SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: SF opens up the second leg of this brief, five game road trip tonight as they face the Angels for a three-game set…the Giants are looking to snap an eight-game losing skid on the road that started on July 19 with a victory tonight…the stretch is SF’s longest road losing streak since also dropping eight consecutive road games on May 12-20, 2000…the Giants haven’t had a road losing streak longer than eight games since dropping 12 in a row in 1996 (Stats, LLC).
ROSTER MOVES: Earlier today, IF Isan Díaz was claimed off waivers by Detroit….OF Luis González returned from rehab assignment, was reinstated from the 60-day Injured List and optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
WHERE WE STAND: The Giants enter today 4.0 games back of the NL-West leading Dodgers and tied with the Phillies for the top Wild Card spot…SF has won seven of its last 11 games, with Giants pitchers sporting a 2.41 ERA (27er, 101.0ip) in that span.
FRIENDLY FACES: The Giants face an Angels team in which they have had a lot of success against…according to Stats, LLC, SF’s 25-14 (.641) record against the Halos is their second best vs. any opponent since moving to San Francisco, trailing only their 13-5 (.722) mark against Cleveland…SF is 9-3-3 all time in its
series against Los Angeles-AL.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: After this series against the Halos, the Giants will close out August with five series against teams in playoff position (Rangers, Rays, Braves and Phillies) and the Reds right in the hunt…SF has the third-hardest remaining strength of schedule (.527) behind the Rockies (.543) and Guardians (.527)…the Giants, however, have excelled against tough competition this year, going 34-27 against teams currently over .500…SF’s .557 winning % vs. teams over .500 is third-best in MLB trailing only the Braves (40-25, .615) and the Orioles (44-33, .571).
TWO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: SF’s last nine games have all been decided by two or fewer runs, including seven one-run games… the nine games mark the longest such active streak in MLB and are tied for the third-longest this year…during this span, Giants batters have recorded just six home runs, five of them coming with no one on base (SIS).
THE LONG GAME: The Giants have heavily relied on their bullpen this year, playing 43 games this season where the group has thrown at least 5.0 innings…SF’s 43 games with their bullpen throwing 5.0 or more innings are the most by any Giants team in a single season since moving West in 1958…the 43 such games this year are most in MLB by a wide margin, with the next closest teams, Oakland and Cincinnati, recording 33 such games (Stats, LLC).
A DAY TO REMEMBER: Exactly 16 years ago today, on August 7, 2007, Barry Bonds hit his 756th career home run to surpass Hank Aaron and become MLB’s all-time home run leader.
QUALITY…AND QUANTITY?: RHP Logan Webb takes the hill for SF today and is slated to make his 24th start of the season… Webb has 17 quality starts this season, tied for the most in the Majors this season…the right-hander could be the first Giants pitcher to lead MLB since Rick Reuschel led the league in 1988 with 28 quality starts (Stats, LLC).
THE ONE WHERE HE GETS ON BASE…AGAIN: IF Wilmer Flores drew a walk in the 4th inning yesterday to extend his on-base streak to 17 games…the streak matches the second-best of his career (one shy of his career-best) and is tied for the second-longest active streak in MLB, trailing only Mookie Betts (22g)… Flores is slashing .387/.435/.774 (24-62 AB) with six homers, 11 RBI and 11 runs during that span…since June 1, Flores’ 1.093 OPS is third-best in the Majors behind LAA’s Shohei Ohtani (1.281) and TEX’s Corey Seager (1.112) (min. 125 PA).
STOP THE BLEEDING: Despite just getting IF/OF Thairo Estrada back from the injured list, the Giants are still without key pieces in OF Mike Yastrzemski and OF Mitch Haniger…overall this year, SF has lost an MLB-high 662 days to the IL for position players, including multiple IL stints for Yastrzemski, Estrada, Haniger, IF Brandon Crawford, OF Joc Pederson and OF Austin Slater.
ON A BREAK: IF J.D. Davis has crushed breaking balls this season, posting a .303 off those pitches after hitting just .187 off them last year…according to Stats, LLC, the Angels’ 36.5% of breaking ball usage this season is the fourth highest in MLB.
TODAY’S STARTER – LOGAN WEBB RHP #62
2023 RECORD: 9-9, 3.45 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in the midst of his fifth season with SF…made his fourth career Opening Day roster and his second consecutive Opening Day start with his outing on March 30 at the Yankees… signed a five-year, $90 million extension on April 14 that keeps him in a Giants uniform through 2028…the contract bought out his final two arbitration years and first three years of free agency.
LAST TIME OUT: Picked up his ninth win of the year last Wednesday vs. Arizona in SF’s 4-2 victory…spun 7.0 innings of two-run ball, allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five…both runs he allowed and three of the four hits he permitted all came in the 1st inning…the only baserunner he allowed in the 2nd-6th innings during was a walk in the 3rd inning…the outing marked Webb’s 12th this season pitching at least 7.0 innings and allowing three or fewer runs…the 12 starts are most in the Majors ahead of HOU’s Framber Valdez (10 ) and ARI’s Zac Gallen and SEA’s George Kirby (nine).
ON THE LEADERBOARDS…: Webb enters today with 148.2 innings pitched, third-most in the Majors ARI’s Zac Gallen (149.2) and MIA’s Sandy Alcántara (149.1) …his 145 strikeouts are eighth-most in the NL as is his 3.45 ERA… his 1.08 WHIP is third-best among qualified NL pitchers…if he keeps this up he could be in the conversation to lead the Majors in innings pitched at season’s end — something not too many 26-year-olds (based on age at end of the season) have done since 1990 according to Stats, LLC.
I WATCHED A CHANGE…IN YOU: Through his first four starts this year opponents hit .344 with a .563 slugging % off his changeup… in his last 19 starts, hitters have gone 47-for-232 (.203) against the pitch with 12 extra-base hits, 62 strikeouts and 10 walks…Webb threw a season-high 53 changeups in his last start vs. Arizona (his previous high had been 51, twice)…the 53 changeups accounted for 50.5% of his total pitches thrown in the game (105p total)…Arizona hitters were 2-for-12 on AB’s that ended with the pitch.
GOTTA MAKE WEBB DAY A WIN DAY…: Over the last 2+ seasons the Giants as a team are 50-31 (.617) in 81 games that Webb has started since 2021… SF is 11-12 in his 23 starts this year…going back a bit further, SF is 16-16 in his last 32 starts dating to August 13, 2022…in those 32 starts, Webb has received two or fewer runs of support 19 times (SF is 4-15 in those games)…he has a 3.12 ERA in those 32 starts while posting an 8.73 K/9ip and a 5.22 K/BB ratio.
SUPPORT SYSTEM: As mentioned, the Giants have given Webb two or fewer runs of support in 19 of his last 32 starts dating to August 13, 2022…last time out vs. Arizona, SF scored four runs while he was in the game…it was the first time he’d gotten more than two runs of support since June 23 (also vs. AZ) when SF scored eight runs behind him…this year, SF has given him two or fewer runs of support in 14 of his 23 starts…Webb’s 3.33 run support average in 2023 is second-lowest in MLB…only Colorado’s Kyle Freeland has gotten fewer average runs of support (2.95).
VS. LOS ANGELES-AL: Is facing the Angels for the first time in his career…while not facing the team as a whole he has faced some of its newer players frequently…C.J. Cron is 5-for-19 (.263) while Eduardo Escobar is 4-for-13 (.308)…the only other Angels player with more than six at-bats vs. Webb in his career is Randal Grichuk, who is 1-for-8 (.125).
NOT AN EARLY RISER?: Webb allowed both of his runs last time out in the 1st inning and has allowed 26 runs in the first two innings of games this season (45.1 innings total)…in innings 3-6, he’s allowed 23 runs in 85.1 total innings.
LIMITING THE FREEBIES: Entering today’s start Webb’s 4.3% walk rate would be the lowest of his career (his best season was a 6.0% walk rate in 2021)… Webb’s career walk rate is 6.2%…the 4.3% walk rate is lowest in the NL among qualified pitchers (just ahead of STL’s Miles Mikolas, 4.5%) and third-lowest in MLB behind SEAs George Kirby (2.6%) and TB’s Zach Eflin (3.5%)…he’s walked only 25 of the 587 batters he’s faced so far in 2023.
THE HOMERS…: He’s allowed 17 homers this year in 148.2 innings, six more than he allowed all of last season in 192.1 innings…his 2.9 HR% would match the highest of his career ahead of his 2.9 HR% from his rookie year in 2019…for reference Webb’s HR% rates the last three seasons were 1.4% (2022), 1.5% (2021) and 1.6% (2020).
STAYING GROUNDED: His 61.3 groundball percentage this season is up from last year’s 57.8% mark and above his career average of 58.5%…entering play today the 61.3 groundball % is best in the Majors.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS NOTES:
LEADING OFF: Today, the Angels play the fifth (0-4) of seven games on a homestand against the Seattle Mariners (0-4) and San Francisco Giants (Aug. 7-9)… Halos went 5-4 on last road trip against Detroit (3-0), Toronto (1-2) and Atlanta (1-2)…LAA was 6-3 on last homestand against the Astros (1-2), Yankees (3-0) & Pirates (2-1).
ROSTER MOVES: Today the Angels recalled RHP Zack Weiss from Triple-A Salt Lake…Additionally, RHP Jacob Webb was claimed off waivers by Baltimore today after he was designated for assignment by the Angels on Saturday.
VS. GIANTS: The Angels and Giants are facing off for the first time since 2021…Angels went 1-3 vs. Giants in 2021, with the teams splitting a pair of games at Oracle Park and the Giants sweeping a two-game set at Angel Stadium…San Francisco leads the all-time regular season series 25-14…Angels won 2002 World
Series vs. Giants in seven games.
GETTING BACK TO .500: With a 56-57 record, the Angels are looking to get back to exactly .500 for a 15th time this season (previously: 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 & 56-56)…Halos low water mark of the season is two games under .500 (last: 46-48 on July 16).
SCORING CHANGE: Major League Baseball has made an official scoring change to Game 2 of the Angels doubleheader on July 27 at Detroit…In the bottomof the 3rd inning, Matt Vierling reached on what was originally ruled a single and a throwing error…This has been changed to a straight error on Patrick Sandoval…As a result, the two runs charged to Sandoval in that inning are now unearned.
WINS AND LOSSES: Halos have lost six straight games after winning 10 of previous 13 contests…The current six game skid is tied for the Halos longest of the season (also lost six consecutive games from July 3-14)…Last streak longer than six games was the franchise record 14-game losing streak from May 25 – June 8, 2022.
SETTING THE TONE: Friday night, Luis Rengifo hit the eighth leadoff home run of the season for the Angels… Only the Dodgers (10 – all by Mookie Betts) have hit more this year…The eight leadoff homers are tied for the third-most in a season in Halos history (LAA had 10 leadoff HR in 1986 and nine in 2021).
BACK-TO-BACK: Shohei Ohtani was named American League Player of the Month for July, marking his second straight month taking home those honors…Since 2013, he is the only MLB player to win consecutive Player of the Month Awards and has now done so twice (also, June/July 2021)…In Angels history, only Mike Trout (5) has more Player of the Month Awards for a career.
SO EXTRA: Yesterday, the Angels had their five game extra-inning win streak snapped…Was the Halos longest extra inning win streak since a five-game streak from Aug. 4, 2012 – April 23, 2013.
LEAGUE LEADER: As a hitter, Shohei Ohtani leads the Majors in home runs (40), total bases (279), slugging percentage (.672) and OPS (1.081) and is tied for the MLB lead in triples (7) and XBH (65)…On the mound, he leads the Majors in opponent batting average (.186), is fifth in strikeouts (160) and eighth in WHIP (1.07).
THE MOOSE: In his 30 games since joining the Angels, Mike Moustakas has totaled six home runs and 18 RBI…In 47 games earlier this year for Colorado, he had four home runs and 17 RBI.
HOME RUN LEADERS: Angels lead the American League and rank third in the Majors with 172 home runs this season…Only the Braves (212) and Dodgers (179) have homered more.
RECORD SETTING PACE: Shohei Ohtani’s 40 home runs through the first 113 team games of the season are the most in Angels history (Ohtani held the previous record with 37 HR through 113 team games in 2021)… Club record through 114 games was 37 HR by Ohtani in 2021 and Mike Trout in 2019.
SAVE STREAK SNAPPED: Thursday night was the first blown save of the year for Carlos Estévez, which ended his franchise record streak of 23 consecutive save conversions to begin the season…It also finishes as the second-longest save streak at any point in a season in Angels history (Francisco Rodriguez had a 25 game
streak in 2008).
THE INJURED LIST: Angels currently have 18 players on the injured list and have used the IL a total of 28 times this year for 25 different players…The 18 players currently on the IL are the most in the Majors.
FIRST TO 40: Shohei Ohtani has recorded his second career 40+ HR season (he hit 46 HR in 2021) and is the first player in the Majors to reach 40 HR this year…Is the third player in Angels history with multiple 40+ HR seasons, joining Troy Glaus (2000 & 2001) and Mike Trout (2015, 2019 & 2022).
THE MICK: Since July 2, Mickey Moniak is batting .306 (33/108) with five doubles, four home runs and 16 RBI…He had his career-high 18-game hit streak snapped last Saturday at Toronto.
HALO 1200: With his Angels debut on Friday night, Dominic Leone became the 1200th different player in franchise history.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER – LHP PATRICK SANDOVAL
6-8, 3.93 ERA
Is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA (22.1 IP – 6 ER) and 19 strikeouts in last four starts.
TODAY’S GAME: Making 20th start of the season and eighth at home…Is in fifth Major League season with Angels…Made third Opening Day roster (also, 2020 & 2022).
- LAST TIME OUT: Took the loss on August 1 at Atlanta after tossing 5.0 innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
- SCORING CHANGE: Major League Baseball has made an official scoring change to Game 2 of the Angels doubleheader on July 27 at Detroit…In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Matt Vierling reached on what was originally ruled a single and a throwing error…This has been changed to a straight error on Patrick Sandoval…As a result, the two runs charged to Sandoval in that inning are now unearned.
- VS. GIANTS: Is 0-1 with a 11.25 ERA (4.0 IP – 5 ER) in one career start against Giants (8/19/20 at SF).
- AT ANGEL STADIUM: In 40 career games (36 starts) at The Big A, is 6-17 with a 3.91 ERA (204.2 IP – 89 ER)… This season, is 2-4 with a 4.75 ERA (47.1 IP – 25 ER) in eight home starts…Last year, was 3-4 with a 3.31 ERA (70.2 IP – 26 ER) in 13 home starts…Has allowed three-or-fewer runs in 28 of 36 career home starts.
- INTERLEAGUE PLAY: In 20 career Interleague games (16 starts), is 3-8 with a 4.45 ERA (93 IP – 46 ER)…This year, is 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA (26 IP – 9 ER) in five starts against N.L. opponents.
- GET SETTLED: This season, 14 of 53 (26%) of runs have come in the 1st inning and 19 (36%) in the 3rd inning.
- IN THE ARSENAL: This season, has thrown changeups 25.6% of the time and is holding opponents to a .165 (21/127) average with 42 strikeouts…Throws sliders 30.1% of the time, with opponents batting .265 (35/132) against the pitch.
- LEFT IN THE PARK: Since start of 2022, leads the Majors (min. 250 IP) with a 0.57 HR/9 innings rate…On August 1, allowed a home run to a left-handed batter (Michael Harris II, ATL) for the first time since Aug. 13, 2021 (Kyle Tucker, HOU).
- GROUND RULES: This year, ranks fifth in the American League (min. 100 IP) with a 50.5% ground ball rate… Since start of 2022, ranks fourth in A.L. (min. 250 IP) with a 48.7% ground ball rate.
- GOOD NIGHT: This year, has a 3.09 ERA (67.0 IP – 23 ER) in night games, compared with a 5.50 ERA (36 IP – 22 ER) in day games…Last season, was 4-4 with a 2.50 ERA (72 IP – 20 ER) with 75 strikeouts in his 13 night starts, compared with a 2-5 record and 3.29 ERA (76.2 IP – 28 ER) in his 14 day games.
- HOT SUMMER: Pitched to a 2.08 ERA (17.1 IP – 4 ER) and .153 opponent batting average (9/59) with 16 strikeouts in three starts in July…Holds a 3.63 ERA (79.1 IP – 32 ER) and .220 opponent batting average (65/296) with 93 strikeouts in the month of July in his career.
- BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN: Earned the win on June 16 at Kansas City after tossing 7.0 scoreless innings…First scoreless start of the season and snapped streak of five straight starts with a losing decision.
- HOME OPENER: Started Angels Home Opener on April 7 vs. Toronto…Tossed 6.0 innings and allowed one earned run…Marked second time starting Angels Home Opener (also, 2020 vs. Seattle).
- WINNING STREAKS: Loss on April 20 at Yankees snapped streak of three straight winning decisions (dating back to last season), which was longest streak of career.
- SANDY IN THE WBC: Made two starts in the 2023 World Baseball Classic for Mexico, going 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA (7.1 IP – 1 ER) and eight strikeouts…The two starts came against the United States (W; 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) & Japan (ND; 4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO).
- WHIFF OF CHANGE: Generated a 44.5% whiff rate on his changeup last season, which was the second-highest rate for any pitch in the Majors (min. 175 PA); trailed only Framber Valdez’s curveball (45.4%)…Opponents batted .215 (35/163) this season against his changeup with 73 strikeouts
