PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:
GAME #57 RECAP: The Phillies fell to the Washington Nationals, 8-7, at Nationals Park in the nation’s capital … Starter Zack Wheeler (ND) went 3.2 innings and allowed 7 runs on 8 hits with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts … Down 6-0 through two and 7-1 through four, the Phillies mounted a comeback and tied the game at 7-7 going into the eighth inning … Nick Castellanos went 4-for-5 with a 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI and a SB … Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott combined to reach base five times atop the lineup … With two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Alex Call walked, stole second base and later scored on a single to center … It marked Philadelphia’s fifth straight loss as they fell to 2-6 on the current road trip.
CASTY’S BACK, TELL A FRIEND: Phils right fielder Nick Castellanos has gotten ahead 1-0 in 81 plate appearances this season – after taking ball one, Castellanos is slashing .451/.519/.732 with a 1.251 OPS that ranks 3rd out of 224 qualified players in MLB this year … He has 13 extra-base hits (9 2B, 3B, 3 HR) after getting ahead 1-0 … Last season, Castellanos got ahead 1-0 in 174 plate appearances and tallied only 10 extra-base hits as he slashed .197/.276/.299 with a .575 OPS that ranked 201st out of 203 qualified hitters.
RIPPING HEATERS: Nick Castellanos is hitting .460 with a .700 SLG against the 227 four seam fastballs he has faced this season and 66.7% of the four seamers he has put in play have been 95+ MPH off the bat … Overall, Castellanos has increased his hard hit rate on all pitches from 35.1% last season to 43.3% entering play today – his +8.2% spike in hard hit rate ranks 21st among all players from 2022 to 2023.
HAVE YOURSELF A NIGHT: In last night’s game, Nick Castellanos went 4-for-5 with 2 runs, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI and a SB … His 11 total bases were his most with the Phillies and rank T-3rd in a game for his career (last: 5/2/21 with CIN vs CHI), shy of only two games of 12 total bases (8/9/15 with DET vs CHI & 7/18/17 with DET vs KC).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE: Last night, Kyle Schwarber scored the 500th run of his career on a Nick Castellanos 2-run single and became the 61st active player in MLB to reach 500 runs scored (Phils have five of the 61: Schwarber, Realmuto, Turner, Castellanos, Harper) … Over his last 225 plate appearances (since 4/4), Schwarber has posted a .756 OPS with 13 home runs and 40 walks to 64 strikeouts – in that span, Schwarber is running a .181 BABIP which ranks 92nd out of the 92 MLB players with 200 PA in that stretch (Pete Alonso ranks 91st with a .218 BABIP, 37 points higher than Schwarber) … Out of those same 92 players, Schwarber ranks 3rd with a 17.8% walk rate, trailing only Juan Soto (21.7%) and Adley Rutschman (18.3%) … Schwarber, who owns a career BABIP of .262, completed the month of May with the lowest BABIP recorded by a player with at least 100 plate appearances in a single month since at least 1901 (.065) – the only other MLB player since at least 1901 with a BABIP under .100 for a single month (min. 100 PA) was Gary Sheffield, who posted a .095 BABIP in September of 1999 for the Dodgers.
THE SUMMER OF SCHWARB: Since 1901, 1,880 major league players have made at least 500 plate appearances in the month of June … Out of those 1,880, 10 players have a career SLG of .600 or greater during the month, and, of those 10, eight are enshrined in Cooperstown and the other two are Mike Trout and Kyle Schwarber … Lou Gehrig ranks 1st (.739 SLG), Babe Ruth 2nd (.709), Larry Walker 3rd (.641), Ted Williams 4th (.635), Hank Greenberg 5th (.622), Jim Thome 6th (.616), Jimmie Foxx 7th (.615), Trout 8th (.611), Rogers Hornsby 9th (.603) and Schwarber 10th (.602) … Schwarber has 47 home runs in 467 career at bats during June and his 9.94 AB/HR average ranks 1st among all players in MLB since at least 1901 (min. 500 PA) – Babe Ruth ranks 2nd at 10.64 … Schwarber also has a .345 isolated power (ISO) during the month of June for his career which ranks 3rd in MLB since at least 1901 (min. 500 PA), behind only Lou Gehrig (.361 ISO) and Babe Ruth (.357 ISO) … Last June, Schwarber hit 12 home runs in 27 games and slashed .372/.385/.680 with a 1.065 OPS in 122 plate appearances as he was named National League Player of the Month, his second consecutive POM Award in June (also 2021 with WSH) … Over the last three months of June combined, Schwarber has 28 home runs (58 total hits) and is slashing .274/.368/.703.
BULLISH ON THE PEN: Since April 16, the Phillies bullpen has allowed 46 ER in 150.1 IP and has the lowest ERA in the National League at 2.75 (next: SD, 2.99), which ranks 2nd in MLB behind only HOU (2.69) … Philadelphia’s bullpen has faced 635 batters during this stretch and limited them to a .222/.294/.339 slash line with a .634 OPS that ranks 3rd in MLB behind only SD (.603) and HOU (.626) … Per Statcast, since April 16, the Phillies bullpen is running the lowest hard hit rate of any bullpen in MLB (31.4%) with the lowest average exit velocity on balls in play (87.0 MPH).
MR. 400: On May 26 in Atlanta, right-hander Craig Kimbrel earned the 400th save of his ML career in the Phils’ 6-4 win … He became only the eighth player in the history of Major League Baseball to reach 400 saves and he did so in the 730th game of his career, which is the 3rd-fewest games needed to achieve the feat, trailing Hall of Famer’s Trevor Hoffman (706 games) and Mariano Rivera (697 games).
IN COMPANY WITH COOPERSTOWN: The newest member of the 400 save club, Craig Kimbrel, ranks 11th since at least 1893 with 1,130 SO as a reliever … He trails Hall-of-Famers Trevor Hoffman (1,133) for 10th place and Mariano Rivera (1,135) for 9th place … Additionally, in the instances in Which he converted his first 400 saves, Kimbrel had a 0.63 ERA (28 ER, 397.2 IP) – here are the ERA’s (in saves) for the seven current members of the 400-save club when they reached #400: Rivera (0.67), Billy Wagner (0.75), Lee Smith (0.83), Hoffman (0.84), John Franco (0.88), Kenley Jansen (0.94) and Francisco Rodriguez (1.05).
THEY DON’T BOO NOBODIES: Phils designated hitter Bryce Harper reached 5,000 career at bats on May 25 at ATL … When he reached 5,000, Harper had 614 extra-base hits and 891 walks and he became only the 13th player in the modern era (since 1900) with as many walks and extra-base hits through the first 5,000 at bats of a career … Harper is joined by Babe Ruth (1928), Ted Williams (1951), Mike Schmidt (1982), Barry Bonds (1995), Mark McGwire (1998), Frank Thomas (2000), Jeff Bagwell (2000), Jim Thome (2003), Brian Giles (2006), Lance Berkman (2009), Adam Dunn (2011) and Mike Trout (2022).
WASHINGTON NATIONALS NOTES:
WINNING WAYS
The Washington Nationals opened this six-game homestand with a hard-fought, 8-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night…Lane Thomas’ RBI-single in the eighth inning put Washington ahead for good…The Nationals jumped out to an early 7-1 lead thanks in part to offense from Jeimer Candelario (2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R) and Luis García (2-for-5, HR, RBI, 2 R).
- The Nationals will enjoy another day off on Monday before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to Nationals Park on Tuesday.
STATUS CHECK
The Nationals have won two straight, four of seven, seven of the last 12, 12 of 24 and 16 of their last 31 games…They are 20-19 (.513) dating to April 21 at Minnesota.
- Washington is 24-26 (.480) after losing six of seven games to start the season…That stretch included series against the Atlanta Braves (1-2) and Tampa Bay Rays (0-3) as well as a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies on their Opening Day.
- The Nationals are 10-6 (.625) in their last 16 home games dating to April 30…This run comes after starting the season 2-11 in their first 13 home games.
WE WANT CANDY!
Jeimer Candelario is 9-for-26 (.346) with four doubles, one triple, one homer, nine RBI, five walks, two hit by pitches, one stolen base and seven runs scored in his last seven games…He’s reached safely in all seven (.485 OBP) and has hit safely in six of the seven.
- Per FanGraphs.com, Candelario leads all National League third basemen in wins above replacement (2.0) and is third among National League third basemen with four defensive runs saved.
- He also leads NL third baseman (2nd among MLB third baseman) with 17 doubles.
OFFENSIVE RANKS
Washington ranks in Major League Baseball in hits (2nd, 299), average (2nd, .281), on-base percentage (3rd, .342), doubles (5th, 63) and OPS (7th, .776) since April 30.
- On the season, Washington’s offense leads the National League in batting average (.265), ranks fourth in on-base percentage (.329) and has the lowest strikeout rate in Major League Baseball (18.6%).
JOEY HITS
Joey Meneses is tied for fifth in Major League Baseball (T4th in the NL) with 69 hits and his .305 batting average ranks seventh…He’s recorded eight three-hit games this season, tied for second in MLB.
- He is hitting .367/.424/.489 with eight doubles, one homer, 20 RBI, nine walks and 12 runs scored in his last 22 games.
CHECKIN’ IN ON THE ‘PEN
A few of Washington’s relievers find themselves among the best in baseball:
- Carl Edwards Jr. is tied for fourth in Major League Baseball with 12 holds, while Hunter Harvey ranks tied for fourth in the National League (T7th in MLB) with 11 holds.
- Kyle Finnegan is tied for fourth in the National League (T8th in MLB) with 11 saves.
- Erasmo Ramírez ranks sixth in the National League with 1.42 walks per 9.0 innings.
- Thaddeus Ward is seventh in the National League with a .138 opponents’ batting average (9-for-65) and 4.12 hits allowed per 9.0 innings.
LANE TRAIN
Lane Thomas had his career-high 26-game on base streak and career-high 15 game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday…He hit .324/.376/.602 with seven doubles, a triple, seven homers, 15 RBI, eight walks, one hit by pitch, two stolen bases and 21 runs scored during the on-base streak.
- Thanks to the streak, he raised his slash line from .255/.319/.324 at the start of the streak to .283/.342/.452 entering play on Friday.
- On the season, Thomas ranks in the National League in hits (9th, 62) and runs scored (12th, 36).
ROLLIN’ RUIZ
Keibert Ruiz has a .605 slugging percentage with a double, four home runs, 10 RBI, three walks, three strikeouts, two hit by pitch and eight runs scored in 11 games dating to May 19.
- He leads all Major League catchers with a .676 slugging percentage since May 19 and his four home runs are tied for the most with NYM Francisco Alvarez.
STARTING PITCHER – #1 MACKENZIE GORE
Left-handed starter was acquired by Washington at the 2022 Trade Deadline…Entered 2020 as the No. 6 prospect in all of baseball and 2021 as the No. 10 prospect, according to Baseball America …Was cited by Baseball America as having the “Best Fastball” in San Diego’s system entering the 2022 season and the “Best Slider” in 2021 and 2018…Was the 2017 Gatorade Male High School Athlete
of the Year, just the second baseball player to win the award at
the time (Dylan Bundy in 2011; Bobby Witt Jr. in 2019).
LAST START
Struck out a career-high 11 batters in a season-high 7.0 innings of work on May 28 at Kansas City…Issued just one walk and allowed three hits but did not earn the win as the Nationals lost in walk-off fashion, 3-2.
vs. PHILADELPHIA
Faces the Phillies for the third time in his career, second start…Made one start against them in 2022, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings on June 24, 2022 in San Diego…On May 17, 2022 at Philadelphia, Gore earned his first career hold with 3.0 scoreless innings of relief.
RANKS
Gore ranks first among all Major League left-handed pitchers and sixth in all of Major League Baseball (5th in the NL) with 11.48 strikeouts per 9.0 innings…His 74 strikeouts rank 11th in the National League.
- He ranks fourth among NL lefties with a 3.57 ERA, a .248 opponents’ batting average and a .404 opponent’s slugging percentage.
SWING AND A MISS
Gore ranks fourth among all MLB left-handed pitchers (12th among all pitchers) with 159 swings and misses this season, according to MLB Statcast…On May 28 at Kansas City, he induced a career-high 23 swings and misses in 7.0 innings pitched.
TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE
Gore’s curveball boasts a 45.5% whiff rate (swing&miss/total swings), second among all MLB curveballs (min. 50 PA)…The 45.5% ranks 14th among all Major League pitches this season…His .161 opponents’ batting average with the curve (6-for-56) ranks fourth among all MLB curveballs.
EARNING THE CAPITAL K IN MacKenzie
Gore’s 74 strikeouts through 11 starts are the third-most in Nationals history (2005-pres.) by any pitcher in his first 11 starts with the club behind Max Scherzer (90; 2015), Gio Gonzalez (84; 2012) and Patrick Corbin (81; 2019).
- Gore’s 11.12 strikeouts per 9.0 innings would rank fifth in a season in Nationals history (2005-pres.).
