ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:
No release available.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
TODAY’S GAME: The Giants can take a 2-0 advantage in a series for the first time this season with a victory tonight… they’ve won three games in a row for the first time since winning five consecutive games at the end of 2022 from Sept. 25-Sept. 30.
WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO: RHP John Brebbia will make his 12th career start today as the opener for SF’s bullpen game…in 11.0 innings as an opener, Brebbia has a 1.00 WHIP, seven strikeouts and a 0.82 ERA (one earned run)…the Giants are 7-4 when Brebbia serves as an opener.
LOOK GOOD, PLAY GOOD: The white and bright orange ensemble has been good luck for the Giants since its inception…SF is 18-6 in the City Connect uniform with a +46 run differential…the Giants shut out the Dodgers 5-0 in their first City Connect game of the season on April 11, with IF David Villar and IF Brandon Crawford hitting home runs while six pitchers combined to strikeout 11 with three hits allowed.
RIGHT ROUND: The Giants were again stifled by a southpaw yesterday (LHP Jordan Montgomery), reverting back to their lefty struggles until RHP Drew VerHagen entered and the offense promptly unloaded for four runs…with a righty on the mound today, there should be an uptick in offense as depicted in the chart below.
Giants vs. Left/vs. Right Hitting Rankings in MLB
vs. Right-Handed Pitchers Stats Number Rank
AVG .250 11th
HR 27 T-3rd
RBI 75 T-13th
OPS .805 3rd
vs. Left-Handed Pitchers
Stat Total MLB Rank
AVG .214 25th
HR 7 T-14th
RBI 23 19th
OPS .597 29th
FIRST TIME SINCE WHEN?: Yesterday’s shutout was SF’s first since RHP Anthony DeSclafani threw one on June 11, 2021 at Washington…it was also RHP Alex Cobb’s first shutout since Aug. 23, 2012 vs. Oakland (with Tampa Bay)…the 10-year, 244 day gap is the third longest between a pitcher’s first and second career shutouts since 1910 (Elias)…at 35 years, and 199 days old, Cobb is the oldest Giant to spin a shutout since RHP Mark Gardner silenced the Marlins on Aug. 14, 1998 (36 years, 166 days old). Longest Spans Between Shutouts, since 1906 (SportsRadar)
Player (1st SO/2nd SO) Days
Socks Seibold (1917/1929) 4314
Carmen Hill (1915/1926) 4009
Alex Cobb (2012/2023) 3896
Player (1st SO/2nd SO) Days
Stan Baumgartner (1914/1924) 3579
Cal McLish (1951/1960) 3389
SITUATIONAL BASEBALL: OF Mitch Haniger plated yesterday’s first run with a sac-fly, his first RBI as a Giant…SF has four sac-flies this season (tied for 24th), and had 53 last season, tied for fourth-most since the start of 2022.
NO MORE NIGHTMARES: Yesterday was just the Giants’ second night victory of the season…interestingly enough, both wins were shutouts as the other was a 5-0 takedown of the Dodgers on April 11.
GROUNDERS: The Giants and Cardinals are the two best ground-ball pitching staffs in the NL according to FanGraphs… the Giants lead the Majors with a 50.1% ground-ball rate after Cobb forced 17 yesterday.
Ground Ball Rate Leaders – MLB
Team Ground ball rate
Giants 50.1%
Cardinals 46.7%
Rays 46.7%
Team Ground ball rate
Mariners 45.5%
Padres 45.4%
Twins 45.0%
THE D STANDS FOR DINGERS: With his three-run home run yesterday, IF J.D. Davis has 16 RBI this month, the second-highest for any single month in his career…he had a careerbest 18 RBI in August of 2019 with New York-NL…the last Giants infielder to have at least 16 RBI in March/April was Evan Longoria in 2018 (also 16)…the Oracle Park-era RBI record by an infielder in March/April is 22 by Pedro Feliz (2005), Jeff Kent (2000) and Pablo Sandoval (2013).
…AND DEFENSE: Not to be outdone, Davis has been incredibly effective in the field…SIS credits Davis with three “Good Fielding Plays” this season compared to two at third base last season, and three in 2021…Davis also has a 0.7 RngR, which is tied fifth with two others, one of which is the Platinum Glove winner Matt Chapman (Toronto)…his UZR is 1.4, which is fourth-best in MLB.
HOME RUN HAPPY: The Giants closed the gap between the Dodgers for most home run reliant team in the Majors…Stats, LLC notes that the Dodgers lead MLB with 58.7% (71 out of 121) of their runs coming via the home run…after scoring three of four runs last night on Davis’ home run, 58.6% (58- 99) of the Giants’ runs were scored on a homer…Davis also regained the team lead with his fifth big fly.
SEEING RED: With another two hits and a run yesterday, OF Mike Yastrzemski’s OPS vs. the Cardinals stands at .998, which is his best among teams faced at least five times… since 2019, Yastrzemski’s debut season, his OPS is the fourth highest in MLB against the Cardinals (minimum 20 games)… not far behind, teammate OF Joc Pederson has the sixth-best OPS (.980) in that span.
TODAY’S STARTER – ALEX COBB RHP #38
2023 RECORD: 0-1, 2.79 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in his 12th Major League season and his second with the Giants…he’s in his second year of a two-year contract (with a third-year team option) with the Giants that he signed on November 30, 2021.
LAST OUTING: Pitched well but did not factor into the decision in his last start on April 19 at Miami…allowed one run on seven hits with a season-high eight strikeouts over 5.0 innings of work in the Giants’ 5-2 victory over Miami…his eight strikeouts were the most he’s had in a game since August 3, 2022 vs. LAD (also eight).
WALK THIS WAY: Cobb has walked just three hitters through his first four starts of the season (19.1ip)…his 3.5% walk rate (three walks/86 batters faced) is the third lowest walk rate in the National League…in fact, Giants starters have the three lowest walk rates in the National League: Anthony DeSclafani (2.2%), Logan Webb (3.3%) and Alex Cobb (min. 80 batters faced).
VS. ST LOUIS: Has faced the Cardinals twice in his career, going 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA (2er, 12.0ip), 0.75 WHIP and 18 strikeouts…he most recently faced them on May 6, 2022 at Oracle Park and threw 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts in the Giants 2-3 loss to St. Louis…Cobb has a .190 opponents average against and is averaging 13.50 strikeouts per 9.0 innings over his two starts against the Cardinals.
HOME COOKING: Cobb has pitched very well on the Shores on McCovey Cove dating back to last season…over his last 13 outings here, he’s posted a 2.13 ERA with a 1.12 WHIP and a .234 opponents average…however, the Giants are just 5-8 in those games, as he’s received zero or one run of support in eight of those 13 contests.
LACK OF SUPPORT: Dating back to May of last season, Cobb has received two-or-less runs of support in 19 of his last 26 outings.
RISP MANAGEMENT: Opponents are hitting .347 (17-for-49) off him with three extra-base hits with no one on base…however, he’s holding opponents to a .182 average (4-for-22) with runners in scoring position…last season, he allowed a .295 average with RISP.
