PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
No team release available.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS NOTES:
LEADING OFF: Today, the Angels play the seventh (4- 2) of nine games on a homestand to begin the second half of the season against the Houston Astros (1-2), New York Yankees (3-0) and Pittsburgh Pirates (July 21- 23)…Angels went 0-5 on last road trip before the break against the Padres (0-3) and Dodgers (0-2)… Halos went 3-4 on last homestand against the White Sox (2-2) and Diamondbacks (1-2).
THROWBACK WEEKEND: This weekend is Throwback weekend at The Big A…The Angels will wear throwback uniforms with 1980’s themed entertainment featured on the scoreboards…Angels Hall of Famer Mike Witt is scheduled to throw a First Pitch prior to tonight’s game.
YANKEE SWEEP: Angels enter play today with a three game win streak after sweeping the Yankees for the first time since July 10-12, 2009 at Angel Stadium.
VS. PITTSBURGH: The series marks the first meetings between the clubs since Aug. 12-14, 2019 when Pittsburgh won two of three games at The Big A…The all-time series is tied 9-9. INTERLEAGUE PLAY: LAA owns a 272-240 (.531) alltime Interleague record (11-17 in 2023)…The 272 Interleague wins are third most all time behind Red Sox (301) and Yankees (296).
HOME RUN STREAK: Angels enter tonight’s game with an active streak of 18 consecutive games hitting at least one home run…The streak is tied for the longest in franchise history (also had an 18 game HR streak from July 26 – Aug. 13, 1982)…Angels lead the American League with 147 home runs this season.
LEAGUE LEADER: As a hitter, Shohei Ohtani leads the Majors in triples (7), home runs (35), total bases (246), XBH (58), slugging percentage (.678) and OPS (1.075)… On the mound, he also leads the Majors in opponent batting average (.192) and is fifth in strikeouts (139).
THE MICK: Mickey Moniak is currently on a career-high 11-game hit streak and is batting .391 (18/46) during that span (since July 2).
MONDAY MAGIC: The Angels earned their fourth walk-off win of the season Monday night vs. NYY on an RBI single by Michael Stefanic in the 10th inning.
LATE COMEBACKS: Halos have four wins this season when trailing after eight innings, which is the highest total for the Club since 2017, when the Angels had five wins when trailing after eight frames.
THE INJURED LIST: Angels currently have 16 players on the injured list and have used the IL a total of 25 times this year for 23 different players…The 16 players currently on the IL are the most in the Majors.
BACK ABOVE .500: With a 49-48 record, the Angels are back above .500 after the sweep of the Yankees…Halos have been exactly .500 on 13 different occasions this season (1-1, 5-5, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, 14- 14, 22-22, 30-30, 45-45 & 48-48).
ESTÉVEZ ENDING: Carlos Estévez is pitching to a 2.13 RA (38 IP – 9 ER) and has converted all 21 of his save opportunities this year…He set the franchise record for consecutive save chances converted to begin a season (previously Lee Smith converted his first 19 chances in 1995)…The only player in Angels history with a longer save streak without a blown save at any point in a season is Francisco Rodriguez (25 game streak in 2008 and a 22 game streak spanning 2005-06).
MY WISH: This week, the Angels are featured as part of FIRST HALF HR KING: Shohei Ohtani was the Major League home run leader at the All-Star Break for the second time in his career (also, 2021)…According to ELIAS, he is the fourth player since 2000 to lead MLB in homers at the Break in multiple seasons, joining Barry Bonds, José Bautista and Aaron Judge.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – RHP SHOHEI OHTANI
7-4, 3.32 ERA
Making 19th career pitching start while leading Majors in home runs
- SHO TIME: Making 19th pitching start of the year and 11th at home…Is in sixth Major League season with LAA.
- 3x ALL-STAR: Was selected to the A.L. All-Star team as a pitcher in addition to starting nomination at DH…Third consecutive season being selected to the All-Star team as both a pitcher and position player.
- LEAGUE LEADER: Enters today’s start leading the Majors in opponent batting average (.192) and ranks fifth in strikeouts (139).
- UNDER ONE: Has allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in nine of 18 starts this season.
- LAST TIME ON THE MOUND: Took the loss in last start on Friday vs. Houston after tossing 5+ innings and allowing five runs (four earned)on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts.
- 10 K: Since start of 2022 season, leads MLB with 16 games with 10+ strikeouts (has six this season – third-most in MLB)…Recorded 10+ strikeouts in 10 starts last season, which was the most such games in the A.L; joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in franchise history with 10+ strikeouts in at least six consecutive games.
- UNFAMILIAR: This season, is holding opponents to an .115 (16/139) average the first time through the order, a .254 (32/126) average the second time through the order and a .217 (23/106) average the third time through.
- VS. PITTSBURGH: Today marks first career pitching appearance vs. Pirates.
- AT ANGEL STADIUM: In 43 career starts at The Big A, is 19-8 with a 2.19 ERA (258.1 IP – 63 ER) and 338 strikeouts… This season, is 4-3 with a 2.74 ERA (62.1 IP – 19 ER) and 86 strikeouts after 10 starts…In 14 starts last season, was 7-4 with a 1.82 ERA (89 IP – 18 ER)…In 2021, went 6-0 with a 1.95 ERA (78.1 IP – 17 ER) and 93 strikeouts after 13 home starts.
- INTERLEAGUE PLAY: In 10 career games vs. N.L. opponents, is 3-3 with a 3.08 ERA (61.1 IP – 21 ER) and 89 SO…This season, is 1-2 with a 3.30 ERA (30 IP – 11 ER) in five Interleague starts.
- HOME SWEET HOME: Has a career 2.19 ERA (258.1 IP – 63 ER) in home games, which is the third lowest total of the last 100 years (min. 40 GS)…Only José Fernández (1.49 ERA) and Jacob deGrom (2.15 ERA) have had a lower home ERA.
- 500K: Reached 500 total MLB strikeouts for career with a 13 strikeout performance on May 3 at St. Louis…Fourth game in MLB history where a pitcher recorded 13+ strikeouts in 5.0-or-fewer innings (also, Jacob deGrom in 2022, Alex Cobb in 2013 and Zack Greinke in 2012).
- HEY BABE: Babe Ruth and Ohtani are the only players with 500+ pitching strikeouts and 100+ home runs in a career… (according to ELIAS, Ruth had 501 career pitching strikeouts).
- OFF THE BOARDS: Had franchise record streak of 12 straight pitching starts allowing two-or-fewer runs snapped on April 27 vs. Oakland (Nolan Ryan had previous record with nine game streak across the 1972-73 seasons)… Overall, has yielded two-or-fewer runs in 21 of last 26 starts and one-or-fewer runs in 18 of last 26 starts.
- CAN’T HIT THIS: Had streak of 10 straight pitching starts allowing three-or-fewer hits from Sept. 17, 2022 – April 27, 2023…The streak was snapped May 3 at St. Louis and finished tied with Jacob deGrom (10 game streak for Mets in 2021) for the longest streak all-time (excluding Openers).
- SCORELESS AT THE BIG A: Had streak of 35.0 consecutive scoreless innings pitched at Angel Stadium snapped April 27 by A’s…Finished as second longest streak in ballpark history, behind a 36.2 IP streak by Mark Clear in 1979.
