SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
BACK LIKE WE NEVER LEFT: Fresh off the four-day All-Star break, the Giants open up their longest road trip of the season tonight here in Pittsburgh to open up the unofficial second half of the season..this three-game series will wrap the season series with Pittsburgh after the Pirates took two-of-three back in San Francisco from May 29-31…as mentioned, this is the first game of an 11-game road trip out of the break for the Giants, who do not return home until July 25…SF will play 13 consecutive games before their next off day on July 27.
LITTLE RED (VELVET) MACHINE CAKE???: Bench Coach Kai Correa celebrates his 35th birthday today.
LAST WE SAW THE GIANTS…: SF took two-of-three from the Rockies last weekend and won three of their final four games overall heading into the All-Star break to carry some positive momentum into the break…it was punctuated Sunday afternoon by RHP Logan Webb’s first career shutout in SF’s 1-0 win over the Rockies…Webb struck out 10 while IF J.D. Davis provided the game’s only run with a solo homer…at 26 years, 233 days, Webb became the youngest Giant to hurl a shutout since LHP Ty Blach did so on June 2, 2017 (26 years, 225 days)…the last righty younger than Webb to do it was Tim Lincecum on July 15, 2010 (26 years, 30 days).
LET’S PUT THIS BEHIND US…: The Giants did win three-offour heading into the break but in a broader picture they went 7-9 in their final 16 games leading into the All-Star break…this was on the heels of a 10-game win streak from June 11-21… SF’s .623 OPS from June 22 into the All-Star break was lowest in MLB in that time as was their 2.94 runs/game average…the Giants strikeout rate of 24.1 was 10th-highest in MLB…on the itching side, SF’s 4.31 team ERA was 16th of 30 MLB teams in this stretch.
THE BIG PICTURE: Despite the tough stretch, the Giants enter post-ASB play having been one of the best teams in baseball over the last 2+ months, posting a 38-25 (.603) record since May 1…SF’s .603 winning percentage in that stretch is tied for second-best in the Majors with the Reds…only Atlanta (42- 20, .677) has been better.
COME IN AND CONTRIBUTE: Entering play today, Giants rookies have 96 RBI, second-most in the Majors behind Cincinnati (101)…they’ve accounted for 23.6% of the team’s RBI’s this year (93-of-407) which is also second-most in the Majors behind the A’s (26.5%). MLB, Highest % of Team’s RBI
BACK LIKE WE NEVER LEFT: Fresh off the four-day All-Star break, the Giants open up their longest road trip of the season tonight here in Pittsburgh to open up the unofficial second half of the season..this three-game series will wrap the season series with Pittsburgh after the Pirates took two-of-three back in San Francisco from May 29-31…as mentioned, this is the first game of an 11-game road trip out of the break for the Giants, who do not return home until July 25…SF will play 13 consecutive games before their next off day on July 27.
TODAY’S STARTER – ROSS STRIPLING RHP #48
2023 RECORD: 0-2, 6.37 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: The 33-year-old right-hander inked a two-year Major League contract with the Giants this past December… the deal included an opt-out following this season.
TODAY’S GAME: Today marks Stripling’s third start and fourth appearance since being activated off the injured list (low back strain) on June 25…as a starter this year, Stripling is 0-2 with a 5.93 ERA (18er, 27.1ip), 19 strikeouts and a 1.43 WHIP in seven starts.
LAST OUTING: After allowing a two-run homer in the 1st inning to Colorado’s Ryan McMahon, Stripling settled in and retired nine of the last 11 batters he faced last Friday night vs. Colorado at Oracle Park…his 3.2 innings pitched were the most since he went 5.0 innings in his May 7 start in Milwaukee.
VS. PITTSBURGH: Stripling will make his fourth start and eighth appearance against Pittsburgh in his career, owning a 4.13 ERA (11er, 24.0ip) and holding the Bucs to .220 batting average…his last five appearances against the Pirates have been at PNC Park, including his 6.0-inning, two-hit and eight-strikeout performance in his most recent start here on Sept. 4, 2022 with Toronto.
A STEEL CITY SKIRMISH: Stripling has faired well against Pirate hitters throughout his career, notably holding OF Bryan Reynolds, IF Carlos Santana and OF Jack Suwinski to a combined 2-for19 (.105) with five strikeouts…on the other end, OF Andrew McCutchen is 6-for-11 (.545) with two home runs and a double in his career against Stripling.
BACK IN ACTION: Stripling missed 35 games with a low back strain, which he sustained against the Phillies on May 17…he made three rehab outings, the final of which he struck out 10 in 4.0 innings for Single-A San Jose…while on the IL, Stripling told the SF Chronicle’s Susan Slusser that he was using his time on the IL to tweak things in his delivery…more specifically, he was working on standing taller through his delivery.
SLIDE ON OVER: The damage vs. Stripling has been rather spread out between his three primary pitches (slider, four-seam fastball and changeup)…the three pitches all have usage rates of at least 23%, yet also have opposing slugging percentages of at least .450…Baseball Savant also shows a notable change in production from Stripling’s slider, which had an impressive -7 run value last year, and currently is +2 in 2023.
CHANGE IT UP: Sports Info Solutions noted a statistical drop off this season in Stripling’s changeup…opponents hit .203 vs. his changeup in 2022…they are batting .340 vs. the pitch this year…SIS also noted that Stripling’s changeup, which had a -2 run value last year, is now +7, and is tied for the second-worst-performing changeup in MLB this year behind LAD LHP Julio UrÃas (+8 run value on Baseball Savant).
THEY KEEP FINDING THE BARREL: The righty currently has a 11.9% barrel rate and a 26.1% line drive rate, both of which are the highest marks of his career…Stripling’s four-seamer is getting hit the hardest at a 53.8% rate, yet he has a 18.4% put-away rate and 26.3% whiff rate with the pitch, both the best amongst his three main pitches.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES: Went 2-5 on their seven game-road trip against the Dodgers (1-3) and Diamondbacks (1-2) leading up to the All-Star break…Have lost each of their last three series since sweeping a three-game series against the Padres here at PNC Park from June 27-29…Have had five separate winning streaks of at least four games this season, including a season-high seven-game winning streak from 4/17-23.
WE WERE ON A BREAK: The Pirates return to action tonight in the opener of this three-game series against the Giants…In addition to this weekend, the Pirates will also host the Guardians for a three-game series beginning Monday night.
SETTING UP THE SERIES: This series will wrap up a stretch of 10 straight games for the Pirates against clubs from the National League West…Following this weekend, Pittsburgh’s only remaining series against the National League West will come during the next road trip with three games at Petco Park against the Padres from July 26-26…Pittsburgh is 14-11 (7-5 at home) against the NL West this season.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Yesterday Major League Baseball announced the 2024 regular season schedule for all 30 teams…The Pirates will open the 2024 campaign in Miami as part of seven-game road trip before returning to Pittsburgh to face the Baltimore Orioles in the Home Opener on April 5…Next year will be just the second time ever that the Pirates will face the Marlins on Opening Day after also doing so on April 1, 1996, at Miami.
A SAN FRANCISCO TREAT: Rich Hill has gone 8-3 in 19 career starts against the Giants (his most wins vs. any team)…Hill’s eight wins against San Francisco are the sixth-most among active players behind Clayton Kershaw (25), Zack Greinke (14), Ian Kennedy (12), Patrick Corbin (nine) and Adam Wainwright (nine).
THROWN FOR A CURVE: Rich Hill has thrown his curveball 37.7 percent of the time in 2023…According to Baseball Savant, the only four pitchers in MLB to throw that pitch at a higher percentage are Drew Smyly (48.0%), Charlie Morton (44.9%) and Domingo German (41.1%).
THE MEN BEHIND THE MASK: Pittburgh’s Austin Hedges ranks fourth in all of MLB among catchers with a strike rate of 52.3 percent…According to Baseball Savant, the only three backstops with a higher strike rate than Hedges are San Francisco’s Joey Bart (54.1%), Cleveland’s Cam Gallagher (52.8%) and San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey (52.6%).
FEELING THE DRAFT: The Pirates selected right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes out of LSU with the No. 1 overall selection Sunday night in the First-Year Player Draft…Skenes was rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 1 prospect in this year’s draft while also being tabbed by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect…He was also one of seven pitchers the Pirates drafted this year out of the SEC.
THE HOT CORNER: Jared Triolo has hit safely in six straight and in seven of his last eight games (9-for-30, .300)…Prior to being promoted to the big leagues, Triolo hit at a .395 clip (17-for-43) in his final 12 games with Triple-A Indianapolis.
GIANT NUMBERS: Jack Suwinski has gone deep five times in six career games against the Giants…He went deep twice at Oracle Park on May 29 and three times in his last home game against the Giants on June 19 of last season (his last blast that day was a walkoff off Tyler Rogers in the ninth inning)…Connor Joe is a .347 career hitter (25-for-72) against the Giants…He has hit safely in each of his last six games against San Francisco, going 9-for-23 with three doubles and a pair of home runs.
MAN FROM MARS ATTENDS ALL-STAR GAME: All-Star David Bednar enters today with the second-lowest ERA (1.27) among all National League relievers, which also ranks fourth in all of MLB…The only three relief pitchers in MLB to record a lower ERA this year are Baltimore’s Felix Bautista (1.07), San Diego’s Josh Hader (1.08) and Toronto’s Tim Mayza (1.17).
AND THE WHIFF: Angel Perdomo has struck out 22 batters in 14.2 innings since making his Pirates debut on June 3…Perdomo’s 22 strikeouts since June 3 are the third-most among all National League left-handed relievers behind San Francisco’s Sean Manaea (25) and Miami’s Tanner Scott (25).
STARTING PITCHER – 44 – LHP RICH HILL
RICH HILL: The 43-year-old lefthander is making his 19th start of the season tonight…He lost a 7-3 decision (4.0ip/5r) in his last start a week ago tonight at Arizona.
vs. SAN FRANCISCO: 8-3 with a 2.73 ERA (102.1ip/31er) in 19 career starts…Lost a 14-4 decision (6.0ip/6r) in his start on Memorial Day (5/29) earlier this year at Oracle Park… His last win against the Giants came in San Francisco on 6/8/19 while pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
