SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:
Padres drop 1st of the series to Pirates, have lost 3 straight
- Last night in Pittsburgh, the Padres fell 9-4 in the 1st game of the series…after scoring 3 runs in the 2nd inning, the Pirates responded with 3 of their own in the bottom half of the frame…starter Reiss Knehr went 2.0 innings and allowed 5 runs (earned) on 6 hits with a strikeout and 2 walks.
- Ha-Seong Kim went 3-for-5, Nelson Cruz and Brandon Dixon also had multiple hits, and the Padres saw doubles from Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Dixon…the Friars went 4-for-9 with RISP, and grounded into 3 double plays (2 from Fernando Tatis Jr. and 1 from Bogaerts).
Snellzilla looks for his 6th straight quality start, ties for Major League-lead in strikeouts since May 31 (50 Ks)
- Starter Blake Snell has had a quality outing in each of his last 5 starts, and another one tonight would tie his career-long quality start steak of 6, set back in 2018.
- In Blake’s last 5 starts, he’s allowed just 1 run for a 0.29 ERA (1 ER, 31.0 IP) and 50 strikeouts against 9 walks allowed…his 50 strikeouts since May 31 ties with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman for the most in all of baseball in that time…his .126 opponent average since May 31 also is the lowest of any pitcher.
- Snell also has at least 11 strikeouts in each of his last 3 outings (35 SO in total), tying his career-long streak of 3 straight games with double-digit strikeouts (also in 2021)…he has 43 strikeouts in the month of June, and his 54 K’s in August of 2021 are the most he’s had in a single month in his career.
Pitchers best friend, batter’s nightmare
- San Diego batters grounded into 3 double plays last night (2 from Fernando Tatis Jr. and 1 from Xander Bogaerts), and they’ve grounded into a Major League-most 11 double plays in their last 6 games since June 21…their 21 double plays they’ve hit into in the month of June are tied with the Braves for the most this month (behind the Marlins’ 24 GIDP).
A look to the standings
- The Padres have are 10.5 games back from the 1st place D-Backs in the National League West, and they are 7.5 games in the National League Wild Card race…the Marlins, Giants, and Dodgers currently occupy the lead in the 1st 3 spots.
Trouble with RISP
- The Padres logged 4 hits last night with RISP, and it was their 1st game this year that they lost when they had 4+ hits with RISP (are now 13-1 in such games).
The Friars have hit a Major League-worst .208 with RISP this year, but in their last 5 games, they’ve hit a Major League-best .386 (17-for-44) with 3 doubles and 4 home runs for a 1.198 OPS.
Friars looking to get hot
- The Padres have yet to have a winning streak of longer than 3 games so far, and they have yet to sweep a team in a series longer than 2 games…San Diego hasn’t been at .500 since May 11 (19-19), a span of 40 games without being at .500.
- The Padres have dropped 6 of their last 8 games.
Take yo base
- The Padres offense has drawn a Major League-most 328 walks this year, and their 55.6 take percentage is also the highest in the big leagues.
STARTING PITCHER – BLAKE SNELL #4
Red-hot Snell rolls into PNC Park
Left-hander Blake Snell aims to continue his torrid stretch at PNC Park, a venue where he’s allowed 9 ER across 5.2 IP (14.29 ERA) with 7 BB vs. 7 SO in his 2 career starts vs. PIT.
3rd consecutive double-digit strikeout game Thur vs. SF
Snell’s 35 SO across his last 3 starts are his most ever in a 3 start span, and his 3 consecutive double-digit strikeout starts tie his career-high (also: Aug 25-Sept 7, 2021)… there’s been 7 double-digit strikeout streaks spanning 3+ starts in franchise history, and he already joins Jake Peavy as the only 2 SD hurlers in franchise history with 2 of those streaks, and another 10+ strikeouts today would tie Peavy’s 4-game franchise streak from April 25-May 11, 2007.
Since May 25
In his 6 starts since May 25 vs. WSH, Snell is 3-0 and ranks first among all qualifying ML pitchers in AVG against (.139), WHIP (.083; T-1st), H/9 IP (4.25) and SO/9 IP (14.00)…he also ranks 2nd in ERA (0.50), 4th in base runners/9 (8.00) and T-5th in HR/9 IP (0.25).
Quality starts and scoreless streaks
Snell enters tonight’s matchup riding a 18.0 scoreless inn streak across parts of his last 3 starts since June 11…it trails only his 20.0 consecutive scoreless innings from Sept. 16-Oct. 2, 2022…his current 5-start quality outing streak is the 2nd-longest of his career, trailing just his 6 consecutive quality outings from April 10-May 8 during his Cy Young 2018 season w/ TB.
Snell faces 30th MLB team, his former club, in style
Sat, June 17 @ Petco Park, Snell squared off against the Rays for the first time in his career and has now faced all 30 MLB clubs…entering ’23, CIN and TB were the only 2 ML clubs Snell was yet to face….he struck out a season-high-tying 12 batters for the 2nd consecutive game (1 shy of his career high 13 SO – 4 times)…he also struck out all 9 starters for the 2nd straight start, becoming the 4th pitcher since 1961 to do so, joining Jacob deGrom (2021), Pedro Martinez (1999 & ’00) and Randy Johnson (1992 & ’99)…in his prior start on Sun, June 11 @ Coors Field, the 85 pitches it took him to get thru at least 7.0 frames were the fewest of his career, ahead of the 95 pitches in 7.0 IP Sept, 16, 2022 @ ARI.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES: Opened their six-game homestand with a 9-4 win last night against the Padres…Scored nine runs last night for the first time since plating 14 against the Mets on June 9…Have had four separate winning streaks of at least four games this season, including a season-high seven-game winning streak from 4/17-23.
KELLER’S CREDENTIALS: Mitch Keller will make his 17th start of the season tonight in the second game of this series against the Padres…Keller allowed one run in 7.0 innings and was in line for the win in his last start Thursday night at Miami before coming away with a no-decision…Here at PNC Park, Keller has gone 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA (45.1ip/14er) in seven starts this year…That’s the seventh-lowest home ERA among all National League pitchers.
AND THE WHIFF: Mitch Keller comes into tonight ranked second among all National League pitchers with 113 strikeouts…Keller is tied with Francisco Liriano (2015) for the second-most strikeouts by a Pirate through the first 16 starts of a season…According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only Pirate since 1893 to strike out more batters after 16 starts in a season is Oliver Perez with 122 in 2004.
OFF TO A GOOD START: Pittsburgh’s starting pitching staff has posted a 2.41 ERA (33.2ip/9er) in the last five games…The starting staff has also thrown a total of 424.2 innings this season, which ranks third among all National League teams behind the Diamondbacks (428.2ip) and Brewers (426.1ip).
NICK AT NIGHT: Last night Nick Gonzales became the fourth Pirate in team history whose first two hits were a triple and home run (in either order)…The others were Mack Hillis from August 15-16, 1928, Claude Hendrix from July 4 to September 2, 1911, and Ed Poole on October 12, 1900…Prior to Gonzales, the last player in MLB whose first two hits were a triple and home run was \Sergio Alcantara in September of 2020…Special thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau.
SWEET SIXTEEN: Andrew McCutchen has a season-high 16-game on-base streak coming into tonight (Jack Suwinski’s 17-game on-base streak is the longest by a Pirate this season)…Since McCutchen’s streak began on June \5, his .486 on-base percentage ranks third in all of MLB behind Shohei Ohtani (.495) and Ketel Marte (.488)…McCutchen now has three separate on-base streaks of at least 13 games this season.
JACK IN THE BOX: Former Padres farmhand Jack Suwinski hit his 16th home run of the season last night…Fifteen of Suwinski’s 16 home runs this year have been hit as a center fielder…That ranks first among all players at that position in the National League and tied for third in MLB among center fielders behind Luis Robert Jr. (22) and Mike Trout (17).
HOW THE WEST WAS WON: Last night’s game began a stretch that has the Pirates playing teams from the National League West 13 times over a 16-game span…Following this weekend’s three games against the Brewers, Pittsburgh will play 10 straight games against the NL West at Los Angeles and Arizona from July 3-9 and vs. San Francisco from July 14-16 at PNC Park.
STARTING PITCHER – 23 – RHP MITCH KELLER
MITCH KELLER: The 27-year-old righthander will make his 17th start of the season tonight…He was in line for the win (7.0ip/1r) but had a no-decision in his last start; a 6-4 last at-bat loss Thursday at Miami.
VS. SAN DIEGO: 1-2 with a 4.80 ERA (15.0ip/8er) in three career starts…Went 0-1 in one start last year; allowed one run in 6.0 innings and lost a 5-2 decision to Joe Musgrove on 5/1 at PNC Park… He also made two starts in 2021…Gave up four runs in the first inning and seven total in 3.1 innings while suffering a loss to Chris Paddack on 4/15 at PNC Park…Also pitched 5.2 scoreless innings and won a 2-1 decision on 5/4 at Petco Park.
