alexander (right rotator cuff), LHP Aaron Ashby (left labrum), RHP Adrian Houser (right groin), OF Tyrone Taylor (right elbow), INF Luis Urías (left hamstring), LHP Justin Wilson (left elbow) and RHP Brandon Woodruff (right shoulder) are on the IL…..Alexander, Ashby and Wilson are on the 60-day IL. IN THE STANDINGS (14 days): The Brewers have spent the following number of days alone or tied at each position in the NL Central standings: FIRST: 12, SECOND: 0, THIRD: 2, FOURTH: 0, FIFTH: 0…..the team is currently in first place, leading the second-place Pirates by 1.0 game.
SERIES-LY SPEAKING: The Brewers are 3-1-0 in series play.
Game 1: 2-2, Game 2: 3-1, Game 3: 3-1, Game 4: 0-0
Sweep Wins (1): vs. NYM (3g, 4/3-4/5)
Sweep Losses (-): None
AT HOME: The Brewers are 5-1 at home, going 2-0-0 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 3-3 on the road, going 1-1-0 in series play…..the team went 40-41 on the road last season, going 9-12-5 in series play.
TODAY’S STARTER: #48 – RHP COLIN REA
REA AT A GLANCE: Colin Rea, 32, will be making his first start of the season…..Rea joins 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)…..opponents batted .222 (6-for-27, 0hr)…..his last Major League appearance – and only outing with the Brewers – came in relief of Corbin Burnes on 10/2/21 at Los Angeles-NL (6ip, 7h, 5r, 5er, 0bb, 5k, 2hr)…..after pitching in Japan last season, Rea re-signed with Milwaukee on January 27 (non-roster invitee)…..his name is pronounced “RAY.”
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 8-8 with a 4.90 ERA in 36 games/27 starts (154.1ip, 84er)…..has pitched for San Diego (2015-16), Miami (2016), Chicago-NL (2020) and Milwaukee (2021)…..is 7-8 with a 4.93 ERA as a starter (138.2ip, 76er) 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: Rea has never pitched in Milwaukee but hopes to do so one day.
CAREER ON THE ROAD: Is 3-4 with a 5.34 ERA in 16 games/9 starts (60.2ip, 36er).
CAREER vs. PADRES: Rea has never faced the San Diego, California Padres.
SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres lose their 1st series of 2023, fall 5-2 to Mets yesterday in rubber match
• Starter Blake Snell went 5.0 innings for the 1st time this season, but he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and 5 walks…he was saddled with the loss (now 0-2) and allowed 2 homers while fanning 5.
• Juan Soto hit his 3rd double and his 3rd homer of the season on Wednesday (his homer was a 1st-inning 2-run shot). But the Padres’ offense went 0-for-7 with RISP. Uniform Breakdown: Padres to wear 5 different uni’s in the next 5 days
• Tonight, the Padres will wear their normal white pinstripes, on Friday, they’ll wear the City Connect uniforms, and on Saturday, every club will wear No. 42 to commemorate the anniversary of April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball…on Sunday, the Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys for their usual Military Appreciation Sunday’s, and on Monday, the Padres will wear their 1948 replica jerseys from the Pacific Coast League Padres to honor San Diegan Johnny Ritchey breaking the color barrier 75 years ago with the PCL Padres…if you count the Padres’ road pinstripes on Wednesday, it’ll be 6 uniforms in 6 days. 1st road-trip of ’23 is a winning one: go 4-3 as they took 3 of 4 in Atlanta and 1 of 3 at New York Mets
• Despite losing yesterday’s game in New York, San Diego secured a winning 1st road-trip of 2023, having won 3 of 4 games from the Braves in Atlanta (the Braves hadn’t lost 3 straight games at home in all of 2022) and having won 1 of the 3 @ Citi Field.
• Despite yesterday’s loss, the Padres have now won 4 of their last 6 games and 7 of their last 11. Padres in a stretch of playing 18 games in 18 days; 21 games in 22 days
• San Diego had their 1st off day on Wednesday and will not enjoy their 2nd one until April 24th, playing 18 games in 18 days from April 6-23…their 3rd off day will be on April 28, and since April 6, their current stretch of games are also 21 games in 22 days.
• San Diego is also starting the regular season with 24 games in 25 days…they had 1 off day on April 5, they will have one in Chicago on April 24th, and they’ll have their 1st off day in San Diego on April 28.
Catching up to the heat
• The Brewers this year are leading the Majors in batting AVG. against fastball, hitting .320…the Padres, however, have the lowest clip vs. fastballs in the National League and 4th lowest in MLB at .206.
Friar pitchers have 4th-lowest opponent AVG vs. offspeed/breaking balls
• The SD pitching staff have held opponents to a .176 AVG against non-fastballs this year (off-speed & breaking balls), which is the 4th lowest opponent clip in baseball behind the Cubs (.167), Guardians (.166), and Twins (.160).
Juan Soto: walk machine
• Juan Soto has walked 11 times this season, T-3rd most in MLB this year, and over his career, the 24 year old has been issued free passes at 19.1%, a higher rate than all but 4 other players in the history of the game (min. 2,000 PA).
• His 19.1 % trails just Babe Ruth (19.4%), Max Bishop (20.1%), Barry Bonds (20.3%), and Ted Williams (20.6%).
STARTER – NICK MARTINEZ 21
Martinez gets 3rd start of season to kick off homestand
RHP Nick Martinez takes the mound for Game 1 of this 4-game set tonight vs. the Brewers…both of his 2 career appearances vs. the Brewers came last season…first as a starter, tossing 5.0 innings of 2-run ball behind a season-high 106 pitches in SD’s 3-2 victory on May 23 at Petco Park…he piggybacked Mike Clevinger on June 5 with 4.0 innings of 2-run ball in SD’s 6-4 victory…he would go on to make 2 more starts before moving into a full time relief role on June 22 through the NLCS. Christian Yelich’s 7 at-bats are the most of any Brewers hitter vs. Martinez (.429 AVG)… Rowdy Telez is 1-for-4 (.250), Tyrone Taylor is 1-for-3 (.333), Luis Urias is 1-for-3 (.333) and Victor Caratini (0-for-2) and Brian Anderson (0-for-1) are both hitless….Taylor’s double is the only XBH among all Brewers vs. Yelich.
Martinez doesn’t factor into SD’s 5-4 win
In his most recent outing last Friday, April 7 at ATL, Martinez tossed exactly 101 pitches for and allowed 4 earned runs for the 2nd consecutive outing to start his season, but got through just 4.2 innings as opposed to his 7.0 frames in his first start of the season on March 31 vs. COL…it’s the first time he’s tossed 100+ pitches in back-to-back Major Leauge games since May 3-8, 2017.
Representin’
On February 19, 2023, Team USA announced that Martinez replaced Clayton Kershaw on the 30-man roster for the United States team in the 2023 World Baseball Classic…he started Game 2 of pool play against Team Mexico and was the losing pitcher, allowing five hits and three runs with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of the 11-5 defeat…after he wasn’t guaranteed to start for Team USA for the rest of the event, he returned to Padres spring training to prepare for the start of the major league season.
Cactus League play
Martinez went 2-1 with 1.93 ERA across his 4 Cactus League starts this Spring…he struck out 19 across 14.0 IP and opponents hit .245 against him.
Nick’s with us
He originally signed with SD on March 16, 2022 to a 1-year contract for the 2022 season with player options for 2023, 2024 and 2025…exercised his opt out clause after the ’22 season, but re-signed with SD to a 3-year contract through 2025 with a club option covering the 2024 and 2025 seasons…if the club option is declined, Martinez holds two separate player options and can either opt-out or extend the contract through 2024 and 2025.
A one-man category
In 2022, he converted 8 of his 9 save opportunities and collected 8 holds while also making 10 starts…he’s the only pitcher in MLB history to have 4+ holds and 8+ saves while also making 10+ starts in a single campaign.
Dad strength
After returning from the paternity list following the birth of his daughter, Stella, on August 1, 2022, he posted a career-long 15.0 scoreless-inning streak from Aug. 1 to Aug. 29 across 11 appearances. It was the 2nd-longest streak among all SD relievers in ‘22, trailing only Tim Hill (18.2 scoreless IP from July 9-Sept 6).
