Friday, March 29, 2024
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MLB Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates (26-26) at San Francisco Giants (27-26)

PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:

THE PIRATES: Were walked off in 10 innings on a three-run home run by Eugenio Suarez in their series finale yesterday at Seattle…Tied a club record after hitting seven home runs Friday night (the fourth time in the team’s history to accomplish that)…Have gone 4-6 in their last 10 games…Won seven straight games from 4/17-23, their longest winning streak since 2018 (11 games)…Are 1.5 games behind the front-running Brewers in the National League Central coming into today.

RICH ON THE HILL: Rich Hill has a career record of 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA (96.1ip/25er) in 18 career starts against the Giants…Hill’s eight wins against the Giants are his most against any opponent…Since allowing five runs in 6.0 innings in his first start here at Oracle Park on May 9, 2006, Hill has a 2.72 ERA (39.2ip/12er) in his last eight starts at San Francisco.

ABOUT TODAY’S STARTER: Rich Hill gets the start this afternoon in the opener of this three-game series against the Giants…Hill was charged with a loss after allowing five runs in 5.1 innings in his last start Tuesday night against the Rangers at PNC Park…Beginning with his start on April 12, Hill has gone 4-3 with a 3.09 ERA (43.2ip/15er) in his last eight outings.

MEMORIAL DAY ACROSS MLB: Today all on-field MLB personnel will wear the traditional Memorial red poppy on the left side of their jerseys with “Lest We Forget” language included as a tribute to service men and women our nation has lost… The uniforms will not be sold at retail to the general public…Through the sales of Armed Forces Day caps, MLB donated 100 percent of its licensed royalties to a variety of military-connected charities, including Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)…Later this summer, youth from TAPS families will once again participate in a clinic on the showcase diamond at PLAY BALL Park during MLB All-Star Week in Seattle…PLAY BALL Park is an interactive baseball experience opening for four days in the host city as part of MLB’s All-Star festivities.

SETTING UP THE SERIES: The Pirates are 11-6 this season in the first game of a series, including 6-3 on the road…This afternoon the Pirates are returning to Oracle Park for the first time since August 12-14 of last season when the team was swept in a three-game series…In addition to this series, Pittsburgh will host the Giants in the first series following the All-Star break from July 14-16.

BACK TO THE NL: Pittsburgh has gone 16-10 this season against National League teams, including 8-5 on the road (the Bucs are 5-1 in their last six road games against the NL)…This is the first road series against a National League team since winning two of three games against the Nationals from April 29-30.

GIANT NUMBERS: Bryan Reynolds has hit safely in eight of his 10 career games at Oracle Park, going 15-for-43 (.349) with three doubles and a pair of home runs…Former Giant Connor Joe is 15-for-42 (.357) with a pair of home runs in 12 career games at Oracle Park.

BAE, BAE, BAE: Ji Hwan Bae went 2-for-4 on Sunday to extend his on-base streak to 10 games…Bae is hitting .371 (13-for-35) with four doubles, three RBI and a .421 on-base percentage during his current 10-game on-base streak…Bae ranks fourth among National League rookies in batting (.275), fifth in OBP (.329), tied for eighth in total bases (51) and first in stolen bases (15).

RULE 5 RULING: Jose Hernandez tossed 3.0 scoreless innings on Saturday, which was the longest outing by a Pirates relief pitcher this season…Hernandez, who was selected by the Pirates this past offseason during the Rule 5 Draft, comes into today ranked first among National League rookie relievers in ERA (2.38), fourth in strikeouts (23) and batting average against (.214) and second in OPS against (.608).

CUTCH’S MILESTONES: Andrew McCutchen is two doubles shy of 400 in his career and two away from 300 as a Pirate…McCutchen ranks seventh all-time in team history in doubles…Paul Waner ranks first with 559, followed by Honus Wagner (556), Roberto Clemente (440), Willie Stargell (423), Max Carey (375) and Pie Traynor (371).

GOING THE EXTRA MILE: Bryan Reynolds has tripled twice in his last three games and comes into today with 26 extra base hits…That’s tied for sixth among National League players (Los Angeles’ Freddie Freeman leads the NL with 32).

LEGGING IT OUT: The Pirates are tied with Arizona and Kansas City for the Major League lead with 12 triples…Connor Joe, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds lead the team with three triples apiece.

STARTING PITCHER – 44 – LHP RICH HILL
RICH HILL: The 43-year-old lefthander is making his 11th start of the season this afternoon…Lost a 6-1 decision (5.1ip/5r) against Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi in his last start Tuesday at PNC Park.

vs. SAN FRANCISCO: 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA (96.1ip/25er) in 18 career starts…Hasn’t faced the Giants since 8/16/21 as a member of the Mets here in San Francisco…His last win against the Giants also came here in San Francisco on 6/8/19 while pitching for Los Angeles.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:

TODAY’S GAME: Fresh off their best road trip of the season, SF returns home today to open up a six-game homestand that begins with a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates this afternoon…the Giants have won 10 of their last 13 games dating to May 15 overall and have won each of their last four series entering this three-game tilt with Pittsburgh.

ROSTER MOVES: OF Austin Slater was returned from his rehabilitation assignment and reinstated from the 10-day IL…RHP Tristan Beck was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento postgame yesterday.

TRENDING UP…: Despite the loss yesterday the Giants were able to go 5-2 on their seven-game road trip through Minnesota (2-1) and Milwaukee (3-1)…the Giants had a chance to sweep each of the two series but lost the finales of both…it was a vast improvement on their road play this season as they’d won only seven of their first 20 road games this season prior to this last road trip.

FINDING THEIR STRIDE: After going 6-13 to begin the season, the Giants have logged a 21-13 (.618) mark since April 22… the .618 winning percentage is sixth-best in the Majors and second-best in the NL during that span behind only the Dodgers, who are 22-11 (.667) and lead the Majors with their .667 win % in that stretch…if you narrow it down to just May, the Giants are 16-10 (.615) this month, tied for seventh-best in MLB.

HOME COOKIN’: In that same April 22 time span, the Giants have gone a blistering 13-5 (.722) here at Oracle Park, including winning five of their last six games here on their last homestand from May 15-21 vs. the Phillies and Marlins… the Giants’ .722 winning percentage at home since April 22 is second-best in the Majors only to the Dodgers .917 (11-1) clip in that time.

BULLIES: The Giants have won 10 of their last 13 games, a stretch that comes after dropping six of their previous eight contests…this excellent stretch is in part due to SF’s bullpen, who’s sporting a 0.78 ERA, the best figure in the Majors, and holding opposing teams to a .158 average during the run… since May 15, the bullpen’s 73 strikeouts are the most of any bullpen in the Majors and their nine saves are tops in MLB. Giants Bullpen, Last 13 Games Dating to May 15

Ranking

ERA 0.78 1st
Strikeouts 73 1st
Saves 9 1st
Innings 57.1 3rd

Ranking

Opposing Avg. .158 1st
WHIP 0.80 1st
OPS .479 1st

CLEAN SLATE?: As mentioned above, the Giants are welcoming OF Austin Slater back to the active roster this afternoon…Slater, a key cog in the Giants lineup vs. LHP and in their outfield, has played in only eight of the Giants’ 50 games this season due to injuries…he started the year on the IL with a left hamstring strain he suffered in Spring Training and then returned in late April only to go down again with the same
injury on May 10…in the eight games he’s played with SF he’s gone 7-for-19 (.368) with all of his success coming against LHP (7-for-12, one double, two RBI).

TONY, TONY, TONY: RHP Anthony DeSclafani has opened his 2023 campaign with 10 consecutive starts of at least 5+ innings and two or fewer walks…that streak is tied for the fifth-longest to open a season by a Giant in the SF-era with Juan Marichal (1966)…Johnny Cueto (2016) and Allen Watson (1996) have the third-longest streak at 11 games (Stats, LLC).

HE’S HEATING UP…: OF Mitch Haniger had a great series in Milwaukee, going 7-for-16 (.438) with a double, two homers and six RBI in the four games…on the road trip overall, Haniger went 8-for-25 (.320) with the three extra base hits, six RBI, four runs scored and a .970 OPS…over his last 10 games dating to May 17, he’s slashing .351/.385/.568…Haniger slashed .172/.194/.297 with two homers and nine RBI in his first 17
games this season after returning from his oblique injury in late April.

HE’S ON FIRE!: OF Michael Conforto stayed hot on the Giants’ most recent road trip, going 11-for-26 (.423) with a double, three homers, eight RBI, eight runs scored, three walks and a steal while posting a 1.292 OPS…since May 10, Conforto is slashing .365/.417/.730 with seven homers, 17 RBI, 15 runs scored, six walks and a 1.147 OPS…Conforto’s average was .168 entering the game on May 10 and it now sits at .244 as we enter play today.

THE NAIL IN THE COFFIN!: RHP Camilo Doval converted his 11th save this month in Saturday’s nail-biting 3-1 win over the Brewers… his 11 saves this month are tied for the third-most by a Giant in a single month, and the most since Brian Wilson also recorded 11 saves on Sept/Oct 2011.

TODAY’S STARTER – ANTHONY DeSCLAFANI RHP #26
2023 RECORD: 3-4, 3.43 ERA

TODAY’S OUTING: Gets the nod to make his 11th start of the season today vs. the Pirates…the veteran, who returns from an injury-plagued 2022, is in his ninth Major League season and third in a Giants uniform.

LAST TIME OUT: Suffered the loss after allowing a season-high seven runs (four earned) last Wednesday at Minnesota…threw 5.0 innings and allowed six hits with two walks, two homers and six strikeouts…hadn’t allowed a homer in four starts prior to that outing and had given up a combined four HRs over his previous nine starts.

VS. PITTSBURGH: Is slated to face the Pirates for the 18th time in his career…the right-hander is 3-7 with a 5.13 ERA over the 17 career starts, which mark the second-most starts he’s made against any single opponent behind St. Louis (18)…last faced them on May 13, 2021 at PNC Park, when earned the win after throwing 5.0-scoreless innings with a hit, a walk and five strikeouts.

STAY WHERE YOU ARE: DeSclafani has been consistent all season throwing at least 5.0 innings and issuing two walks of fewer walks in each of his 10 starts this season…the stretch is tied for the fifthlongest such streak to begin the season in SF era (Stats, LLC). Giants, Most Consecutive Starts with 5+ IP & 2 or Fewer Walks to Begin Season – Since 1958 Player Starts Season

Juan Marichal 23 1968
Madison Bumgarner 17 2017
Johnny Cueto 11 2016
Player Starts Season
Allen Watson 11 1996
Anthony DeSclafani 10 2013*
Juan Marichal 10 1966

IN THE ZONE: Despite walking a combined six batters over his last four starts, the veteran still has issued nine walks in his first 10 starts this year…his 3.7% walk rate is and 1.34 walks-per-nine average are both third-best in MLB behind SEA’s George Kirby (2.4%, 0.86) and KC’s Zack Greinke (3.4%, 1.26).

UNDER PRESSURE: When reaching the three-ball count, opponents are just 5-for-36 (.139) with nine walks against him…according to Sports Info Solutions, his .311 opposing OBP in threeball counts is the lowest in MLB, with his .561 OPS ranking seventh.

SEND HELP: Has received one or no runs of support in six of his 10 starts this season and three runs of fewer in eight of those… has a 3.13 run support average this season, fifth-lowest in MLB.

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