PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES: Lost 14-4 in the opener of their three-game series yesterday afternoon against the Giants…Have lost each of their last three games since beating Seattle in the opening game of their road trip Friday night…Are under .500 for the first time since 4/2…Won seven straight games from 4/17-23, their longest winning streak since 2018 (11 games)…Are 2.0 games behind the front-running Brewers in the National League Central coming into today.
JACK’S JACKS: Jack Suwinski went deep twice yesterday for the third time this season and second time on the current road trip after also doing so Friday night at Seattle…Suwinski now has four career multi home run games, highlighted by a single-game career-high three homers on June 19, 2022, against the Giants at PNC Park.
FEELING AT HOME ON THE ROAD: Last season 16 of Jack Suwinski’s 19 home runs were hit at PNC Park…The 16 home runs were tied for the third-most home runs in a single season in PNC Park history (Brian Giles holds the record with 18 in 2001)…This year, eight of Suwinski’s 11 home runs have been hit on the road (his eight home runs on the road are tied for the fourth-most in the National League).
SPLASH DOWN SAN FRANCISCO STYLE: Yesterday afternoon Jack Suwinski became just the second player in the 23-year history of Oracle Park history to have multiple splash hits in a game…The only other player to accomplish that was San Francisco’s Barry Bonds on May 10, 2000, and May 18, 2002.
COMING INTO HIS OWN: Tucupita Marcano has recorded seven extra base hits since May 21, which are tied for the second-most in MLB (Atlanta’s Austin Riley leads the way with eight)…Yesterday Marcano recorded the third three-hit game of his career along with his first career multi-double game…Marcano is now hitting at a .341 clip (14-for-41) with six doubles, three home runs, eight RBI and 1.079 OPS in his last 15 games.
NO JOSHING AROUND: Josh Palacios tripled for the first time in his career on Monday as part of a three-hit day (his career-high is four hits on April 10, 2021)…Since going hitless in his first nine at-bats after being promoted from Triple-A Indianapolis on May 9, Palacios has gone 7-for-14 with a double, triple and three RBI in his last six games…The Pirates acquired Palacios from the Nationals organization during the Minor League Phase of this past offseason’s Rule 5 Draft.
ABOUT TONIGHT’S STARTER: Johan Oviedo gets the start tonight in game two of this three-game series at Oracle Park…This is Oviedo’s first start on the road since allowing one run in 5.0-plus innings on May 12 at Baltimore…Oviedo has allowed one earned run in three of his last four starts on the road…The exception came on April 30 at Washington when he allowed seven runs in 2.1 innings while losing a 7-2 decision.
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).
BAE, BAE, BAE: Ji Hwan Bae went 1-for-4 on Monday to extend his on-base streak to 11 games…Bae is hitting .359 (14-for-39) with four doubles, three RBI and a .405 on-base percentage during his current 11-game on-base streak…Bae ranks fourth among National League rookies in batting (.275), sixth in OBP (.327), tied for seventh in total bases (52) and first in stolen bases (15).
CALLING ON COLIN: Colin Holderman comes into today with a scoreless streak of 7.1 innings that began on April 29… Holderman has recorded a 2.76 ERA (16.1ip/5er) this season in 17 games while pitching in the eighth inning…That’s the second-lowest ERA among all National League pitchers with at least 12.0 innings pitched in that inning behind San Francisco’s Tyler Rogers (1.32).
LEGGING IT OUT: The Pirates have tripled in two straight and in three of their last four games…Pittsburgh is tied with Kansas City for the most triples (13) in all of MLB coming into today…Ke’Bryan Hayes, Connor Joe and Bryan Reynolds are tied for the team lead with three triples apiece.
STARTING PITCHER – 24 – RHP JOHAN OVIEDO
JOHAN OVIEDO: The 25-year-old righthander is making his 11th start tonight…Allowed three runs in 5.2 innings while losing a 3-2 decision against Texas in his last start Wednesday at PNC Park.
vs. SAN FRANCISCO: 0-1 in one start…Allowed two runs in 4.0 innings while losing a 5-2 decision on 7/7/21 at San Francisco while pitching for the Cardinals.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: After a 14-4 win yesterday, the Giants will aim to make it two straight on a City Connect Tuesday at Oracle Park tonight…since introducing these uniforms in 2021, the Giants are 21-6 with a +51 run differential when wearing the City Connects (which are typically worn on Tuesdays but have been worn a few select times on other days)…the Giants have won each of their four games so far in 2023 when wearing the Creamsicle jerseys.
HE’S JUST THE OPENER: RHP John Brebbia takes the mound tonight to open SF’s fifth bullpen game of the year…the reliever, who’s celebrating his 33rd birthday today, has thrown 3.1-shutout innings with six strikeouts in three starts this season…Brebbia has held batters to just two hits in 12 at-bats (.167) and a walk in those starts…overall, the right hander has a 0.63 ERA in 14 career starts, with SF going 9-5 when he serves as the opener.
FINDING THEIR STRIDE: After going 6-13 to begin the season, the Giants have logged a 22-13 (.629) mark since April 22… the .629 winning percentage tied for fourth-best in the Majors and second-best in the NL during that span behind only the Dodgers, who are 23-11 (.676) and lead the Majors with their .676 win % in that stretch…if you narrow it down to just May, the Giants are 17-10 (.630) this month, fifth-best in MLB.
HOME COOKIN’: In that same April 22 time span, the Giants have gone a blistering 14-5 (.737) here at Oracle Park, including winning six of their last seven games here…the Giants’ .737 winning percentage at home since April 22 is second-best in the Majors only to the Dodgers .923 (12-1) clip in that time.
BULLIES: The Giants have won 11 of their last 14 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 0.91 ERA, the best figure in the Majors, and holding opposing teams to a .158 average during the run… since May 15, the bullpen’s 74 strikeouts are the most of any bullpen in the Majors and their nine saves are tops in MLB. Giants Bullpen, Last 14 Games Dating to May 15
Ranking
ERA 0.91 1st
Strikeouts 74 1st
Saves 9 1st
Opposing Avg. .158 1st
Ranking
WHIP 0.79 1st
OPS .487 1st
OBP .231 1st
Innings 59.1 5th
CLEAN SLATE?:OF Austin Slater picked up right where he left off yesterday upon returning from a second trip to the IL…the outfielder, who’s played in only nine of the Giants’ 54 games this season due to injuries, drove in four runs in yesterday’s contest…his 3-for-6 day included his first home run of the season…Slater is hitting .400 (10×25) with six RBI and a 1.064 OPS through his first nine games of the year.
HEATING UP…: OF Mitch Haniger has continued to improve on a great stretch that started in SF’s trip to Milwaukee last week…the outfielder’s three-hit game yesterday was his third such contest in his last four games…Haniger is 10-for-18 with five extra-base hits and eight RBI in that stretch while striking out just twice…over his last 11 games dating to May 17, he’s slashing .381/.409/.619 with 10 RBI and eight strikeouts… Haniger slashed .172/.194/.297 with two homers, nine RBI and 21 strikeouts in his first 17 games this season after returning from his oblique injury in late April.
