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MLB Preview: San Diego Padres (30-33) at Colorado Rockies (26-39)

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MLB Preview: San Diego Padres (30-33) at Colorado Rockies (26-39)

SAN DIEGO PADRES NOTES:

No team release available.

COLORADO ROCKIES NOTES:

  • The Rockies continue a six-game homestand tonight with the second game of a three-game set against San Diego, the second time the two teams have met this season and the first at Coors Field.
  • Coming off a three-game sweep by San Francisco to begin the homestand after going 2-5 on a seven-game road trip to Arizona (0-4) and Kansas City (2-1).
  • The Rockies have fallen to season-worst 13 games below .500 after their fifth-straight loss, their second losing streak this season of at least five games.
  • After an off-day Monday, the club’s first since May 18, the Rockies are now in a stretch of 16 straight days with a game before their next off day on June 22, for a total of 33 games in 34 days from May 19-June 21.

D-FENCE

  • Catcher Elias Díaz’s 1.3 dWAR (Baseball Reference) is tied for the second-highest mark among all players, the best among all catchers … 3B Ryan McMahon ranks eighth (1.0 dWAR) and SS Ezequiel Tovar is tied for 11th (0.9 dWAR) among all Major League position players.
  • The Rockies’ have only one miscue through their last eight games … the team’s 13 errors through 37 games since April 30 are tied for the second-fewest in baseball … started the season with an MLB-leading 21 errors through April 28 (28 games).

NL WEST WOES

  • The Rockies have lost eight in a row and 14 of 15 against NL West teams, having been outscored 56-106 over that span … have not had a winning record against the division since going 41-36 in the club’s 91-72 2018 campaign.
  • Dating back to the beginning of 2022, the Rockies have gone 12-12 against the Padres, splitting the 2023 opening series in San Diego 2-2.
  • Since 2020 at home, the Rockies are 17-10 against the Padres despite having a -5 run differential (148-152) … are 14-5 against the Padres at Coors Field since May 12, 2021.

JONES JIVING

  • Nolan Jones recorded a season-high and career-high tying three hits Thursday and reached twice via walk last night … the 25-year-old is slashing .349/.404/.581 with 10 RBI in 13 games since being recalled from Triple-A on May 26.
  • Has a stolen base in each of his last four games, one of eight Rockies (10 times) to steal a base in as many or more consecutive games, the first since Charlie Blackmon in 2011 … Charlie Blackmon was the last Rockie to swipe a bag in five-consecutive games (June 11-15, 2011), matching Willy Tavares (Aug.13-17, 2008) and Juan Pierre (May 7-12, 2001) for the franchise record.
  • Jones’ 483-foot home run Wednesday night is the second-longest home run in the Majors this season behind Giancarlo Stanton’s 485’ home run on April 2 vs. San Francisco.
  • The home run was measured at 114.2 mph off the bat, the third-hardest hit home run by a Rockies player in the Statcast Era (since 2015), trailing two Carlos González home runs hit in 2016 (117.4 mph, June 4 at Arizona) and 2018 (114.4 mph, July 31 at Cincinnati).

MAC ATTACK

  • Third baseman Ryan McMahon has reached base in 15 of his last 17 with nine multi-hit games since May 23 … since May 25 (15 games), is slashing .400/.471/.767 with five doubles, one triple, five home runs and 17 RBI.
  • McMahon’s 1.9 WAR (Baseball Reference) is the best among NL players with at least 50% of their games at third base … his nine defensive runs saved at third base are tied with Ke’Bryan Hayes for the most among third basemen (via. Sports Info Solutions).
  • Since moving from second base to third base on April 18, McMahon has slashed .282/.356/.494 with 15 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 28 RBI.

BATTER UP

  • The Rockies’ .293 batting average with runners in scoring position is the second-highest mark in the Majors trailing the Texas Rangers (.334), … the next closest NL team, Washington, holds a .268 average … at this point in the season, that mark is the sixth-highest in franchise history, the team’s highest mark since 2000 (.309).
  • The Rockies’ .263 RISP average in 2022 was the ninth-lowest for a season in franchise history, while the team’s .252 mark in 2021 was the third-lowest and their .248 average in 2020 was the second-worst.

BABY GOT BACKSTOP

  • Rockies catcher Elias Díaz’s .299 batting average ranks eighth in the National League and is the highest among all MLB catchers … his .346 (36-for-104) average at home is the fourth-highest in the Majors while his .382 (21-for-55) average with runners in scoring position is the fifth-highest in the NL, 11th in baseball.
  • Has appeared in 53 games at catcher, the second-most in the Majors … his 11 catcher caught stealing are the third-most in the Majors.

ROCKIES STARTING PITCHER – #21 KYLE FREELAND LHP
DENVER KID

  • Kyle Freeland will make his 14th start of the season today, his eighth at Coors Field.
  • The 30-year-old Denver native graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, 15 minutes south of Coors Field … selected in the first round
    of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft (eighth overall), the third player in University of Evansville history to be drafted in the first round.
  • The Rockies announced on April 19, 2022 that they agreed to a five-year contract extension with Freeland covering the 2022-26 seasons … the extension includes two arbitration years and three years of free agency.

WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS

  • Suffered his seventh loss of the season, his third in his last four starts, his last time out, last Sunday at Kansas City … pitched seven innings (plus one batter in the eighth) and allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and one strikeout.
  • Took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before allowing a one-out double to MJ Melendez.
  • Allowed a solo home run to Maikel Garcia to leadoff the eighth inning before being removed … third time in his career pitching into the eighth inning, his first time since 2017.
  • Second time this season pitching at least seven innings, the only Rockies starter this year to pitch seven innings.

SOMETHING FOR THE EFFORT

  • Has received 24 runs of support while in the game, a 3.04 run support average that is the third-lowest in the Majors.
  • The Rockies have scored just one run while he was in the game over his last four starts overall … has not received a run of support over any of his last four road starts.

FRIARS

  • Beat the Padres on March 31 in San Diego, tossing six scoreless innings with three hits allowed, one walk and one strikeout.
  • In 21 career appearances (19 starts) against the Padres has gone 7-6 (Rockies 12-9) with a 4.40 ERA (106.1 IP, 52 ER) … has allowed just nine home runs in his career to the Padres.
  • 3-2 (Rockies 6-3) with a 6.31 ERA (45.2 IP, 32 ER) in nine starts against the Padres at Coors Field … has posted a 9.97 ERA (21.2 IP, 24 ER) in his last five home starts against the Padres since Aug. 28, 2020.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

  • Gone 3-2 with a 3.38 ERA (37.1 IP, 14 ER), nine walks and 31 strikeouts in seven home starts.
  • Is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA (16.0 IP, 2 ER) over his last three home starts and 2-1 with a 2.05 ERA (22.0 IP, 5 ER) over his last four.
  • Career record of 31-26 (Rockies 50-35) with a 4.65 ERA (450.2 IP, 233 ER) in 85 appearances (82 starts) at Coors Field … ERA eighth all-time at Coors Field among pitchers with at least 40 starts, 31 wins tied for fourth with Jon Gray and Jason Jennings.

DONUT

  • Has six games this season in which he has tossed at least five scoreless innings, already tied for the second-most such games in a single season in franchise history … his next game of five-plus scoreless innings will tie him with Ubaldo Jiménez in 2010 for the most in franchise history.
  • His seven quality starts this season lead the club and are tied for ninth in the NL.

MLB Preview: Houston Astros (36-28) at Cleveland Guardians (30-33)

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MLB Preview: Houston Astros (36-28) at Cleveland Guardians (30-33)

HOUSTON ASTROS NOTES:

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Astros continue their seven-game road trip tonight with the middle game of their three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH…rookie RHP J.P. France (1-1) will take the mound for Houston opposite Cleveland’s RHP Triston McKenzie (0-0)… the Astros will have their hands full with McKenzie, who posted a 0.60 ERA (1ER/15IP) in two starts against them last season.

THE FRENCHMAN:RHP J.P. France has been solid in his first six Major League starts, limiting his opponents to one-or-fewer earned runs in four of those outings…he’s coming off the longest start of his young career, tossing 7.0 innings of three-hit, one-run ball on Sunday vs. LAA…the 28-year-old rookie, and the former 14th-round pick by the Astros, earned his way to the Major League rotation after having a strong start to the season at Triple A Sugar Land, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA (5ER/19.1IP) in five games (three starts).

GRINDERS: Tonight is the 16th day in a streak of 17 consecutive days with a game for the Astros, with Houston going 8-7 thus far in that stretch…prior to this streak, the most days the Astros had played in a row was seven, a streak that opened the season from March 30-April 5.

VS. THE GUARDIANS: The Astros won the season series against the Guardians in 2022, winning four of the seven contests… Houston and Cleveland split the series at Progressive Field last year, winning two games apiece.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Astros and Guardians played a 14-inning marathon last night with Cleveland edging Houston 10-9 on walkoff single in the 14th…RHP Cristian Javier (5IP) started for Houston and was followed by six relievers, including a valiant effort from RHP Seth Martinez (3.1IP), who tossed 52 pitches as the last available reliever in the Astros bullpen… SS Jeremy Peña (4×6) tied his career high in hits, while 1B José Abreu belted his second homer of the season, a three-run shot in the 1st inning.

THIEVERY: With another two steals last night, RF Kyle Tucker has continued his efficiency on the basepaths season, going 10-for-11 in stolen base attempts…this follows up a 2022 season in which he stole 29 bases with just four caught stealings.

YESTERDAY’S ROSTER MOVE: Prior to last night’s game, the Astros placed OF Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day IL with right oblique discomfort…to take his spot on the active roster, the Astros recalled C César Salazar from Triple A Sugar Land.

PITCHING IN: The Astros have the lowest team ERA (3.29) and have allowed the fewest runs (234) in the Majors…the Astros starters rank third in Majors in ERA (3.32) and have allowed one-or-fewer earned runs in 11 of their last 21 games…also, the Astros bullpen ranks third in the Majors in ERA (3.24).

Lowest Team ERA – MLB Runs Allowed – MLB

  1. Houston: 3.29 1. Houston: 234
  2. Minnesota: 3.45 2. Minnesota: 237
  3. Tampa Bay: 3.52 T3. Tampa Bay/Texas: 240

HOME-GROWN STARTERS: The Astros currently have a sixman rotation, with all six pitchers coming from the Astros farm system (LHP Framber Valdez, RHP Cristian Javier, RHP Hunter Brown, RHP J.P. France, RHP Brandon Bielak, RHP Ronel Blanco)…additionally, the Astros also have three starters on the IL, with all three of them also coming from the farm system (RHP Luis Garcia, RHP Lance McCullers Jr., RHP José U
Urquidy).

BULLPEN WEAPON: RHP Phil Maton, a former Guardian, has been outstanding this season, allowing just 17 hits and four runs in his 28 appearances (31.2 IP) for a 1.14 ERA and a .159 (17×107) opponent average…among AL relievers, he ranks second in ERA (1.14), fourth in WHIP (0.76) and ninth in opponent avg. (.159)…in the AL, Maton trails only RHP Yennier Cano in ERA (1.06).

ON THE LEADERBOARD: 3B Alex Bregman ranks third in the AL in walk/strikeout ratio (1.03), tied for third in walks (35), fifth in PA/SO (8.24) and tied for fifth in games played (63)… UT Mauricio Dubón, who entered the season as a bench player, ranks sixth in the AL in batting average (.303)…the Astros are also without a huge piece of their lineup in OF Yordan Alvarez, who leads the Majors with 55 RBI, while ranking second in the AL in SLG (.589), tied for second in homers (17), second in OPS (.978) and tied for sixth in walks (32).

HOT CORNER HEATER: Since May 13, 3B Alex Bregman is batting .316 (31×98) with four doubles, five home runs, 22 RBI, 16 runs and an .892 OPS…he’s raised his season batting average from .201 to .248 in that span…he also recorded a 12-game hitting streak within this run from May 24-June 5, in which he hit .400 (18×45) with two HR, 13 RBI and six walks, while posting a 1.048 OPS (.471 OBP/.578 SLG).

TONIGHT’S ASTROS STARTER: RHP J.P. FRANCE
MILB W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 2-1 2.33 5 3 19.1 9 6 5 11 26

CAREER: 20-17 3.73 99 56 362.1 301 172 150 172 447
MLB W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023: 1-1 3.44 6 6 34.0 30 14 13 9 29
CAREER: 1-1 3.44 6 6 34.0 30 14 13 9 29

LAST START – 6/4 VS. LAA: had the best start of his young career, tossing 7 IP while allowing 1 run on 3 hits and striking out 3 batters to 1 walk…did not allow a hit through the first 5 innings of the start…was the 2nd quality start of his career…has logged 6+ innings in back-to-back starts for the 1st time in his career.

THE FIRST FRANCE: rookie right-hander made his Major League debut with his start on May 6 at Seattle…allowed 1 earned run in 11.2 IP through his first two MLB starts…he became the 4th pitcher in club history to work 5.0-plus innings, allowing 1-or-fewer runs in each of his first 2 Major League starts…joining LHP Dallas Keuchel (2012), LHP Carlos Hernández (2001) and RHP Manny Hernández as the only other Astros pitcher to record this feat.

ON THE ROAD: has posted a 1.04 ERA (2ER/17.1IP) through the first 3 road starts of his career…has held opponent’s to a .175 batting average (11×63) in those starts.

VS. CLE: will be making his first career appearance against the Guardians.

REVERSE SPLIT: has held left-handed hitters to a .158 batting average (9×57) and .485 OPS this season.

SLIDE PIECE: opponents are batting .154 against his slider this season (4×26), which has accounted for 16.5 percent of his pitches.

ABOUT FRANCE: was selected in the 14th round by the Astros in the 2018 draft out of Mississippi State…the 2023 season is his 6th in the Astros system.

  • pitched for 3 years at Tulane, missed his sophomore season due to injury, before he transferred to Mississippi State…posted a 3.77 ERA in 25 appearances (59.2IP/2GS) as a grad transfer…he played a crucial part in the Bulldogs clinching an NCAA Super Regional berth by throwing 7.0 innings of two-run ball vs. Oklahoma in the Tallahassee Regional.

FRANCE’S 2023 MILB SEASON: prior to being recalled, he was with Triple A Sugar Land, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA (5ER/19.1IP) in 5 games (3 starts)…worked between the rotation and bullpen in the Space Cowboys’ piggyback starter role.

  • had 26 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, while allowing just 9 hits on the season… posted a .136 (9×66) opponent average and a 1.03 WHIP.
  • did not allow a home run this season in the homer-friendly Pacific Coast League… has not allowed a homer at the MiLB level since Aug. 13, 2022 at ELP…since that date, has made 17 total MiLB appearances (36IP).

FANNING FRANCE: has posted huge strikeout numbers in his minor league career, fanning 447 in 362.1 innings pitched…it is the most strikeouts by an Astros minor league player since he entered the system in 2018.

  • prior to being recalled, he ranked T-5th in strikeouts-per-9-innings (11.10) among Astros minor league pitchers since 2018 (min 200 IP).

FRANCE’S CAREER: has gone 20-17 with a 3.73 ERA in 99 games (56 starts) in the minors.

  • spent the entire 2022 season with Triple A Sugar Land, going 3-4 with a 3.90 ERA (48ER/110.2IP) in 34 games (15 starts)…struck out 136 hitters in his 110.2 innings, while allowing a .233 opponent average…began his season working in the rotation or making multi-inning piggyback appearances…moved to a traditional relief role in late August, finishing his season with 12 consecutive relief appearances of 2.0-or-fewer innings…posted a 2.31 ERA (3ER/11.2IP) in 9 relief appearances in September.

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:

GUARDS PUSH PAST ASTROS IN 14-INNING MARATHON
The Guardians emerged from a wild 14-inning affair to beat the Houston Astros, 10-9, in the opener of a 3-game weekend set on Friday night at Progressive Field…Cleveland has won or split four consecutive series overall (3 series wins, one split), needing one more victory this weekend to extend that streak to five straight. » Friday’s memorable marathon marked Cleveland’s fourth win of 2023 when trailing after the completion of 8.0 innings, as the Guardians scored to tie the game or take a lead in the 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings…Cleveland faced 4-run deficits of 4-0 and 5-1 in the early portion of the contest, as the Astros early lead was powered in part by José Abreu’s 3-run homer in the 1st off

LOGAN ALLEN (6.0IP, 9H, 5R-ER, 2BB, 4SO, HR, 85 pitches), who snapped a streak of 8 straight starts of allowing 3-or-fewer runs to begin his MLB career…Cleveland’s 3-run rally in the 5th included RBI-doubles by STEVEN KWAN and AMED ROSARIO ahead of a sac fly from ANDRÉS GIMÉNEZ, as 7 different batters in the Guardians lineup drove home runs…JOSÉ RAMÍREZ tied the contest at 5-5 with a solo shot in the 7th, his fourth homer in the last 2 games…battling back from an 0-2 count, JOSH NAYLOR made it 6-6 and sent the game into extras with a 2-out RBI-double off closer Ryan Pressly in the 9th…neither offense plated its AutoRunner in the 10th or 11th frames before trading single tallies in the 12th and 13th, as the Guardians capitalized on a run-scoring throwing error and RBI-single from Kwan, respectively…Houston pulled ahead again, 9-8, in the 14th, setting the stage for a pair of RBI-doubles by TYLER FREEMAN and WILL BRENNAN, who experienced his first career walk-off plate appearance.

Cleveland (30-33) sits in 2nd place in AL Central standings, 1.5 games behind 1st-place Minnesota (32-32) & 2.0 games ahead of 3rd-place Chicago-AL (-3.5G, 29-36)…Guardians have won 5 of 6 and 8 of last 12, though have also dropped 27 of last 48 overall since starting the year 9-6…club is 3-1 on this 6-game homestand against Boston (2-1) & Houston (1-0, two-to-play).

ALL THROUGH THE LATE NIGHT
Friday night’s back-and-forth, 13.1 inning contest is the 2ndlongest MLB game this season behind a May 7 affair at Wrigley Field in which Miami bested Chicago-NL 5-4 in 14 total innings… Friday night’s game was 2 outs away from 14 total innings due to the walk-off…the last time Cleveland won a game that lasted 14.0+ frames was a 7-6 victory against Minnesota in 15 innings on September 19, 2022, the second game of a doubleheader…from a time-of-game standpoint, last night’s contest lasted 4 hours and 3 minutes, the 2nd-longest game this season behind a 4-hour-9-minute contest on May 16 between Arizona and Oakland, with the Athletics besting the Diamondbacks, 9-8, in 12 innings.

The Guardians were trailing and scored to tie or go ahead in the 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings…they’re the only MLB team in the modern era to erase a deficit in 5 separate innings in the 7th inning-or-later in the same game (OptaSTATS).

LOOKING LIKE THE A-TEAM
Since May 28, Cleveland’s offense leads MLB with 129 hits, ahead of Atlanta (120)…the Guards also lead MLB with 8 double-digit hit games during that span…the club has double-digit hits in 4 straight contests and 8 of its last 12 games..the Guardians are hitting .292, 1st in the AL and 2nd in MLB behind Atlanta (.305) since May 28…during this stretch, Cleveland is also 1st in doubles (36), 1st in extra-base hits (48) and T2nd in runs scored (67) with Los Angeles-NL…the last time the Guardians had 129-or-more hits over a 12 game span was from July 8 through the first game of a doubleheader on July 23rd last season (129)…the club has accomplished the feat three times since the start of 2018.

WILL BRENNAN collected his first walk-off plate appearance with an RBI-double off the left field wall in the 14th frame…he has hit safely in 9 of his last 10 games, owning a .462 (18-for-39) batting average with 5 doubles, 2 home runs and 8 RBI over that stretch…he’s tallied multiple hits in 8 of his last 11 games and his .462 batting average during the stretch ranks 3rd in MLB behind PIT’s Ke’Bryan Hayes and MIA’s Luis Arraez.

JOSH NAYLOR tied the game in the 9th frame with a double off the left field wall…marks his 22nd RBI in the 7th inning-or-later this season, tying STL’s Nolan Gorman for the most such RBI in MLB… he’s tallied multiple RBI in 10 games this season and 3 since May 28… extended his hit streak to a career-high 9 games following his single in the 5th frame…has a slash line of .500/.550/.778 with one home run and 13 RBI during that stretch…has multiple hits in 6 of his 9 games during this streak…since May 28, he’s 4th in MLB with a .439 batting average (18-for-41) and his 13 RBI rank T2nd with 3 other players…leads AL first basemen with 45 RBI and is 2nd in MLB behind NYM’s Pete Alonso.

JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ! JOSÉ!
JOSÉ RAMÍREZ followed up his first career 3-home run game by going 3-for-4 with a double, one home run, one RBI and 2 runs scored…he passed Ken Keltner (306) for 6th-most doubles in franchise history with a double in the 1st frame…he needs 61 more doubles to pass Lou Boudreau (367) for 5th-most in franchise history…he became the first Guardians player with 4-or-more home runs and 5-or-more extra-base hits over a 2-game span since Travis Hafner from July 19-20, 2004 (5HR)…since the start of 2017 ,he leads all MLB hitters in extra-base hits (446) and multi-XBH games (83), is T1st in doubles (237) with Nick Castellanos and is 2nd in go-ahead RBI (144) behind Nolan Arenado (153)…enters today needing one more go-ahead RBI to pass Carlos Santana (172) for 9th-most in club history.

STANDING FOR THE LAND
At this point in 2022, Cleveland had 464,849 fans attend their first 30 home games, averaging approximately 15,495 fans per contest… in the first 30 home games of the 2023 season, Progressive Field has hosted 585,858 fans, an average of 19,529 fans per contest… from 2022 to 2023, Cleveland has seen 121,009 more fans to this point, resulting in a 26% increase in overall attendance and a 4,034-person increase per game

TONIGHT’S STARTER – 24 TRISTON MCKENZIE RHP

MCKENZIE AT HOME
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2022 5-3 2.77 13 13 81.1 57 26 25 16 96
Career 7-7 3.61 29 26 152.0 104 62 61 46 185

MCKENZIE’S MLB CAREER
W-L ERA G GS IP H R ER BB SO
2023 0-0 0.00 1 1 5.0 1 0 0 1 10
Career 18-21 3.63 65 61 349.2 244 143 141 112 378

TONIGHT’S START
The 25-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make his second start of the 2023 season…debuted on June 4 after missing 58 games on the Injured List due to a right teres major strain…made 3 rehab appearances at Triple-A Columbus, allowing 5 earned runs over 10.1 combined innings (4.35 ERA)…is pitching on 5 days of rest; holds a 7-12 record in with a 4.65 ERA (74ER/143.1IP) in 27 career starts on 5 days rest.

LAST TIME OUT
McKenzie made his 2023 debut on Sunday, June 4, at Target Field in Minnesota…he did not factor into the decision of the Guardians 2-1 victory over the Twins…he threw 5.0 shutout innings of one-hit baseball, allowed a walk and tallied 10 strikeouts on 79 pitches…McKenzie struck out 2 of his first 3 hitters through the 1st inning, 4 of 6 through the 2nd, 6 of 10 through the 3rd, 8 of 14 through the 4th and 10 of 17 hitters he faced in his outing altogether…a Michael A. Taylor single in the 3rd and Jorge Solano walk in the 4th marked Minnesota’s only two hitters to reach base in his 5.0 innings of work…McKenzie became the 5th pitcher in MLB history with a stat line of 5.0-or-fewer-shutout-innings, one-or-fewer hits, one-or-fewer walks and 10+ strikeouts…he became the second Clevelander with such a stat line, accomplished first by Mike Clevinger on April 7, 2019 vs. Toronto.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM
Will be making his fourth career start against the Astros, second at Progressive Field…he has a 2-1 record with a 2.84 ERA (6ER/19.0IP) in his 3 starts against Houston…his 2.84 ERA is his 2nd-lowest against any AL West opponent, behind Oakland (1.96)…after a loss in his first career outing against the Astros in 2021, he won both starts against Houston last season, tallying a 0.60 ERA (1ER/15.0IP) with 5 hits, 2 walks and 11 strikeouts while holding the Astros to a .104 average…among all 42 MLB pitchers with 2+ starts against Houston last season, McKenzie’s .104 average, .140 OBP, .328 OPS, .111 BABIP, 3.00 H/9 and 4.20 BR/9 all ranked 2nd while his 0.60 ERA ranked T3rd…in his most recent start against the Astros on August 7, 2022, he tossed 8.0 shutout innings of 2-hit baseball, allowing one walk and striking out 8.

This will be his 13th start against an AL West opponent…owning a 4-5 record…he has a 3.88 ERA (28ER/65.0IP) and a .197 opposing batting average, both of which are his highest against any AL division…finished 2022 with a 3-2 record and 2.31 ERA (10ER/39.0IP) in 6 starts against the division.

LEFTIES? RIGHTIES? IT DOESN’T MATTER…
Among MLB pitchers who have faced 700+ right-handed hitters since 2020, McKenzie has the 2nd-lowest BABIP (.225), 3rd-fewest baserunners allowed (198), 4th-fewest hits allowed (135), 4th-lowest average against (.192) and 5th-lowest on-base percentage (.258).

Among MLB pitchers who have faced 500+ left-handed hitters since 2020, McKenzie has the 4th-lowest BABIP (.242), 5th-lowest average against (.198) 5th-lowest baserunners allowed (167) and 6th-fewest hits allowed (109).

McKenzie is the only MLB pitcher since his career began to rank top-10 in BABIP against both righties (min. 700BF) and lefties (min. 500BF)…he is also the only MLB pitcher since 2020 to rank top5 in average against both righties (min. 700BF) and lefties (min. 500BF), and the only pitcher to hold both sides under .200.

NO HITS FOR YOU
Since making his MLB debut in 2020, opposing hitters are slashing just .195/.265/.364 against McKenzie…his .232 BABIP leads all MLB pitchers (min. 300IP) since 2020, and his .195 average and 6.28 H/9 only trails Houston’s Christian Javier’s .184 average, and 5.90 H/9…McKenzie’s 244 hits allowed since 2020 are 4th-fewest of any MLB pitcher (min. 300IP) during that span.

MLS Preview: Austin FC (5-7-4) at Sporting Kansas City (4-8-5)

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MLS Preview: Austin FC (5-7-4) at Sporting Kansas City (4-8-5)

Austin FC has won its last three matches against Sporting Kansas City after Sporting Kansas City earned a win and a draw in the first two encounters. Austin FC has never recorded a four-match winning streak against a single opponent in the club’s MLS history.

Sporting Kansas City has lost only on of its seven MLS matches (W4 D2)and has 14 points since the beginning of May, the most in the Western Conference and fourth-most in MLS. Sporting Kansas City has won all three home matches in that time after taking just one point from its first four at home this season.

Austin FC has lost nine of its last 12 road matches dating back to last August (W2 D1, including playoffs), conceding more than one goal in 10 of those 12 matches. This run comes after Austin FC had lost only two of its previous 12 road matches in league play (W8 D2) from April to July 2022.

Daniel Salloi has scored in each of his last three home matches after having scored in four-straight at home in June-July 2021. The only MLS Sporting Kansas City player to record multiple home scoring streaks of four or more games is Preki, who had streaks of d=seven and four games in 1996.

Julio Cascante scored a late headed goal in Austin FC’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday. Six of Austin FC’s nine goals since the beginning of May have been scored via headers while no other team in the league has more than three headed goals in that time.

MLS Preview: Los Angeles Football Club (7-1-5) at Houston Dynamo FC (5-7-3)

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MLS Preview: Los Angeles Football Club (7-1-5) at Houston Dynamo FC (5-7-3)

The Los Angeles Football Club have lost only one of its 10 all-time MLS matches against the Houston Dynamo FC (W5 D4, though that defeat came came in Los Angeles Football Club’s last visit to Shell Energy Stadium, a 2-1 loss last August. Both teams have scored in all 10 regular season meetings between the sides.

The Houston Dynamo FC have won five of their first seven home matches this season (D1 L1), allowing only two goals in those games. Only two teams in MLS history, Chivas USA in 2007 and Toronto FC in 2008, have allowed two goals in their first eight home matches of a season.

Los Angeles Football Club has won only three of its last 12 matches in all competitions, including going four in a row without a win (D1 L3) for the first time since September-October 2021. Los Angeles Football Club has also failed to score in consecutive matches for just the second time in club history (September 2020).

Two of the three goals Houston Dynamo FC conceded against St. Louis City SC on Saturday came from the penalty spot, the third time since late September last year that the Houston Dynamo FC have allowed two penalty goals in a match (including vs Los Angeles Football Club last September), something the rest of MLS has done twice combined in that time.

Denis Bouanga has scored in each of his last three regular-season away matches, the second player with a three-match road scoring streak in MLS this season (G. Giakoumakis). The only Los Angeles Football Club player to score in four straight MLS away matches is Carlos Vela, who did so most recently in April-June 2019.

MLB Preview: Cincinnati Reds (29-35) at St. Louis Cardinals (27-37)

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MLB Preview: Cincinnati Reds (29-35) at St. Louis Cardinals (27-37)

CINCINNATI RED NOTES:

No team release available.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS NOTES:

RECENT REDBIRDS: The St. Louis Cardinals and division-rival Cincinnati Reds play the second game of a three-game weekend series this afternoon at Busch Stadium … The Cardinals continue their six-game homestand with the San Francisco Giants on Monday … The Cardinals have won back- to-back games for the first time since May 20-21 vs. the Dodgers, while last night’s victory was only the Cardinals 5th in the first game of a series (5-16).

FLIGHT PATTERN: The Cardinals enter today in last place in the NL Central, 7.0 games behind first place Pittsburgh/Milwaukee and 0.5 games behind fourth place Chicago … Overall this season, St. Louis has spent 45 of 72 days in last place on the 2023 Major League schedule (April 26-May 19 and May 29-present) … This season is the Cardinals worst start since beginning 26-38 (.406) in 1995.

PLUS/MINUS: The Cardinals (+4), and San Diego Padres (+19, 30-33 record) are the only two MLB teams with losing records but positive run differentials.

BINGO BANGO: The Cardinals have 14 games of hitting 3+ home runs this season, tying the Braves for 4th-most in MLB behind the Yankees (15), Rays (16), and Dodgers (19) … St. Louis is 22-20 when homering, 15-10 with 2+ home runs, 11-3 with 3+ blasts, but just 5-17 when not going yard.

HOME IMPROVEMENT: The Cardinals have won eight of their last 11 home games (May 7-present) since going 5-13 in their initial 18 home affairs.

BABY BIRDS: Last night was only the third time in franchise history that a pair of Cardinals both under the age of 23.030 each homered in the same game as Nolan Gorman (23.030) and Jordan Walker (21.018) went deep … Prior to last night, the only duos as young to do so were David Green (22.206) and Andy Van Slyke on June 28, 1983 (G2) vs. the Mets and Rogers Horsnby (21.063) and Jack Smith (22.006) on June 29, 1917 at Wrigley Field. – Orf

GREEN LIGHT: Last night, Nolan Arenado hit his 311th career home run and first on a 3-0 count, coming on his 169th career plate appearance on 3-0 counts … Among active players, only Eric Hosmer (0 HR in 186PA) had more plate appearances 3-0 without a homer than Arenado … Arenado’s 429-foot blast stands as the longest 3-0 homer by any MLB player this season and is Arenado’s longest hit in any count since joining St. Louis (2021-23) … The last Major Leaguer with 300+ career homers before their first on a 3-0 count was Carlos Lee (career HR #354 on June 25, 2012). – Elias

RED ALERT: The Cardinals have won 10 of their last 13 over the Reds at Busch Stadium (Sept. 11, 2021-present) … St. Louis has finished with a .500 record or better vs. the Reds at home in each of the last 16 seasons (2007-22) and beaten Cincinnati at home (94-53 record) more than any opponent at Busch Stadium III.

PAIR OF JACKS: Andrew Knizner has homered in consecutive games played twice this season (May 14 at Boston & May 15 vs. Milwaukee and May 28 at Cleveland & June 4 at Pittsburgh) … The last Cardinals catcher to homer in three consecutive games was Yadier Molina (2005, 2011, 2012, 2017) … Tim McCarver (1965) and Darrell Porter (1983) share the franchise record of homering in four straight games by a primary catcher.

START ME UP: The Cardinals starting rotation ranks 5th in ERA (2.65) this month … Of all MLB pitchers to make multiple starts in the month of June, Jack Flaherty (0.79, 4th) and Jordan Montgomery (0.77, 3rd) rank among the league’s top four in ERA with Jon Gray (0.56, 1st) and Kevin Gausman (0.66, 2nd).

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP MILES MIKOLAS (4-2, 3.74)
TODAY’S GAME
NL Ranks: Games Started (13, T-2nd), Innings Pitched (74.2, T-12th), Hits Allowed (85, 2nd), Walks/9 IP (1.81, T-1st).

  • The 2022 N.L. All-Star is making his team-high 14th start of 2023, 157th career appearance & 128th career start.
  • Is making his 16th career start vs. CIN and his 2nd this season against the Reds.
  • Is one win shy of 50 for his career and four strikeouts shy of 600 career.
  • Has a 2.05 ERA in four games vs. NL Central clubs this season; 2nd in MLB to the Rangers Martin Perez (1.42) min. 20 IP.
  • Ranks 2nd among all-time Busch Std. III leaders in ERA (2.79; min. 300 IP), T9th in all-time wins (21) & 8th in innings pitched (361.1).
  • Had both his season-best 4-game win streak and season-best 16.0 scoreless innings streak snapped in his start last Sun. at PIT in morning Peacock game.
  • Has walked just one batter over his last 28.2 innings pitched.
  • Limited his opposition to one run or fewer in 5 of his last 8 starts (1.82 ERA, 49.1 IP) with the Cardinals posting a 6-2 record over that span. Has not allowed more than three runs in his last 10 starts (April 16-present).
  • Finished May 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in six starts, ranking among MLB leaders in innings pitched (38.0, 2nd), ERA (5th), and wins (T-7th).
  • Leads the Cardinals with his four wins on the season and in IP with 74.2.
  • Has received no more than three runs of support in 11 of his 13 starts this season. Ranks 3rd in the NL in lowest per game run support avg. (3.50). The Cardinals have played to 2-1 decisions (2-wins, 1 loss) in each of his last three games started.
  • Has allowed 10 of his 32 runs in the 1st inning (6.82 ERA, .383 BA); His ERA after the opening inning is 3.06 (21 ER/61.2 IP).
  • Since joining the Cardinals in 2018, Mikolas ranks 2nd in MLB (min. 600 IP) in fewest walks (126) behind only Justin Verlander (118). His 1.61 walks/9 IP narrowly leads both Zack Greinke (1.62) Verlander (1.62).
  • Was one of 10 MLB pitchers and two Cardinals (Wainwright) with a perfect 1.000 fielding pct. (31 total chances) in 2022. Hasn’t committed an error since 8/2/18 vs. COL, and he’s 9th among MLB pitchers in fielding pct. (.986) since 2018. (min. 100 TC).
  • Ranks 2nd behind only Adam Wainwright (2,593.2 IP) in most innings pitched (701.1) among active Cardinals.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Matched his season high, allowing 10 hits in a 2-1 loss at PIT last Sun. (6/4) in the morning Peacock game. Allowed two 1st innings runs, as both his 4-game win streak and 16.0 scoreless innings streak came to an end.

DATE vs. RESULT DEC IP H R ER BB SO HR NP-S
6/4 @PIT L 2-1 L-2 5.0 10 2 2 0 2 0 91-61

2023

  • Signed a two-year contract extension through 2025 on March 24.
  • Pitched for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
  • Matched career high 10 strikeouts over 8.0 scoreless IP in 2-1 win vs. Kansas City on 5/30, his longest scoreless outing of the season and third overall. Was his 4th straight winning decision and extended his scoreless innings streak to a team-high 16.0 innings.
  • Fired 7.0 scoreless innings of five-hit ball en route to a 2-1 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park (5/25). Was his 2nd straight 7.0-inning outing.
  • Posted his second straight start of allowing one run as the Cardinals rolled to a 9-1 win in a three-game sweep of Boston at Fenway Park (5/14). Did not strike out a batter in a start of 6.0 innings or more for the first time in his career and was 3rd pitcher to do that in 2023 (Kyle Gibson & Rich Hill).

MLB Preview: Boston Red Sox (32-32) at New York Yankees (37-28)

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MLB Preview: Boston Red Sox (32-32) at New York Yankees (37-28)

BOSTON RED SOX NOTES:

STATE OF THE SOX: At 32-32 (.500), the Red Sox entered today with a share of MLB’s 15th-best record (T-8th in AL). Since improving to 21-14 after an 8-game winning streak from 4/29-5/6, the Sox are 11-18…They are 6-12 in their last 18 games, including 2-2 in their last 4.

SERIES BUSINESS: The Red Sox have lost each of their last 3 series (1-2 vs. CIN, 1-3 vs. TB, 1-2 at CLE)…Prior to this streak, they had not lost consecutive series all season. The Sox are 11-8-1 in series, including 1-4-0 in their last 5 (started 10-4-1)…4 of their 8 series losses have been sweeps (0-3 vs. PIT, 0-4 at TB, 0-3 vs. STL, 0-3 at LAA). The Sox have lost the last 2 series in which they won Game 1 (began the season 8-0-0 in such series).

NO TIME TO REST: The Red Sox are in a stretch of playing 13 games in 12 days from 6/3-14 (doubleheader on 6/3)… They are scheduled to play 23 games in 23 days from 6/3-25.

SOX & YANKEES: Since the start of 2022, 11 of 20 games between the Red Sox and Yankees have been decided by 1 run, including 6 of 11 at Yankee Stadium. Each of the last 10 games between the Sox and Yankees has been decided by 3 runs or fewer…9 of those were decided by 1 or 2 runs, including each of the last 7.

CLOSE SHAVES: 10 of the Red Sox’ last 13 games have been decided by 3 runs or fewer, including 5 one-run games and 2 two-run games.
The Sox are 15-14 (.517) in games decided by 1 or 2 runs, tied with the Yankees for MLB’s 14th-best mark.

BRONX BOMBER: Rafael Devers hit his 10th career HR at Yankee Stadium last night…The only other Red Sox to hit as many as 9 HR against the Yankees in New York prior to the age of 27 are Babe Ruth (10) and Ted Williams (9). Devers has made 48 starts at 3B at Yankee Stadium, 2nd most among visitors in the ballpark’s history (2009-present) behind only Evan Longoria (67).

YOUTH MOVEMENT: Each of the Red Sox’ 3 starting pitchers this weekend will be 26 years old or younger on the day of their start: Garrett Whitlock (26), Tanner Houck (26), and Brayan Bello (24). Against the Yankees in their careers, those 3 pitchers have a combined 1.86 ERA (13 ER/63.0 IP). The last 2 instances of the Sox starting a pitcher 26 years old or younger in each game of a series at Yankee Stadium came in September 2014 (Joe Kelly, Anthony Ranaudo, Brandon Workman) and June 1986 (Roger Clemens, Rob Woodward, Oil Can Boyd).

I’VE GOT YOUR SIX: The Red Sox are 13-4 (.765) when their starting pitcher throws at least 6.0 innings (2-0 in last 2). The Sox are 26-18 (.591) when their starter throws 5.0+ innings, including 14-7 (.667) on the road.

EASTERN STANDARD: The Red Sox are 9-10 against the AL East (7-4 home, 2-6 road)…Last year, they went 6-13 in their first 19 games against the division. The Sox are 2-3-0 in series against AL East teams… Last year, they lost each of their first 8 series vs. AL East teams and were 0-11-1 in their first 12. The Sox are 0-2-0 in road series against AL East teams… Last year, they were 1-11-0 in such series (started 0-9-0).

THE 400 CLUB: Alex Cora earned his 394th win as manager of the Red Sox last night…He would become the 9th manager to win 400+ games with the Sox. Cora has managed 712 games with the Red Sox, 9th most in franchise history (8th: Don Zimmer, 715).

COMEBACK KIDS: Boston has 18 come-from-behind wins this season…Opponents have earned only 8 comeback wins against the Red Sox, including 0 walk-off wins. The Sox have won 5 games in which they trailed after 7 innings (had 4 such wins in all of 2022)…They have lost only 1 game in which they led after 7 innings.

TOUGH TEST: The Red Sox have played 37 games against teams that entered today with a winning record, 3rd most in MLB (OAK-43, STL-39)…The Sox are 17-20 in those games. Following this weekend, only 1 of the Sox’ next 4 series is against a team with a winning record (vs. NYY).

PITCHING IN: The Red Sox have allowed 4 ER or fewer in 17 of their last 22 games (beginning 5/16)…In that time, they rank 12th in the majors in ERA (3.86, 82 ER/191.0 IP), as well as 9th in opponent AVG (.234) and T-9th in WHIP (1.25). In their last 4 games, Sox pitchers have recorded 29 SO and only 6 BB…They have issued 2 BB or fewer in each of those games, their longest streak of the season. Sox pitchers have allowed only 5 HR in June (9 G, 79.0 IP), 4 of which came on Thursday in Cleveland.

SLUGGING SOX: The Red Sox rank 3rd in the AL and 6th in MLB in runs scored (319)…They also rank among the AL’s top 5 in doubles (1st, 144), AVG (4th, .260), OBP (4th, .333), SLG (4th, .426), OPS (T-3rd, .759), and walks (5th, 215). The Sox rank 3rd in the AL and 6th in MLB in SO% (20.9).

UPS AND DOWNS: The Red Sox have been held to 18 runs in their last 7 games (2, 2, 1, 5, 2, 3, 3)…In that time, they have hit .216 with 4 HR and a .653 OPS. In their last 20 games (beginning 5/19), the Sox rank 19th in MLB in AVG (.234) and OBP (.311)…They entered that span ranked 2nd in MLB in AVG (.272) and OBP (.342).

RED SOX OFFENSE BY DATE
Dates Record AVG OPS Runs/G
3/30-5/6 21-14 .273 .800 5.9
5/7-pres. 11-18 .244 .707 3.9

RISPY BUSINESS: With runners in scoring position, the Red Sox rank 4th in the majors in AVG (.284), OBP (.362), and strikeout rate (19.5%), as well as 6th in OPS (.804). With RISP in 2022, BOS ranked outside MLB’s top 10 in OBP (19th, .329), OPS (16th, .752), and SO% (11th, 20.9).

SELECTIVE SOX: Red Sox batters have drawn at least 4 walks in 12 of their last 16 games…In June, they rank 2nd in the AL and 4th in the majors in walk rate (11.3%). The Sox drew 4+ walks in each of their first 8 games this month, their longest streak since 2004 (9 G, 8/28-9/6).

GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD: The Red Sox are 20-6 (.769) when scoring the game’s 1st run, compared to 12-26 (.316) when their opponent scores 1st. The Sox are 24-2 (.923) when leading after 6 innings.

TONIGHT’S STARTER: 89 TANNER HOUCK – RHP
W-L ERA G GS IP ER HR BB SO WHIP AVG
2023 3-5 5.46 11 11 57.2 35 7 21 56 1.32 .251
CAREER 12-14 3.71 64 31 203.2 84 15 73 220 1.18 .224

Allowed 4 runs over 5.0 IP Sunday vs. TB (5 H, 4 BB, 6 SO). Has pitched at least 5.0 innings in 9 of his 11 starts this season. Owns a 2.28 ERA (7 ER/27.2 IP) in 9 career games (4 starts) vs. NYY…Tossed a scoreless inning in his last outing (in relief) at NYY on 7/18/22. The Sox are 17-14 in his 31 career starts…Allowed 3 ER or fewer in 27 of those. Has allowed 0 HR to his last 300 RHH faced (last: José Abreu on 9/10/21)…He is the only pitcher to face 150+ RHH since the start of 2022 and allow 0 HR. Has an expected ERA of 3.85 (based on contact quality and quantity).

NEW YORK YANKEES NOTES:

AT A GLANCE: The Yankees continue their six-game homestand tonight with the second game of a three-game set vs. Boston (0-1 thus far)…began the homestand by dropping two-of-three games vs. Chicago-AL…after this homestand, will play a two-game Subway Series vs. the Mets at Citi Field (Tues.-Wed.) before traveling to Boston for a three-game set (6/16-18).

At 37-28 (.569), have the fourth-best record in the AL and the sixth-best record in the Majors.

Have lost three of their last four games after winning six of their previous eight games…are still 7-5 in their last 12 games, 12-8 in their last 20 games, 14-9 in their last 23 games, 16-10 in their last 26 games and 19-11 in their last 30 games.

Are 22-13 (.629) in their last 35 games (since 5/2), the third-best record in the AL and fourth-best record in the Majors in that span.

Have won three of their last four completed series and five of their last seven completed series…have won or split seven of their last nine completed series (since 5/8) and eight of their last 11 completed series (since 5/1).

YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The Yankees fell to the Red Sox, 3-2, in their series opener on Friday at Yankee Stadium…RHP Gerrit Cole (6.0IP, 7H, 2ER, 1BB, 6K, 1HR, 1HP) started and took his first loss of the season despite allowing just 2ER in 6.0IP…3B Josh Donaldson (1-for-4, 1R, 1HR, 1RBI) hit a solo HR in the sixth inning…2B DJ LeMahieu (2-for-4) snapped an 0-for-11 stretch with a single in the first inning…CF Isiah Kiner-Falefa (2-for-4, 1R, 1SB) scored the Yankees’ second run on a wild pitch in the seventh inning…DH Giancarlo Stanton (1-for-4) singled in the first inning to record his 1,400th career hit…PH/2B Gleyber Torres (1-for-1, 1BB) reached base in both of his plate appearances…RHP Albert Abreu (0.1IP, 2H, 1ER, 1K, 1HR) allowed a solo HR to Kiké Hernández in the seventh inning…LHP Nick Ramirez (1.0IP, 1H, 1BB, 1K) tossed a scoreless inning of relief…RHP Jimmy Cordero (1.2IP, 2K) tossed 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

BRONX BOMBERS: Yankees batters have hit 100HR this season, the second-most home runs in the AL and the fourth-most in the Majors…their 66HR since the beginning of May are the most in the Majors in that span.

The Yankees have homered in each of their last seven games (since 6/2), hitting 13HR in that span…have homered in 11 of their last 12 games (since 5/27), hitting 22HR in that stretch.

The Yankees have had a Major League-leading 18 different players homer this season, matching their 2022 total.

Their 32 games with multiple home runs are tied with Los Angeles-NL for the second-most in the Majors this season, trailing only Tampa Bay (33).

Since 5/1, rank fourth in SLG (.453), and fifth in runs scored (183) and runs scored per game (5.08).

Their 59HR at home this season are the second-most by any team at home (Tampa Bay-60HR).

WHAT A RELIEF: Yankees relievers have posted a Major League-best 2.81 ERA (246.1IP, 77ER) and a .210 opponents’ BA…the Yankees are the only Major League bullpen that currently owns an ERA below 3.00 (next: Cleveland – 3.05).

Own a Major League-best .335 opponents’ SLG and .636 opponents’ OPS…rank second in the Majors in HR/9.0IP (0.77) and third in WHIP (1.18).

Have posted a 1.62 ERA (39.0IP, 7ER) in their last 12 games (since 5/27) and a 1.98 ERA (72.2IP, 16ER) in their last 20 games (since 5/18)…have held opponents to a .156 BA (39-for-250) over that 20-game stretch.

CLOSE CALLS: Each of the Yankees’ last six games and seven of their last eight games have been decided by 3R-or-fewer.

Each of the Yankees’ last three losses, four of their last five losses and eight of their last 14 losses have been by one run.

HAWAIIAN PUNCH: INF/OF Isiah Kiner-Falefa has hit safely in a season-high five straight games…is batting .308 (16-for-52) with 7R, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1HR, 11RBI, 1BB and 2SB in his last 14 games (since 5/24).

Is batting .333/.375/.667 (10-for-30) with 8R, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2HR, 3RBI, 2BB and 2SB in 14 games vs. AL East opponents this season.

PITCH PERFECT: Yankees pitchers have posted a 3.65 ERA this season, the fifth-lowest in the Majors…have allowed 3R-or-fewer in five of their last six games, seven of their last nine games and nine of their last 14 games.

Have held opponents to a .225 BA, the third-lowest opponents’ BA in the Majors (Tampa Bay and Minnesota – .224)…also rank fourth in WHIP (1.21) and sixth in opponents’ OPS (.687).

DEALING DOMINGO: RHP Domingo Germán has allowed 2ER-or-fewer in five of his last six starts (since 5/1), posting a 2.31 ERA (35.0IP, 9ER) in that span…has held opponents to a .164 BA (20-for-122) over that stretch.

OH MY JOSH: INF Josh Donaldson hit a solo HR in the sixth inning on Friday vs. Boston…has 4HR in six games since returning from the injured list on 6/1 and 5HR in 11 games this season.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: The Yankees current series vs. the Red Sox marks the latest in a season the Yankees have played their first game against Boston since 1996, when they didn’t face the Red Sox until July 1 (excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season).

MATCHING UP: The Yankees had their six-game winning streak vs. Boston snapped on Friday…are still 6-1 in their last seven games against the Red Sox, 9-3 in their last 12 games vs. Boston (since 7/16/22) and 19-7 in their last 26 games against the Red Sox.

Are 13-3 in their last 16 games vs. the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium (since 7/17/21).

STANTON ISLAND: DH/OF Giancarlo Stanton recorded his 1,400th career hit with a first-inning single on Friday… including the postseason, has reached base safely in 23 of his last 25 games vs. Boston (since 7/22/21), batting .354/.415/.708 (34-for-96) with 17R, 4 doubles, 10HR, 25RBI
and 10BB in that span.

Has hit 10HR in his last 20 games (including the postseason) vs. the Red Sox (since 8/17/21-G2).

JAKE RAKES: INF/OF Jake Bauers has reached base in eight of his last 10 games, batting .333/.417/.800 (10-for-30) with 5R, 5 doubles, 3HR, 7RBI and 5BB over that span (since 5/29).

Has reached base multiple times in three of his last six games and five of his last 10 games.

ON A ROLL: OF Willie Calhoun is batting .308 (12-for-39) with 8R, 5 doubles, 1HR, 7RBI and 4BB over his last 12 games (since 5/24)…has reached base in 14 of his last 17 games (since 5/15).

10 of his last 20 hits have gone for XBH (6 doubles, 4HR).

FOR STARTERS: Yankees starters have allowed 2ER-orfewer in four of their last six starts, posting a 2.80 ERA (35.1IP, 11ER) in that span.

Have allowed 3ER-or-fewer in seven of their last nine starts and 2ER-or-fewer in six of those starts.

COLE TRAIN: RHP Gerrit Cole took his first loss of the season on Friday despite allowing just 2ER in 6.0IP… has allowed 2R-or-fewer in 11 of his first 14 starts this season, the third-most such starts in the Majors…trails only Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan (12) and Chicago-NL’s Marcus Stroman (12).

Had his season-opening 13-start undefeated streak snapped on Friday…was tied for the third-longest by a Yankees starter in franchise history, trailing only Ron Guidry’s 17-start streak to begin the 1978 season and Allie Reynolds’ 15-start streak to begin the 1954 season…Orlando Hernández (2004), Bob Wickman (1993), Jim Coates (1960) and Monte Pearson (1937) also recorded 13-start streaks.

Had his season-opening seven-game winning streak snapped…was the longest winning streak by a Yankees pitcher to start a season since Aaron Small’s season-opening 10-game winning streak in 2005.

Has tossed at least 6.0 innings in 10 of his 14 starts.

Friday marked just the third time this season the Yankees lost a game that Gerrit Cole started…are 11-3 in those games.

TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER: RHP DOMINGO GERMÁN (3-3, 3.69 ERA)
RHP Domingo Germán will make his 12th start of the season tonight vs. Boston…the 30-year-old will start on extended five days’ rest due to Monday’s team off day…did not record a decision in his last start on Sunday at Los Angeles-NL despite allowing just 1ER over 6.2IP (4H, 1BB, 6K, 1HR)…has allowed 1ER-or-fewer in four of his last six starts and in six of his last 10 starts…among pitchers with at least 50.0IP this season, ranks second in the Majors in opponents’ BA (.179, second in AL) and H/9 (5.75, second in AL), fourth in WHIP (0.95, fourth in AL) and sixth in opponents’ OBP (.253, sixth in AL)… allowed 2R-or-fewer in four straight starts from 5/1-16, tying the longest such streak of his career (also four straight starts from 7/27-8/12/22 and from 5/9-27-G1/21)…in 2022, went 2-5 with a 3.61 ERA (72.1IP, 65H, 31R/29ER, 19BB, 58K, 11HR) in 15 games (14 starts) with the Yankees…allowed 3R-orfewer in a career-high 12 consecutive starts from 7/27-9/30/22…missed the first 93 games of the season with right shoulder impingement syndrome…in six seasons with the Yankees, is 29-24 with a 4.29 ERA (474.2IP, 226ER) and 488K in 103 career games (81 starts)…was signed by the Yankees as a minor league free agent on 12/11/15…was originally acquired by the Yankees from the Miami Marlins along with RHP Nathan Eovaldi and INF Garrett Jones in exchange for RHP David Phelps and INF Martín Prado on 12/19/14.

LAST TIME OUT: Did not record a decision on Sunday at Los Angeles-NL despite allowing just 1ER over 6.2IP (4H, 1BB, 6K, 1HR)…allowed his only run on a game-tying a solo HR to J.D. Martinez in the seventh inning.

Retired 14 of his first 15BF…allowed just three baserunners (0R, 2H, 1BB) through his first 6.0IP.

Has allowed 1ER-or-fewer in three of his last four starts.

His 99 pitches marked a season high and his most since 5/27/21 vs. Toronto (also 99 pitches).

VS. BOSTON: Is 2-2 with a 3.88 ERA (53.1IP, 23ER) and 60K in 12 career games (10 starts) vs. Boston.

Made two starts vs. the Red Sox in 2022 and posted a 3.27 ERA (11.0IP, 8H, 4ER, 3BB, 9K, 2HR).

Has allowed 3R-or-fewer in eight of his 10 career starts vs. Boston…has allowed 1R-or-fewer in three of his last five starts vs. the Red Sox.

Is 1-0 with a 3.63 ERA (22.1IP, 9ER) and 23K in five career games (four starts) vs. Boston at Yankee Stadium.

HOME SWEET HOME: Is 1-3 with a 3.19 ERA (31.0IP, 11ER) and 34K in five home starts this season…has held opposing hitters to a .155 batting average (17-for-110) at home this season…his .155 opponents’ batting average at home is the second-lowest in the Majors and the second-lowest in the AL.

Has gone 13-11 with a 3.75 ERA (225.1IP, 168H, 100R/94ER, 76BB, 248K, 42HR) in 49 career games (38 starts) at Yankee Stadium…has allowed 3ER-orfewer in 33 of his 38 home starts.

Has held opponents to a .202 BA (168-for-832) at Yankee Stadium in his career, compared to a .248 BA (242-for-975) on the road.

Has allowed 3R-or-fewer in 12 of his last 14 starts at home (since 6/30/21 vs. Los Angeles-AL), including eight starts with 2R-or-fewer allowed.

His 11 wins at Yankee Stadium since 2019 are tied with Nestor Cortes and Masahiro Tanaka for the third-most by any pitcher at the venue during that span, trailing only Gerrit Cole (19) and Jameson Taillon (12).

2023: Will make his 12th start of the season tonight…is 3-3 with a 3.69 ERA (61.0IP, 25ER) and 59K in 11 starts this season…among pitchers with at least 50.0IP this season, ranks second in the Majors in opponents’ BA (.179, second in AL) and H/9 (5.75, second in AL), fourth in WHIP (0.95, fourth in AL) and sixth in opponents’ OBP (.253, sixth in AL).  Has allowed 1ER-or-fewer in four of his last six starts and in six of his last 10 starts…has also allowed 2ER-or-fewer in seven of his last 10 starts.

Has surrendered only 2HR in his last six starts after allowing 7HR in his first five starts this season.

His .157 opponents’ BA (18-for-115) vs. left-handed batters is the eighth-lowest among all AL pitchers this season.

His 59K are the second-most strikeouts he’s recorded through his first 11 starts of a season in his career, trailing only his 67K through his first 11 starts in 2019.

Allowed 2R-or-fewer in four straight starts from 5/1-16, tying the longest such streak of his career (also four straight starts from 7/27-8/12/22 and from 5/9-27-G1/21).  Was ejected on 5/16 at Toronto prior to the bottom of the fourth inning for violating MLB’s prohibitions on foreign substances and served a 10-game suspension from 5/17-27.

Did not record a decision on 5/1 vs. Cleveland despite allowing just 1ER over a career-high 8.1 innings (2H, 1BB, 6K)…allowed just three baserunners…after allowing a one-out single to Amed Rosario in the first inning, did not allow a hit to his next 25BF (1BB) before allowing the single to Steven Kwan in the ninth…became just the fifth Yankees pitcher (sixth time) in the last 22 years (since 2002) to toss at least 8.1IP and allow three-or-fewer baserunners…joined Gerrit Cole (2H and 1BB in 9.0IP on 4/16/23 vs. Minnesota), Corey Kluber (1BB in 9.0IP on 5/19/21 at Texas), Masahiro Tanaka (twice: 2H and 1BB in 9.0IP on 6/17/19 vs. Tampa Bay and 3H in 9.0IP on 4/27/17 at Boston) and Chien-Ming Wang (2H in 9.0IP on 4/11/08 at Boston).

Allowed 1ER-or-fewer in back-to-back starts on 4/10 at Cleveland and 4/15 vs. Minnesota, tying the longest such streak of his career…marked the sixth time in his career he’s recorded consecutive such starts.  Earned his first win of the season on 4/15 vs. Minnesota after recording a career-high 11K (6.1IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB)…marked his third career double-digit strikeout game (also 10K on 7/25/21 at Boston and 6/14/18 vs. Tampa Bay)…marked the first time in his career he’s recorded at least 10K without surrendering a walk… marked his fifth career start with at least 8K and 0BB allowed, including his second this season (8K and 0BB on 4/4 vs. Philadelphia)…is the first Yankee to record at least 10K and 0BB in a game this season and the first since Gerrit Cole did so on 7/17/22 vs. Boston (12K and 0BB)…tossed 5.1 perfect innings before allowing a one-out single to Christian Vázquez in the sixth inning…his 11K matched the most by a Yankees pitcher this season (also Gerrit Cole on Opening Day vs. San Francisco).

MLB Preview: New York Mets (30-34) at Pittsburgh Pirates (33-29)

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MLB Preview: New York Mets (30-34) at Pittsburgh Pirates (33-29)

NEW YORK METS NOTES:

METSCELLANEOUS: The Mets dropped the opening game of a three-game series to the Pirates, 14-7, last night…New York is a season-low four games below .500 and is a season-high 9.5 games behind first-place…The Mets continue their six-game road trip (0-4) to Atlanta (0-3) and Pittsburgh (0-1)…Following this series, the Mets are off on Monday before the start of a six-day, five-game homestand against the Yankees (two games) and Cardinals (three games).

LET’S NOT GO STREAKING: New York has lost seven straight games, which is the longest stretch of the season…The last time the Mets lost seven straight was in 2019, from June 23- 29…The last time the Mets had a longer losing streak was when they dropped a season-high eight games from May 31-June 9…The Mets have posted a 6.82 ERA (46 ER/60.2 IP) with 26 walks and 57 strikeouts during the streak…The team is batting .225/.286/.408 over the span…New York has been outscored 51-31 over the last seven games.

SENGA GENESIS: Kodai Senga has recorded 73 strikeouts through his first 11 career major league games, that is the third-most by a Mets pitcher in franchise history…Only Dwight Gooden (87) and Nolan Ryan (75) have more in their first 11 career starts…His 73 strikeouts are tied with Yu Darvish for the third-most by a Japanese born pitcher through 11 career games…He trails only Hideo Nomo (96) and Masahiro Tanaka (88).

FRANKLY SPEAKING: Francisco Lindor is on a five-game hitting streak…He is batting .353 (6-17) with four runs, one doubles, two home runs, three RBI, three walks with a 1.215 OPS in that span.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK: The Mets play at PNC Park for the first time this year…New York went 2-1 at the yard in 2022…Eduardo Escobar has hit .500 (23-46) with 11 runs, five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 10 RBI and four walks in 13 career games a the ballpark…He has safely hit in 10 of his 13 games in Pittsburgh…Omar Narváez has hit .351 (26-74) with 14 runs, four doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI with 11 walks and a .435 OBP and a.527 SLG in 24 games in Pittsburgh.

A STARLING IS BORN: Over his last 29 games, Starling Marte is batting .307 (31-101) with 14 runs, one double, one triple, two home runs, 10 RBI, three walks with a .346 OBP…He has safely reached base in 10 of his last 12 games…He has safely hit in six of his last seven games…Marte has played 478 career games at the ballpark and is a .290/.348/.445 career hitter with 46 home runs and 204 RBI.

WE FOUND NIMMO: Brandon Nimmo is batting .331 (48-145) with 21 runs, eight doubles, three triples, three home runs, 21 RBI, 20 walks with a .412 OBP and .490 SLG in 37 games on the road this season…His .331 road average ranks sixth in the majors…Nimmo owns a career .398 OBP on the road…That is the fourth-highest mark in the majors since the Wyoming native entered the league in 2016.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: New York has played 37 games on the road this year, the most in the majors…New York is 15-22 with a 5.137 ERA away from Citi Field in 2023…The team’s 304 strikeouts on the road are the second-most in the majors.

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Francisco Alvarez as hit 11 home runs this season…That is the third-most by a rookie in the majors and the second-most in the National League…Only two rookie catchers in Mets history have had more homers in a season…Travis d’Arnaud (13) holds the club mark for home runs by a rookie catcher in 2014…Jason Phillips hit 11 as a rookie in 2003…Alvarez’s 12 career homers (one last year) before turning 22 years old are the most by a catcher since Iván Rodríguez had 21 from 1991-1993.

PHAM-TASTIC: Over his last 14 games, Tommy Pham is batting .324 (12-37) with six runs, four doubles, one triple, three home runs, 13 RBI, five walks with a .395 OBP, a .730 SLG and a 1.125 OPS.

COME AT THE KING, BEST NOT MISS: Omar Narváez has reached base safely in seven of his eighth games this season, batting .273 (6-22) with three runs, two RBI and two walks.

FIRST IS THE WORST: The Mets have been outscored 49-14 in the first inning this year.

FIRST IS THE BEST: The Mets are 17-6 (.739) when scoring first this season…On the other hand, the Mets are 13-28 (.317) when their opponent scores first.

IF YOU START ME OFF: New York is 16-1 when their starter goes at least 6.0 innings…The Mets are still 6-0 when the starter goes at least 7.0 innings.

STEAL THIS BASE: The Mets are second in the major leagues with an 88.0% stolen base success rate this season…Starling Marte has swiped 17 bags this year, tied for sixth in the majors and tied for third in the National League…His 331 career stolen bases rank second among active players…Elvis Andrus is the active leader with 340 steals…Pete Alonso has stolen 12 bases in 13 tries in his career.

RISPY BUSINESS: The Mets are hitting .242 (118-488) with runners in scoring position, ranking 11th in the NL and 21st in the majors this year…Last season, New York batted .269 (371- 1,378), good for third in the NL and fourth in the majors.

STARTING PITCHER – KODAI SENGA RHP #34
2023 STATS: 5-3, 3.75 ERA

SENGA’S PITCH ARSENAL
Pitch Type Usage Rate vs. LHB vs. RHB Avg. Velocity
Four-Seam Fastball 41.9% 44.3% 39.3% 95.9 mph
Forkball 21.9% 22.3% 21.4% 83.8 mph
Cutter 21.1% 24.4% 17.6% 90.2 mph
Sweeper 11.4% 5.2% 17.8% 81.9 mph
Slider 2.6% 1.9% 3.4% 85.3 mph
Curveball 1.1% 1.7% 0.4% 71.5 mph

LAST TIME OUT: Threw 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, with five walks and three strikeouts…Did not factor into the decision in the Mets loss against Toronto on June 4…Was his first career start on four days rest.

STRIKE ‘EM OUT: Senga has 73 strikeouts through his first 11 career major league games, the fourth-most by a Met…Only Dwight Gooden (87), Nolan Ryan (81) and Matt Harvery (80) have more in their first 11 career starts.

SHUT ‘EM OUT: On May 30 against the Phillies, Senga became the 10th rookie in franchise history to throw 7.0 or more innings, while one hit or less and was the first Met since Steven Matz did so on August 14, 2016…Joins Jonathon Niese, who tossed a complete game shutout on June 10, 2010, as the only Mets rookie to accomplish the feat without allowing a walk.

PUTTING THE K IN FORK: Senga’s “ghost fork” has accounted for 39 of his 73 strikeouts through 11 starts…The pitch has a 58.8 percent whiff rate and a 26.9 percent putaway rate… Opponents have managed just seven hits in 58 at-bats ending with the forkball, a .121 batting average.

ALL I DO IS WIN: Senga became the only Japanese-born pitchers to start their career 3-0 and is the fourth player in franchise history to earn the win in their first two career major league starts, joining Steven Matz, Mike Pelfrey and Gary Gentry…Additionally, he joins Kazuhisa Ishii, Hideki Irabu and Koji Uehara as the only Japanese-born pitchers to win each of their first two career major league starts…Senga fell just shy of becoming the second Mets starting pitcher ever to begin his career 4-0, a record held by Steven Matz.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:

THE PIRATES: Snapped their brief two-game losing streak with last night’s win…Are 5-2 on their homestand against the Cardinals (3-0), A’s (1-2) and Mets (1-0)… 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…Are back in first place today for the second time this month (also following the team’s win Monday vs. Oakland).

CHASING 2000: Andrew McCutchen comes into today just one hit shy of 2000 in his career (his first career hit came in his big league debut against Mike Pelfrey of the Mets on June 4, 2009)…McCutchen has recorded 1514 of his 1999 hits with the Pirates…McCutchen’s 1514 hits with Pittsburgh ranks 12th in team history…Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente is first with 3000 while Tommy Leach is 11th (1603).

ABOUT TODAY’S STARTER: Johan Oviedo gets the start this afternoon in the middle game of this three-game series…Oviedo allowed three runs (2er) in a career-high tying 7.0 innings in his last start Monday night against the A’s (he was in line for the win but came away with a no-decision)…Beginning with his outing on May 12, Oviedo has recorded a 2.57 ERA (28.0ip/8er), which ranks ninth in the National League.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST: The Pirates have scored at least 10 runs in a game on seven occasions this season…That’s tied with the Dodgers for the second-most among all National League teams this season…The only National League team to score at least 10 runs in a game more than seven times this season are the Cubs, doing so eight times…Texas has scored at least 10 runs a MLB-leading 16 times this year.

CENTER OF ATTENTION: Jack Suwinski doubled, singled and homered in each of his final three at-bats on Friday, giving him 69 total bases as a center fielder this season (the fifth-most in the National League at that position)…Suwinski’s double off New York’s Zach Muckenhirn in the fourth inning was also the second-hardest hit ball (114.4 miles per hour) by a Pirate this season…Oneil Cruz’ exit velocity of 115.8 miles on his groundout against Michael Kopech of the White Sox on April 9 is the hardest hit by a Pirate this year.

GIMME FIVE: Ke’Bryan Hayes has hits in five straight and eight of his last nine at-bats…Last night Hayes matched his career high in both hits (also September 26, 2020, at Cleveland) and RBI (also June 2, 2023, vs. St. Louis)…The last Pirate to record a hit in more than five straight at-bats was also Hayes, doing so in eight straight from September 25-27, 2020.

LIVING IN A HAYES: Ke’Bryan Hayes has hit safely in each of his last eight games, going 19-for-34 with three doubles, two triples, two home runs and 11 RBI…It’s the longest active hitting streak in the National League and third-longest in MLB behind Oakland’s Ramon Laureano (10 games) and Cleveland’s Josh Naylor (nine games)…Hayes leads all of MLB in both total bases (28) and hits (17) this month…Arizona’s Corbin Carroll ranks second in total bases (27) while Miami’s Luis Arraez is second in hits (16).

CARLOS SANTANA’S HITS: Carlos Santana connected for his fourth homer of the year on Friday, which was also the 282nd of his career…Santana’s 282 home runs are the most among all active switch hitters…Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez ranks second with 202, while Francisco Lindor of the Mets is third (196).

NOTHING BUNT HITS: Ji Hwan Bae recorded his fifth bunt of the season last night during Pittsburgh’s five-run third inning… Bae is tied with Cincinnati’s TJ Friedl for the most bunts this season in MLB…Prior to Bae, the last Pirate to have more than five bunt base hits in a season was Starling Marte with six in 2017.

STARTING PITCHER – 24 – RHP JOHAN OVIEDO
JOHAN OVIEDO: The 25-year-old righthander is making his 13th start…He was in line for the win (7.0ip/3r) but had a no-decision in his last start in a 5-4 last at-bat win Monday vs. Oakland.

vs. NEW YORK (NL): 0-2 in three career starts…Went 0-2 in two starts in 2022, losing a 10-0 decision (1.2ip/4r) to Jacob deGrom in game two of a doubleheader at PNC Park on 9/7 and coming away with a no-decision (4.0ip/3r) on 9/18 at Citi Field…He also allowed four runs in 4.0 innings while losing a 7-2 decision on 5/5/21 as a member of the Cardinals.

MLB Preview: Texas Rangers (40-22) at Tampa Bay Rays (47-19)

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MLB Preview: Texas Rangers (40-22) at Tampa Bay Rays (47-19)

TEXAS RANGERS NOTES:

WINS AND LOSSES: Texas dropped the series opener to the Rays last night, 8-3, as team makes a quick stop in TB (0-1 + 2 G)…team has now lost consecutive games for the 1st time since 5/3-5 (5/3 vs. ARI, 5/5 at LAA), and just the 5th losing streak of at least 2 G this season…club has won 7 of 10, 11 of 15, 14 of 19, 19 of 27, and 22 of last 31 games… TEX is an MLB-best 26-11 (.703) in last 37 G beg. 4/28… most wins in any 37-G span for TEX (not including spans in ’23) since 5/28-7/5/16 (also 26-11)…TEX is 32-16 in last 48 G and 36-18 in last 54 G beg. 4/9.

  • At 40-22 (.645), TEX owns the 2nd-best record in MLB to only TB (47-19, .712)…club’s 40 wins rank 2nd in A.L. and MLB (47-TB).
  • The 40-22 start is the Rangers’ best 62-G start to a season in WSH/TEX franchise history (see chart below), 1 G ahead of the next-best start (39-23, done in 1996).
  • TEX is 18 G above .500 for the 2nd time this season (also 34-16, 6/4).

SERIES STUFF: After securing a series win vs. STL, Texas has now won a season-high 6 consecutive series, longest span for team since club-record 10 straight series victories from 5/20-6/20/16…TEX is looking to avoid a loss in the next 2 G at TB and extend a franchise record 6-straight road series wins…club is 8-2-0 in last 10 series on the road…team is now 11-1-1 in last 13 series and 14-2-1 in last 17…the Rangers are 15-4-1 overall in series this year, going 7-2-1 at home and 8-2-0 on the road.

QUICK TRIP: TEX continues a 3-G trip to Tampa/St. Petersburg tonight (0-1 + 2 G)…it marks the Rangers’ 3rd (and final) road trip of 3 G this season…club owns a 1-6 record in such trips (1-2 at CHC, 4/7-9; 0-3 at CIN, 4/24-26; 0-1 + 2 G at TB, 6/9-11)…team has won 10 of 15 and 13 of 19 on the road after a season-long 4-G away losing skid…club is 19-13 (.593) on road, 3rd-most wins by a team on the road this season (21-BAL, 20-ATL)…2nd-best away win pct. in A.L., 3rd in MLB…last month, TEX tied the franchise record for road wins in a calendar month with 13 in May (also Aug. 2013, 13-3).

ONE VERSUS TWO: TEX and TB continue tonight’s series opener at Tropicana Field with the 2 best records in MLB… it marks the latest into a season in TEX history for the club to be involved in a matchup with the top 2 records in MLB entering play, excluding yesterday (h/t Elias Sports Bureau).

BEST RECORDS IN MLB, 2023
Win Pct. Team W-L
.712 Tampa Bay 47-19
.645 Texas 40-22
.619 Atlanta/Baltimore 39-24

ITS GETTING HOT IN HERE: The Rangers are in the middle of a span of playing 16-straight games in Texas or Florida from 6/2-18…Rangers have a 5-2 record over this period, which began with a 6-G homestand in Arlington earlier this month: 6/2-4 vs. SEA (3-0), 6/5-7 vs. STL (2-1), 6/9-11 at TB (0-1 + 2 G), 6/12-15 vs. LAA (4 G), 6/16-18 vs. TOR (3 G).

VS. TAMPA BAY: Texas plays 2 series of 3 G against Tampa Bay this season (0-1 + 2 G, 6/9-11 vs. TB; 7/17-19 at TEX)… the Rangers went 3-4 against the Rays last season, losing 2 of 3 at the Trop…TEX has won 7 of 14 and 9 of last 17 vs. TB, this after a span in which TEX dropped 8 of 10 from 4/16/18- 9/10/19…series is 22-24 since beg. of 2015.

  • Club has won 4 of 7, 9 of 17, and 11 of last 21 G at Tropicana Field, beg. 5/10/15 (this record does not include a 3-G series vs. HOU at Tropicana Field from 8/29-31/17 due to Hurricane Harvey)…the Rangers also clinched the 2010 and 2011 ALDS against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
  • TEX leads all-time series between the two clubs, 105-95, but is 46-52 as the visiting team.

THREE BLASTS, BUT NOT QUITE ENOUGH: Texas managed 3 R on only 3 H last night, all solo home runs (2 HR-Taveras, 1 HR-Jung)…according the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rangers franchise has one previous game in which they had at least three hits, all of which were home runs: May 27,
1987, 3 solo HR in a 4-3 loss at Detroit…the 3 HR that night came courtesy of Pete O’Brien (2) and Rubén Sierra (1).

LEODY HEATING UP: Leody Taveras notched his 1st-career multi-HR game last night, with solo homers in the 3rd and 8th innings…both HR came off right-handed pitchers, as he now has 13 of 17 career HR off RHP…Taveras, who led the A.L. in May with a .368 BA (35-95), has notched 2 multi-hit games in 6 games played in June, sporting a .263 BA (5-19)…his 3 HR in June are already more than the 2 HR he totaled from 4/12-5/31.

SCORING AND SUCH: Even with yesterday’s loss, the Rangers still have a season-best +149 run differential, easily highest in MLB (2nd: TB, +140; 3rd: ATL, +71)…the only other time in Rangers history the the club had a run differential as high as +149 (excluding previous ’23 marks) came in late Sept. 2011, as season-ending +178 run diff. in 2011 is highest figure at any point in any season in TEX history.

  • The Rangers’ +149 run differential ranks 7th all-time for R/D in 1st 62 G of a season (since 1901)…all 6 teams ahead of the Rangers played in the World Series that campaign, with 4 winning the title.
  • TEX has scored an MLB-high 389 R this season…the 389 R are 2nd-most through 1st 62 G of a season in WSH/TEX history (390-1998), and the most since 2001 (COL-400)… club owns an MLB-leading 16 G with 10+ R this season, and MLB-high 5 G w/ 15+ R are tied for most in franchise history (also 1998)…team owns a .297 BA (105-354) during their last 10 G to rise from .270 to .275, 1st in MLB.

NATHAN TO THE RESCUE: Nathan Eovaldi, who has selected the A.L. pitcher of the month for May, enters today’s start ranked among qualified A.L. hurlers in WHIP (2nd, 0.93), HR/9 (2nd, 0.34), wins (T2nd, 8), ERA (3rd, 2.24), opp. OPS (3rd, .577), and innings (6th, 80.1)…he currently owns the longest active scoreless innings streak (17.0) and winning streak (7-0, tied w/ ARI’s Merrill Kelly) in MLB…he is undefeated (7-0) in his last 9 starts (beg. 4/18), the T10th-longest win streak by starting pitcher WSH/TEX franchise history (beg. 1961) and longest by a Ranger since Martín Pérez from 5/10-7/29/22 (9-0).

  • Eovaldi has posted a 1.25 ERA (9 ER/64.2 IP) over that 9-start span, lowest among MLB qualifiers in that period, to drop his season ERA from 6.32.

JUNG BOY: Josh Jung launched his MLB rookie-leading 13th HR last night, ranking 3rd among ML 3rd basemen in said category this season (18-Muncy, 14-Devers)…Jung has the most HR by a TEX 3rd baseman since 2018 (15-Beltré)… his 13 HR are the most HR ever as a third baseman by a TEX rookie (prev. 8, 3x, last Fernando Tatis in ‘97).

ROSTER MOVE: Yerry Rodríguez is expected to be recalled from Round Rock (AAA) today…a corresponding move will be announced later this afternoon.

TONIGHT’S STARTING PITCHER – #17 Nathan Eovaldi, RHP
(8-2, 2.24)

TODAY: The 33-year-old right-hander and former Rays pitcher (10 GS in 2018) is scheduled to make his 13th start/appearance of the season today in game 2 of this 3-G set in Tampa Bay…enters today’s slate ranked among qualified A.L. hurlers in WHIP (2nd, 0.93), HR/9 (2nd, 0.34), wins (T2nd, 8), ERA (3rd, 2.24), opp. OPS (3rd, .577), and innings (6th, 80.1)…he currently owns the longest active scoreless innings streak (17.0) and winning streak (7-0, tied w/ ARI’s Merrill Kelly) in MLB…is undefeated (7-0) in his last 9 starts (beg. 4/18), the T10th-longest win streak by starting pitcher WSH/TEX franchise history (beg. 1961) and longest by a Ranger since Martín Pérez from 5/10-7/29/22 (9-0)…has posted a 1.25 ERA (9 ER/64.2 IP) over that 9-start span, lowest among MLB qualifiers in that period, to drop his season ERA from 6.32…
Eovaldi signed a 2-year free agent contract with the Rangers on 12/27/22…in 2022, his final season with Boston, went 6-3 with a 3.87 ERA (47 ER/109.1 IP) over 20 G/GS… was slowed by a pair of IL stints: 6/9-7/14 (low back inflammation) and 8/19-9/28 (right shoulder inflammation)…was an All-Star with the Red Sox in 2021 and finished 4th in A.L. Cy Young Award voting…his Red Sox stint also included a historic postseason
stretch during the team’s 2018 World Series run…has pitched for 6 teams in his career:

LAD (2011-12), MIA (2012-14), NYY (2015-16), TB (2018), BOS (2018-22) and TEX
(2023)…joined Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan as the only graduates of Alvin (TX) High
School to reach the Major Leagues…TEX is 8-4 in Eovaldi’s 12 starts this season.

AS OF LATE: Has gone 8-2, 2.24 ERA (20 ER/80.1 IP) in 12 starts this season…is just the 8th pitcher (11th instance) in WSH/TEX franchise history with 8+ wins over his first 12 starts of a campaign, 1st since Matt Harrison in 2012 (8-3).

  • Has 77 strikeouts and just 14 walks in 2023, just the 2nd pitcher in franchise history to record 77+ SO’s and 14-or-fewer BB in his first 12 starts with the club, joining LHP Cliff Lee in 2010 (77 SO/9 BB).
  • Remains the only MLB pitcher with multiple complete games in 2023, and his 2 CG’s this season are already the most by a Ranger since Mike Minor in 2019 (also 2).
  • Eovaldi over his last 7 starts (beg. 4/29): 6-0, 0.68 ERA (4 ER/52.2 IP), 46 SO/9 BB, .153 opp. BA (27-176)…it is the first 7-start span in Rangers history in which a pitcher has allowed 4-or-fewer runs with 50.0+ IP, and the first in MLB since LAD’s Hyun Jin Ryu from 5/7-6/10/19 (3 R-ER, 50.2 IP)…the last A.L. hurler to post such a stretch of 7 starts was KC’s Zack Greinke from 4/8-5/9/09 (4 R-3 ER, 53.0 IP). LAST START: Will pitch today on extra 5 days’ rest after earning his 3rd win in as many starts in Texas’ 12-3 victory on Sun. vs. SEA (W, 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 SO, 1 HBP, 87 pitches/56 strikes)…it was just the 15th start in club history (beg. 1972) in which a pitcher had 6.0+ shutout frames, 2-or-fewer baserunners allowed, and 7+ strikeouts…was the 1st such start by a Ranger since Jon Gray on 7/13/22 vs. OAK (7.0 IP, 1 H, 9 SO).

A.L. PITCHER OF THE MONTH FOR MAY: Eovaldi was named the A.L. Pitcher of the Month for May on Friday, the 1st such honor in his career…it marked the 2nd consecutive May for a TEX pitcher to receive the A.L.’s monthly pitching award, (also Martín Pérez, May 2022)…became just the 7th TEX pitcher to win the award in the last 39 years (beg. 1985), joining Bobby Witt (July 1990), Kenny Rogers (May 1995 and May 2005), Rick Helling (Sept. 1998), and Matt Harrison (June 2012).

  • Posted a 4-0 record with a 0.96 ERA (4 ER/37.2 IP) over 5 G/GS for TEX last month, allowing 1-or-0 R in 4 of his 5 outings…his A.L.-leading 0.96 ERA ranked 2nd-best in MLB among pitchers with 25.0-or-more IP, and it was just the 7th time in TEX history that a pitcher has recorded an ERA below 1.00 in a full month (minimum 30.0 innings).
  • Produced just the 2nd month in TEX history for a pitcher to have a sub-1.00 ERA with a WHIP of 0.85-or-lower (min. 30.0 IP), joining Charlie Hough in September 1983.. ranked among A.L. leaders for the month in opponent OPS (2nd, .495), opp. SLG pct. (2nd, .264), innings (3rd, 37.2), WHIP (4th, 0.85), opp. BA (5th, .178), opp. OBP (6th, .232), and HR/9 (6th, 0.48)…he was 1 of 5 A.L. pitchers with a complete game in May.

VS. TAMPA BAY: Is 5-6, 4.04 (34 ER/75.2 IP) in 15 games/13 starts vs. Tampa Bay in his career, and is 3-5, 4.92 (33 ER/60.1 IP) in 12 G/11 GS here at Tropicana Field…his 11 career starts at this venue are his 4th-most at any MLB ballpark (46-Fenway Park, 35-loanDepot Park, 32-Yankee Stadium)…has not faced the Rays since the final outing of his Red Sox career on 10/4/22 vs. TB (W, 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO), and his last outing in Tampa came in 9-5 Sox defeat on 7/31/21 at TB (L, 5.1 IP, 6 R-5 ER).

ON THE ROAD: Has seen better results this season in 7 starts on the road (5-1, 1.49 ERA) than in 5 starts in Arlington (3-1, 3.38 ERA), and is undefeated (5-0) with a 1.27 ERA (6 ER/42.2 IP) in his last 6 away starts…ranks among MLB road leaders in ERA (1st), wins (T1st), and innings (3rd, 48.1)…is 9-1, 2.12 ERA (25 ER/106.1 IP) in 17 G/ GS on the road since the start of last season ( beg. 2022)…has yet to allow a HR on the road in ‘23, as opponents have batted .212/.258/.282/.541 (36-170) in his away outings.

STREAKING: Posted career-best 29.2-inning scoreless streak from 4/24-5/17, the longest scoreless streak in MLB this season and T5th-longest in Rangers history: 39.0-Kenny Rogers, 5/6-6/1/95; 36.0-Charlie Hough, 8/23-9/14/83; 33.1-Yovani Gallardo, 6/10-7/7/15; 31.0-Rogers, 4/27-5/20/05; 29.2-Eovaldi, 4/24-5/17/23/Jeff Zimmerman, 5/25-8/2/99…marked the longest scoreless streak in MLB since ARI’s Zac Gallen had 44.1 SHO IP from 8/8-9/11/22.

  • Recorded 8.0+ SHO IP in 3 straight starts from 4/29-5/6, becoming just the 3rd pitcher in TEX history with 3 consecutive outings of at least 8.0 scoreless innings: Martín Pérez (3, 4/13-23/14) and Charlie Hough (3, 8/28-9/7/83)…Eovaldi also struck out 25 batters while issuing just 3 walks over that stretch, just the 6th pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) to have a 3-start span with 25.0+ SHO IP, 25+ SO, and 3-or-fewer walks (credit: STATS)…he was the first MLB pitcher to pull the trick since LAD’s Clayton Kershaw from 7/8-23/15 (26.0 SHO IP, 38 SO, 0 BB), and joined WSH’s Walter Johnson (27.0 SHO IP, 25 SO, 3 BB from 4/19-30/1913) as the only A.L. pitchers to ever do it.

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER
2023: Opponents have batted .213/.253/.324/.577 (57-287) with 21 extra-base hits (3 HR, 5 3B, 13 2B), incl. a .184 BA for LHB and .240 BA for RHP…has thrown an avg. of 96.5 pitches per outing, and has accounted for 4 of 7 G w/ 100+ pitches by TEX starters in ‘23 (4-Eovaldi, 2-Gray, 1-Pérez)…ranks among A.L. qualifiers in WHIP (2nd, 0.93), HR/9 (2nd, 0.34), wins (T2nd, 8), ERA (3rd, 2.24), FIP (3rd, 2.42), opp. OPS (3rd, .577), BB/9 (4th, 1.57), and IP (6th, 80.1)…has exited with a lead in 8 straight and 10 of 12 starts in ‘23, as 7.17 run support avg. ranks 4th among A.L. qualifiers…was named A.L. Pitcher of the Month for May (4-0, 0.96 ERA, in 5 GS)…career-high 12 strikeouts on 5/11 at OAK (8.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 SO)…tossed 1st 9-inn. CG SHO of career on 4/29 vs. NYY (9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 SO), 1st CG SHO by a Ranger since Martín Pérez on 5/20/22 at HOU (9.0 SHO IP), and the 1st CG SHO ever thrown by a TEX pitcher at Globe Life Field…made Rangers debut in 16-3 Texas victory on 4/1 vs. PHI (W, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R-ER)…became 5th native Texan ever to earn a win in his TEX debut.

TAMPA BAY RAYS NOTES:

FULL STEAM AHEAD — The Rays won their seventh straight game and earned a series-opening victory over the Rangers last night, 8-3…RHP Tyler Glasnow earned his first win of the season, and his first win at Tropicana Field since 6/8/21 vs. Washington, after tossing 6.0 innings of one-run ball, allowing one hit (solo homer) with three walks and six strikeouts…3B Isaac Paredes (3-for-4, 2B, 2HR, 6RBI) set a career high with 6 RBI while recording his second multi-homer game of the season (2 HR on 5/16 at NYM).

The Rays improved to 12-0 in series openers at home, the longest such winning streak to open a season since the 2013 Detroit Tigers (13-0), according to Elias…the club is 17-4 overall in series openers this season.

SEVEN NATION ARMY — The Rays seven-game winning streak is the longest active run in the majors…it marks their longest winning streak since 4/18-24 (6G)…during the streak, Tampa Bay is outscoring opponents, 35-11 (+24), while the pitching staff has turned in a 1.43 ERA (63.0IP, 10ER) and held the opposition to a .152 average (33-for-217)…the Rays are the only MLB club with two winning streaks of 7+ games (also 13G – 3/30-4/13).

Tampa Bay’s longest winning streak last season was six games (2x, 5/2-7 and 8/20-25)…prior to this season, the Rays last won 7+ games during a nine-game winning streak from 8/21-31, 2021.

ABOVE PAR-EDES — In last night’s victory, Isaac Paredes recorded his fifth career multi-homer game while matching a career high with three extra-base hits (3x, last 4/28/23 at CWS)…he became the first Ray with 6 RBI in a game since Randy Arozarena had six on 9/23/22 at Toronto.

His three games with 5+ RBI match Austin Meadows (2021) and Ben Grieve (2001) for most in a single season in Rays history.

He improved to 10-for-21 (.476) with five doubles, 2 HR and 9 RBI in eight games against the Rangers…he became the first player since Seattle’s Evan White on 8/22/20 to have 6+ RBI against the Rangers.

He has 32 RBI dating back to 4/27, the third-highest mark in the majors during that span behind CLE Josh Naylor (34) and LAD Freddie Freeman (33).

Paredes has 4+ RBI in an MLB-best five games this season, outpacing NYM Pete Alonso, TB Randy Arozarena and ATL Sean Murphy, who each have four such performances this year.

RANDY LAND — Randy Arozarena has reached base safely in 26 consecutive home games dating back to 4/12, slashing .288/.443/.575 (23-for-80) with three doubles, one triple, 6 HR and 19 RBI…it is the longest active home on-base streak in the AL and trails only COL Jurickson Profar (28G) for the MLB lead.

FAMILIAR FOE — Yandy Díaz has hit safely in six straight games against the Rangers and is a career .385 (30-for-78) hitter with five doubles, one triple, one HR, 7 RBI and nine walks against 12 strikeouts in 22 games vs. Texas…min 75 PA, his .385 AVG is the second highest among all active players vs. Texas, trailing only NYM Starling Marte (.391).

HISTORY AT HOME — Tampa Bay’s 30-6 record at Tropicana Field marks MLB’s best start at home since the 1998 New York Yankees (also 30-6)…the Rays are one of five teams since 1901 to win at least 30 of their first 36 home games (excluding ties) in a season… have won eight of nine, 12 of 15, and 16 of their last 20 home games overall.

Tampa Bay hitters rank among MLB leaders at home in several categories, including stolen bases (1st, 47), total bases (1st, 564), homers (1st, 60), extra-base hits (1st, 135), SLG (2nd, .489), runs per game (2nd, 5.86) and OPS (3rd, .829).

EARNING OUR STRIPES — The Rays have gone 28-13 (.683) against teams that currently have a record of .500 or better, the best mark in the majors, ahead of Texas (14-11, .560).

Entering the current three-game series against Texas, it marked the first game on June 1 or later (excluding 2020) in which Tampa Bay had the best record in the majors and its opponent held the second-best mark in the league since 9/14/10 vs. New York-AL (Elias)…entering play on 9/4/10, the Rays were 87-56 (.608) and the Yankees were 87-57 (.604).

PITCHING PROWESS — Rays starters have recorded a 1.76 ERA (56.1IP, 11ER) over the club’s last 11 games, the best mark in MLB during that span (since 5/29), ahead of San Diego (2.44)…this season, Tampa Bay’s rotation paces the majors in ERA (2.91), opp. average (.220), opp. OBP (.278), opp. SLG (.359) and opp. OPS (.637).

Tampa Bay’s bullpen has registered a 1.37 ERA (26.1IP, 4ER) over its last seven games, striking out 31 batters against 13 walks while limiting opposing hitters to a .093 average (8-for-86) and a .452 OPS in that span.

BAG BANDITS — The Rays have stolen 34 consecutive bases without being caught dating back to 5/22, the longest streak in club history…they had achieved the previous mark of 21 straight steals on two separate occasions (6/3-27, 2007 & 7/1-23, 2010)…according to Elias, the last major league club to steal 34 straight bases was Cleveland (36SB) from 8/11-9/17, 2021…the Rays have been successful on 48 of their last 50 stolen base attempts (96.0%) overall since 5/14 after opening the season 38-for-52 (73.1%).

Tampa Bay’s 86 stolen bases are the most by any major league club through 65 games since the 2009 Rays (105SB).

The Rays have 11 games with 3+ stolen bases this season after having seven such games last season…the last Rays team to accomplish the feat was the 2018 club, who also had 11 games with 3+ steals.

THE BAY BOMBERS — The Rays have hit a major league-best 110 home runs, tied for the sixth-most long balls through a club’s first 66 games in MLB history (since 1901)…they reached 100 homers in their 54th game of the season, becoming the fifth-fastest team to reach the milestone in MLB history (since 1901).

The Rays have an MLB-best 33 multi-HR games, ahead of Los Angeles-NL and New York-AL with 32 apiece…they are 28-5 (.848) in those contests… this includes 16 games with 3+ homers, most in the AL and trailing only Los Angeles-NL (19G) in all of MLB.

Tampa Bay has an MLB-best eight players with 9+ HR, led by Randy Arozarena and Yandy Díaz with 12HR apiece…the next closest team is Los Angeles-NL with seven players…there are currently eight teams in MLB that have only one player with 9+ HR (BOS, CLE, COL, MIA, OAK, PHI, PIT, WSH).

TEXAS TWO-STEP — Tampa Bay and Texas kick off game two of a three-game weekend series and the second of six matchups between the two clubs this season…the Rays went 4-3 against the Rangers last season, including a 2-1 mark at Tropicana Field.

TODAY’S STARTER: RHP TAJ BRADLEY (4-2, 3.60)
TALKIN’ TAJ — Tampa Bay’s No. 1 prospect and the No. 16 prospect in baseball (MLB.com) will make his eighth career start today, including his fourth at Tropicana Field…ranks among AL rookies (min. 35.0IP) in strikeout rate (1st, 33.1%), walk rate (2nd, 5.5%), wins (2nd, 4), ERA (3rd, 3.60), WHIP (3rd, 1.17) and strikeouts (5th, 48)…his 48 strikeouts are tied with Charlie Morton (3/29-5/2, 2019) for most through a pitcher’s first seven starts with the Rays in franchise history.

BEANTOWN BUMP DAY — Earned his first win since 4/24 after working 5.0 innings of two-run ball in a 6-2 victory at Boston on 6/4 (5.0IP, 6H, 2ER, 3BB, 6SO)…improved to 2-1 with a 1.71 ERA (21.0IP, 4ER) in four road starts this season…joined Blake Snell (4GS, 4/23-7/24, 2016) as the only pitchers in Rays history to toss 5.0+ innings with two or fewer earned runs allowed in each of his first four career road starts.

HOWDY, PARTNER — Bradley will be making his first career start against the Rangers this afternoon…he has one previous outing against an AL West club, earning the win on 4/24 vs. Houston in his third career start (5.0IP, 4H, 3ER, 6SO, 2HR).

STRIKEOUT SAVANT — Bradley’s 48 strikeouts are tied with Charlie Morton (3/29-5/2, 2019) for the most through a pitcher’s first seven starts as a member of the Rays in club history…the last major league pitcher with more strikeouts through their first seven career starts was MIL Freddy Peralta (50SO) from 5/13-7/11, 2018.

Since his debut on 4/12, Bradley’s 34.4 pct. strikeout rate is fourth highest among major league starters (min. 7GS), trailing ATL Spencer Strider (40.4%), TOR Kevin Gausman (35.6%) and LAA Shohei Ohtani (33.8%).

Is one of 12 pitchers since 1901 to record 6+ strikeouts in at least six of his first seven career appearances, including the first since CIN Hunter Greene in 2022.

KEEP IT UNDER CONTROL — Despite issuing a career-high three walks in his last start, Bradley ranks among AL leaders (min. 35.0IP) in both strikeout rate (3rd, 33.1%) and walk rate (13th, 5.5%)…under the same parameter, his 6.00 SO/BB ratio is tied for sixth in the majors.

He joins NYY Masahiro Tanaka (58SO, 7BB) as the only pitchers in MLB history (since 1901) to record 48+ strikeouts with eight or fewer walks over their first seven career starts.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK — After receiving zero runs of support in consecutive starts from 5/23-29, Bradley was backed by six runs of support in his most recent outing on 6/4 at Boston…on the season, his 7.97 run support average is third highest in the majors (min. 35.0IP), behind TEX Martín Pérez (9.13) and COL Brent Suter (9.08).

THIS AND THAT — The right-hander has been at his best with runners on base, holding opponents to a .179/.210/.214 (10-for-56) clip compared to .299/.349/.545 (23-for-77) with the bases empty…has held opponents to a .138 clip (11-for-80) with only three walks in two-strike counts…opposing 6-9 hitters are 6-for-50 (.120) against him compared to .325 (27-for-83) vs. the first five spots in the order.

MLB Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers (36-28) at Philadelphia Phillies (31-32)

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MLB Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers (36-28) at Philadelphia Phillies (31-32)

LOS ANGELES DODGERS NOTES:

TONIGHT’S STARTER at PHILLIES: RHP BOBBY MILLER (2-0, 1.06 ERA in 3 GS)
2023 SEASON NOTES:

  • The big right-hander followed his first two Major League starts with another solid showing against the Yankees, spinning six scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks while punching out a season-high seven batters…became the first Dodger pitcher since at least 1901 with a 6.0+ IP scoreless start allowing one hit or fewer within his first three appearances (ESPN Stats)
  • First Dodgers rookie starting pitcher to earn the win in his first two career starts since Jose De Leon (9/04/16 vs. SD and 9/12/16 at NYY)
  • Illinois native picked up the win in his Major League debut against Atlanta May 23 after spinning five innings and giving up four hits, one run and one walk while striking out five
  • Owns a 1-1 record across four starts with Triple-A Oklahoma City with a 5.65 ERA (9 ER/14.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts and just 6 issued walks…has limited the opposition to a .212/.295/.385 slashline
  • Was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training…did not appear

VS. PHILLIES:

  • Will face Philadelphia for the first time in his career

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES NOTES:

GAME #63 RECAP: The Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4, at a sold out Citizens Bank Park … Starter Ranger Suarez (ND) went 6.0 innings and allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts … With the game tied at 4-4 in the 9th, Kyle Schwarber connected on his 4th career walk-off home run and first with the Phillies … It marked Philadelphia’s second consecutive game with a walk-off win (first time since three straight in June of 2021).

LET THE GOOD VIBES ROLL: The Phillies have won six straight (6/3-current) which is their longest winning streak this season and their first six-game streak since Aug. 22-27, 2022 … A win today would give the Phils seven straight wins for the first time since a nine-game streak June 1-11, 2022 … The Phils are 18- 10 in 28 games at Citizens Bank Park this year and their .643 winning percentage at home ranks 2nd in the National League (LAD, .667) and 4th in MLB, trailing only TB (.833), TEX (.700) and LAD … Through 28 games at CBP, the Phillies are averaging 38,864 in attendance per game which ranks 5th among all clubs in MLB behind only the Dodgers (47,916), Cardinals (40,081), Yankees (40,005) and Padres (39,206) … Of Philadelphia’s first 28 games at home, 14 have been sellouts (50%) and 19 have been over 35,000 (68%).

SCHWARBERFEST IS ON: Over the last three months of June (since 6/1/21), Kyle Schwarber has played in 62 games and has hit 32 home runs which leads MLB (2nd: Shohei Ohtani, 21 HR) – he is slashing .275/.378/.725 with a 1.104 OPS in 275 plate appearances during the month … Of his 64 hits during the month over the last three years, 50% are home runs … Winner of each of the last two National League Player of the Month Awards in June, Schwarber’s .617 career SLG during the month ranks 6th among all players in the Modern Era (min. 500 PA, since 1900) – Lou Gehrig ranks 1st (.739 SLG), Babe Ruth 2nd (.710), Larry Walker 3rd (.641), Ted Williams 4th (.635) and Hank Greenberg 5th (.621) … His 9.57 AB/HR average in June ranks 1st among all players in MLB since at least 1900 (min. 500 PA) – Babe Ruth ranks 2nd at 10.63 … Since being inserted back into the leadoff spot on June 2 at WSH, Schwarber is slashing .308/.455/.885 with a 1.339 OPS in 33 plate appearances – he has 7 walks to 8 strikeouts in that span and the Phillies are 6-1 in those seven games.

STARTING TO FIND IT: Over the last five games (since 6/4 at WSH), the Phillies starting rotation has allowed only 2 ER in 34.1 IP (0.52 EA) and has struck out 39 of the 128 batters they have faced (30.5% SO rate) … Per Elias (non-openers), this marks only the fifth time over the last 60 seasons that Phillies starting pitchers have tossed at least 30.0 innings with 2 ER or fewer over a five-game span – others: Sept. 27- pct. 2, 2010 (2 ER, 31.0 IP), Sept. 13-18, 2009 (2 ER, 34.0 IP), June 27-July 1, 1965 (1 ER, 41.0 IP) and Aug. 16-20, 1964 (2 ER, 32.0 IP) … Additionally, in their recently completed three-game series against the Tigers, all three Phillies starting pitchers carried a no-hitter into the 5th inning (Nola, Walker, Wheeler) … The Phillies are just the seventh team in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to no-hit an opponent in the first four innings of three straight games within a single series, joining CLE (vs TB, 6/29-7/1/15), PIT (vs CHI, 6/7-9/13), LAD (vs ATL, 7/7-9/08), NYM (vs HOU, 4/28-30/92), NYM (vs SD, 7/19-21/79) and LAA (vs NYY, 4/30-5/2/63) … The Phillies starting rotation leads the National League with 6.5 fWAR this season which ranks 3rd in MLB behind only MIN (7.6) and SEA (7.2).

JUNE BLOOM: Over the last three seasons (2021-23), the Phillies are 37-22 in the month of June and their .627 winning percentage ranks 4th among all MLB clubs behind only BOS (.667), ATL (.645) and HOU (.629) … During that same time, the Phillies are 32-50 in the month of May and their .390 winning percentage during May ranks 27th out of 30 MLB clubs … Over the last two seasons (since 2022), the Phillies are 25-10 in June and their .714 winning % ranks T-2nd in MLB (with NYY), trailing only ATL (.794).

PHILLY SPECIAL: Since Rob Thomson took over as manager on June 3, 2022, the Phillies are 24 games over .500 at Citizens Bank Park (53-29) and their .646 winning percentage at home ranks 4th in MLB, trailing TB (.719), LAD (.701) and ATL (.698) … The Phillies have an 18-6-2 series record under Thomson at Citizens Bank Park.

TURNING A CORNER: As laid out in the chart below, Trea Turner has seen most offensive metrics/stats improve from month to month this season – he has increased his average exit velocity on balls in play from 86.5 MPH in April to 96.4 MPH in June and he has cut down on his swing and miss rate from 34.4% in April to 23.9% in June … He has also more than doubled his hard-hit rate on balls in play from 30.8% in April to 64.0% in June … In the month of June, Turner ranks 3rd in average exit velocity and 7th in hard hit rate among all qualified hitters in MLB.

PHILLER: Phillies starter Zack Wheeler will hit 10 years of major league service time tomorrow (6/11) … Nick Castellanos is the only other Phillies player on track to hit 10 years this season (8/19 at WSH) … After getting ahead 1-0 in counts, Castellanos has posted a 1.209 OPS in 88 plate appearances – last season he posted a .575 OPS in 174 PA after getting ahead 1-0 … Craig Kimbrel (1,135 SO) is currently tied with Hall-of-Famer Mariano Rivera for 9th place since at least 1893 among all MLB relief pitchers in strikeouts.

GO YARD WITH RHYS HOSKINS: On Thursday, June 22, Rhys and Jayme Hoskins will host the 2nd annual “Go Yard with Rhys Hoskins” to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) … This year’s event will take place at Yards Brewery in Philadelphia from 7PM-10PM – to register or donate, please visit one.bidpal.net/goyardwithrhyshoskins … Registration fees for this event accelerate research, advance care and empower MDA families in our community living with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases

TODAY’S STARTER – AARON NOLA  RHP #27
2023: 5-4, 4.30 ERA Career: 83-66, 3.65 ER

LAST START: 6/5 vs DET: W, 7.0 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 12 SO, 1 HR (108 p, 68 s) … Nola vs Wentz … The Phillies opened their 6-game homestand with an 8-3 win over Detroit … Nola carried a no hitter into the 7th inning and lost it on a 2-out, 3-run HR by Maton … All 3 runs were unearned due to a Sosa fielder error … Nola matched his career high with 12 SO and got a season-best 21 swings and misses … Was his 2nd double-digit SO game of 2023.

TODAY’S START:
Home Body: Nola has a 1.92 ERA (12 ER, 56.1 IP) with 14 BB, 68 SO and has held opponents to a .192/.249/.318 slash line over his last 9 home starts (since 8/25/22) … Philadelphia has gone 8-1 (.889) in those games and has won each of the last 4

Gone Streaking: Nola enters today’s start against the Dodgers having worked 6.0 or more innings in each of his last 10 starts which is the longest active streak in the majors … In Nola’s last 10 starts (6-4 team record), he has gone 5-2, 3.66 ERA (27 ER, 66.1 IP) with 18 BB and 62 SO … For his career, Nola’s longest streak of 6.0+ inning starts is 14, set last season

2023 SEASON:
Innings Eater: Since the start of the 2018 season, Nola’s 953.1 innings pitched are tied with Gerrit Cole for the most in the major leagues … This season, Nola is 3rd among all NL pitchers in IP and has gone at least 6.0 IP in 11 of his 13 starts in 2023 (85%) … Nola has gone 7.0 or more innings in 2023 … Among all NL pitchers, only Logan Webb and Alex Cobb have done so more times this year (6)  Philly Value: Since 2018, Nola is the only pitcher in baseball to accrue more than 20.0 fWAR (22.9) and pitch for only one team … In that span, he ranks 5th overall
in fWAR behind only Jacob deGrom (27.1), Max Scherzer (26.6), Gerrit Cole (24.8) and Zack Wheeler (24.7) … His 31.2 fWAR as a Phillie is T-7th most in franchise history among pitchers with Hall-of-Famer Jim Bunning (31.2)

2023 NL Ranks: IP (3rd; 81.2), WHIP (3rd, 1.08), BABIP (4th; .254), AVG (8th, .223) and quality starts (T-9th; 7)

Phils’ Ranks: Recorded the 29th double-digit SO game of his career and 2nd of 2023 on Monday vs DET … Is now tied with Cole Hamels (29) for the 3rd most in club history (Curt Schilling is 2nd with 48)

Caught Lookin’: Entering play today, Nola ranks T-4th among all ML pitchers this year in called strikeouts with 25 … Since the start of the 2018 season, Nola’s 323 backwards K’s are the 2nd most for any pitcher in baseball behind NYY’s Gerrit Cole (327) … The next closest pitcher on that list is Sonny Gray who has 248 … Since 2018, 30.0% of Nola’s strikeouts have been called (323 of 1,084)

vs NL West: 11-10, 4.59 ERA (106 ER, 207.2 IP) in 35 starts

Recorded his 1,400th career strikeout on 4/21 vs COL, the 5thyoungest to reach the mark among the 20 active pitchers to do so at the time

Made his 6th straight Opening Day start, extending his MLB-best active streak of Opening Day starts … Was the 1st pitcher in MLB to make 6 straight Opening Day starts since Julio Teheran in made his 6th consecutive for ATL in 2019, and joins Robin Roberts (12) & Steve Carlton (10) as the only Phillies to do so

HOME:
2023: 3-1, 3.03 ERA (11 ER, 32.2 IP) in 5 starts

Career: 47-25, 3.18 ERA (233 ER, 660.1 IP) in 106 starts

MLB Preview: Kansas City Royals (18-45) at Baltimore Orioles (39-24)

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MLB Preview: Kansas City Royals (18-45) at Baltimore Orioles (39-24)

KANSAS CITY ROYALS NOTES:

BUMMER IN BALTIMORE: The Royals suffered a 3-2 loss last night to begin this weekend series in Baltimore, falling to 0-4 on this 6-game trip…Daniel Lynch made the Royals 1st quality start in more than three weeks, allowing just 3 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk in 6.0 innings, but dropped to 0-2 in 3 starts…Nicky Lopez tripled and scored the Royals 1st run on a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning, and Maikel Garcia scored on a wild pitch in the 7th, before Lopez struck out to leave the tying and go-ahead runs stranded in scoring position.

ROSTER MOVE: The Royals announced today that outfielder Edward Olivares has been reinstated from the Restricted List…in a corresponding move, infielder Vinnie Pasquantino has been placed on the 10-day Injured List with right shoulder instability…Olivares returns to the club today as the Royals face left hander Cole Irvin, who surrendered 2 homers to Olivares in his 1st career multi-HR game last June 24 when Irvin was with the A’s.

COUNTDOWN TO 50,000: The Royals enter today with 49,998 pitching strikeouts in 55 seasons, and are just 2 shy of becoming the 24th franchise to reach 50,000…the Royals have recorded at least 2 strikeouts in each of their last 454 games since Sept. 20, 2019, a streak that spans parts of five seasons…the Royals all-time strikeouts leader is Kevin Appier with 1,458, and Zack Greinke is the club’s active leader with 1,054 strikeouts as a Royal, which are 3 strikeouts shy of Paul Splittorff (1,057) for 5th place on the franchise’s all-time strikeouts list.

LEADS LOST: Wednesday night marked Kansas City’s 21st blown lead loss, matching St. Louis and Oakland for the most in the Majors…the Royals have held a lead in 24 of their last 34 games (70.6%) since the start of May, but they’re 11-23 during that stretch with 13 blown lead losses, including a blown lead in 4 of their last 8 road games.

SOUTHPAW STORY: Today’s opponent Cole Irvin will mark the ninth time in the Royals last 15 games that they’re facing a left-handed starting pitcher…this recent run vs. southpaw starters comes on the heels of a 15-game stretch from May 7-22 in which they faced all right-handed starters…the Royals are 5-12 vs. left-handed starters.

Maikel Garcia is 12-for-36 (.333) with 4 doubles vs. left-handed pitchers since his May 2 recall, including his 1st career HR on Sunday off left hander Kyle Freeland…Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 18 hits and 5 HR vs. left handers, and is batting .295 against them with .557 slugging percentage and .886 OPS.

Left-handed batters Michael Massey and Nick Pratto have fared especially well vs. left-handed pitching, batting .314 (11-for-35) and .308 (12-for-39), respectively…their averages vs. southpaws rank tied for 6th and 9th, respectively among left-handed batters in the American League (min. 25 at-bats).

CHIEFS DAY AT THE K: The Royals on Thursday announced details for Chiefs Day at The K on Monday night, when they will celebrate Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVII championship…the Royals will host Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid, among others from the Super Bowl-winning team…many of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium’s gameday traditions will follow the Chiefs to Kauffman Stadium, including the Chiefs cheerleaders, flag runners, KC Wolf and more…Crown Vision will also show highlights from the Chiefs fourth quarter comeback in the Super Bowl…fans should be in their seats by 6:45 to see Coach Reid, Mahomes and Kelce carry the Super Bowl LVII trophy from the bullpen to the infield, and Kelce will throw out the first pitch to Mahomes.

WHAT A RELIEF!: Kansas City’s bullpen ranks 28th in the Majors with a 4.86 ERA, but it has been taxed to the tune of 244.1 innings, 6th most in the Majors, and there are many other underlying numbers that suggest improvement from last season…for example, Royals relievers have recorded 278 strikeouts this season, 2nd most in the Majors behind this weekend’s opponent, Baltimore (281)…Royals relievers have struck out 25.8% of their batters in 2023—tied for 6th most—which marks a significant improvement over last year’s 21.2 K% (26th).

Scott Barlow has not allowed a run in 14 of his last 15 appearances since April 22, a stretch in which he has 2 wins, 6 saves, a 1.10 ERA (2 ER in 16.1 IP) and has held opponents to a .143 average (8-for-56) with just 2 extra-base hits (.392 OPS), 5 walks (2.8 BB/9) and 25 strikeouts (13.8 K/9)…Barlow’s season K% of 35.1 ranks 8th among qualified American League relievers and is well above his career average of 29.2%.

Taylor Clarke has not allowed a run since May 2 vs. Baltimore and has recorded a career-high 14.0 scoreless innings in 13 appearances since, a stretch in which opponents are batting .149 (7-for-47) with 2 extra-base hits (.407 OPS), 4 walks (2.6 BB/9) and 14 strikeouts (9.0 K/9)…his 7 holds during this run of 13 scoreless outings are only 3 shy of Hector Neris, who has a Majors-most 10 holds in 15 outings since May 3.

LET’S GO, PRATTO!: Nick Pratto was recalled on April 28 and has played in 36 of the Royals 38 games since…including 2 games he played during his first stint with the Royals from April 5-6, Pratto leads the team (min. 100 plate appearances) in batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.391) and OPS (.852), and ranks 2nd to Salvador Perez (.489) in slugging percentage (.462)…since his April 28 recall, his .403 on-base percentage ranks 6th in the American League and his .309 batting average (38-for-123) ranks 9th.

He’s reached safely in each of his last 16 starts dating back to May 20, during which he has an .843 OPS.

Pratto has batted leadoff in 12 of the club’s last 15 games since May 22…in his 12 games batting leadoff, he has reached base to begin the game eight times—including 6 hits—for a .667 on-base percentage.

VS. BALTIMORE: The Royals continue their Father’s Trip with a 3-game visit this weekend to Baltimore, where they haven’t won a series since 2014…the Royals are 6-17 at Camden Yards over their last seven-plus series here with six losses and one 4-game split…these two teams met at Kauffman Stadium last month for an eventful 3-game series from May 2-4…the Royals blew an early 3-0 lead in Game 1 en route to an 11-7 loss, but they tied the series with a 6-0 win in Game 2, a 1-hour, 59-minute game that is 1 of only 6 9-inning games this year to be completed in less than 2 hours…the O’s won a wild rubber game by a 13-10 score… Kansas City erased a 8-1 deficit to take a 9-8 lead in the 7th, but the O’s scored 2 in the 8th and 3 in the 9th to complete a comeback of their own.

TIME OF GAME: Wednesday’s 2-hour, 3-minute game in Miami was the Royals 5th fastest of the year and was 4 minutes longer than their shortest game, a 1-hour, 59-minute contest vs. these Orioles on May 3 in Kansas City…for the season, the Royals average game time of 2:35 is tied with Tampa Bay and Texas for the fastest in the Majors and would be their 6th-fastest average in club history…their last season with a faster average was 1978 (2 hours, 32 minutes).

TODAY’S STARTERS: RHP BRADY SINGER (4-4, 6.45)
BRADY SINGER is making his 13th start of 2023 and 76th of his career today vs. Baltimore…it’s his 2nd start vs. the Orioles and 1st since July 17, 2021…Singer is in his fourth season in the Majors and was selected by Kansas City in the 1st round (18th overall) of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Florida.

LAST START: Singer earned his team-best 4th win in a 2-0 victory vs. Colorado last Sunday at Kauffman Stadium, in which he allowed just 5 hits over 5.2 scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts…he allowed exactly 1 hit in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th, but did not allow a runner past first base…following a 2-out single in the 6th, he exited 1 out shy of earning a quality start in favor of Taylor Clarke, who stranded the inherited runner.

JEKYLL AND HYDE: Brady has been charged with at least 5 runs in half of his 12 starts this season, after doing so in only 2 of his 27 appearances (24 starts) last year… the Royals, predictably, are 1-5 in games that he allows at least 5 runs…but on the flip side, he’s held opponents to 2 earned runs or fewer in his other 6 starts, in which the Royals are 5-1…he appears to be trending in the right direction of late, as he’s held opponents to 2 earned runs or fewer in 4 of his last 5 starts, in which he’s 2-0 with a 3.42 ERA (10 ER in 26.1 IP)…despite the ups and downs, the Royals are 6-6 in his 12 starts and those 6 wins in games started by Singer are the most among all Royals starters.

WALK THIS WAY: Brady has recorded at least 5.0 innings without issuing a walk in 13 of his 36 starts since last season, matching Kevin Gausman, Aaron Nola and Jameson Taillon for the 2nd-most such starts in the Majors during that time, trailing only Corey Kluber (15)…Singer has 4 such starts this season, 1 shy of the league leaders.

CASTING CALLS: In 36 starts since his recall on May 17 of last season, Brady has induced a called strike on 684 of 3,420 pitches (20.0%), 4th most in the Majors behind Logan Webb (711), Gerrit Cole (690) and Aaron Nola (688)…Singer’s rate of 20.0% called strikes since May 17, 2022 leads the Majors (min. 2,500 pitches), ahead of Sonny Gray (17.8%), and since his 2020 debut season, Singer’s called-strike rate of 20.8% ranks 2nd in the Majors (min. 5,000 pitches), trailing only Adam Wainwright (21.0%).

CAN’T TOUCH THIS: Singer has recorded 398 strikeouts in 406.0 innings since his 2020 debut for an 8.8 K/9, which is the best rate in Royals history among pitchers who’ve started at least 70 games, ahead of Ian Kennedy (8.4), Jakob Junis (8.1) and Danny Duffy (8.1)…his 398 strikeouts are the most by a Royal through 78 career appearances, 3 more than Jakob Junis’ 395…to keep his lead through 79 career outings, Singer needs only 2 strikeouts today to pass Junis’ 399 strikeouts, which would make him the fastest to 400 strikeouts (by appearances) in Royals history.

STOPPER: Singer has had success in his career following a Royals loss, and he’ll attempt to be the stopper again today after Kansas City’s 3-2 defeat last night vs. the O’s…in 47 career appearances following a Royals loss, Singer is 17-11 with a 3.81 ERA (105 ER in 248.1 IP), and all 4 of his wins this year have followed a Royals loss.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT: Brady is 1-2 in 6.23 ERA (21 ER in 30.1 IP) in 6 daytime starts this season, after going 7-3 last season with a 2.91 ERA (25 ER in 77.1 IP)…his 7 daytime wins last year were 1 shy of the Major League leaders, and he allowed 2 runs or fewer in 7 of his 12 starts, including 4 scoreless appearances…in his 1st 3 matinee starts this season, he allowed 18 runs in 13.2 innings, but in his last 3 daytime Starts, hes allowed just 3 runs in 16.2 innings for a 1.62 ERA, in which the Royals are 2-1.

VS. BALTIMORE: In his only previous start vs. Baltimore on July 17, 2021 at Kauffman Stadium, Singer suffered an 8-4 loss after allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk in 2.0 innings plus six batters…he allowed 2 runs in the 2nd before surrendering 6 straight hits to begin the 3rd and exited without recording an out in the frame.

Brady is 3-3 with a 4.58 ERA (27 ER in 53.0 IP) in 11 career starts vs. the AL East, but all 3 of his losses came during the 2021 season…since the start of last year, he’s 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA (7 ER in 35.0 IP) in 6 starts vs. the division, including a 9-5 win vs. Toronto on April 3, in which he allowed 1 run in 5.0 innings.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Singer is 2-1 in 4 road starts this season despite a 6.97 ERA (16 ER in 20.2 IP), but he’s completed at least 6.0 innings in 3 of those 4 starts…the Royals are 3-1 in his 4 road starts, including a win in his most recent road outing, which came more than three weeks ago on May 16 in San Diego…Brady held the Padres to 4 runs (2 ER) on 7 hits and 2 walks in 6.0 innings en route to a 5-4 victory.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES NOTES:

YESTERDAY’S NEWS: The Orioles beat the Royals last night, 3-2, to begin the homestand…Austin Hays hit the first pitch he saw in the first inning for a leadoff homer and Gunnar Henderson recorded a career-high three hits with a run scored and two stolen bases…Tyler Wells earned his second consecutive win after surrendering two runs over 6.2 innings…Félix Bautista secured his 17th save of the season, tied for second-most in MLB (see box at right), with two strikeouts in a perfect ninth inning.

The O’s have won back-to-back games for the first time since May 24-25.

Baltimore tied a season high with five stolen bases for the fourth time (last: 5/4 at KC); the Orioles had swiped five total bases in the previous 15 games from May 23 to June 8.

Hays’ leadoff homer was the first by the O’s since Cedric Mullins on September 26, 2022 at Boston and the first leadoff blast on the first pitch since Mullins on September 1, 2022 at Cleveland; Mullins had hit the last 14 leadoff home runs and 16 of the previous 17 for the Orioles.

Henderson became the eighth Orioles rookie (since 1954) with 3+ hits and 2+ stolen bases in the same game and first since Jerry Hairston Jr. on July 8, 1999 vs. Toronto (4 H, 2 SB), per the Elias Sports Bureau.

STRIKE A POSE: Baltimore pitchers have struck out 91 batters since May 31, the most in an eight-game span in team history (since 1954)…This comes on the heels of 40 strikeouts in six games from May 25-30.

Orioles’ pitching ranks seventh in MLB with 587 strikeouts…The team is on pace to strike out over 1,500 batters (9.3/G) which would shatter the club record of 1,248 strikeouts (7.7/G) set in 2016 and 2019.

O’s relievers lead MLB with 281 strikeouts.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Of Baltimore’s 63 games this season, 55 have been decided by four or fewer runs, second-most in MLB behind Los Angeles-AL with 57…The O’s have gone 35-20 in those games, the most wins and second-best winning percentage (.636) in the majors behind Tampa Bay (.652, 30-16)…The Orioles are 26-14 in games decided by three or fewer runs, the best winning percentage (.650) and tied for the most wins in such games in MLB with Cleveland (26-23).

The Birds improved to 12-7 in one-run games last night; the .632 winning percentage is tied for the fourth-best in MLB this season and the 12 wins are tied for third-best.

WHAT’S TRENDING: The O’s have won 30 of their last 47 games, 33 of 51, and 35 of 54… The 39-24 (.619) overall record is tied for the third-best in MLB to start the season (see box at right)…Entering today, the Orioles are one of five teams in MLB with a winning percentage over .600 along with Tampa Bay (.712, 47-19), Texas (.645, 40-22), Atlanta (.619, 39-24), and Arizona (.603, 38-25).

This marks the ninth time in team history (since 1954) that Baltimore has had a winning percentage above .600 through 63 games to begin a season and the first time since 1997 (.698, 44-19); six of the previous eight occurrences resulted in playoff appearances (1997, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, and 1966); a win today would mark the seventh time in club history that the team has won 40 of the first 64 games to start a year.

HOME COOKING: The Orioles began a six-game, seven-day homestand last night with three games against Kansas City through tomorrow…Following an off day on Monday, the Birds host Toronto for three games from June 13-15.

AGAINST THE ROYALS: Baltimore and Kansas City wrap up the six-game season series this weekend…The O’s took two of three games at Kauffman Stadium from May 2-4…The Orioles need one win in the next two games to clinch their third straight season series victory over the Royals (4-3 in 2022, 4-3 in 2021); have not lost a season series to the Royals since going 2-4 in 2018 (DNP in 2020, 3-3 in 2019).

The Birds are 17-6 (.739) in the last 23 games against the Royals at Oriole Park since 2015.

BIG TIME RUTSCH: Adley Rutschman leads the AL with 45 walks and 109 times on base (64 H, 45 BB)…He’s also fifth in the AL with a .394 on-base percentage…He ranks among MLB switch hitters in OBP (1st) and batting average (3rd, .278), and among primary catchers in OBP (1st) and OPS (3rd, .811).

YOUNG GUNN: Gunnar Henderson is slashing .294/.342/.559 (20-for-68) with four doubles, one triple, four homers, 11 runs scored, 10 RBI, five walks, and three stolen bases in 22 games (19 GS) since May 13…During that time, he ranks among AL rookies in OPS (2nd, .901), slugging (2nd), home runs (T-2nd), runs (T-3rd), extra-base hits (T-3rd, 9), batting average (4th), and total bases (4th, 38).

HAYS OF OUR LIVES: Austin Hays ranks fourth in the AL and 10th in MLB with a .306 batting average…Since April 11, his average has not dipped below .291…Last night marked his team-leading 19th multi-hit game of the season, tied for eighth in the AL, and first multi-extra-base hit game (2B, HR) since doing so in back-to-back games on April 10 and 11.

He was named the Fielding Bible Award Co-Defensive Player of the Month for May with Toronto’s Kevin Kiermaier by Sports Info Solutions after he led MLB with 10 Defensive Runs Saved; his 21 outfield assists since the start of 2021 are tied for the second-most in the AL and fifth-most in MLB during that time.

Hays’ .386 (27-for-70) batting average in the seventh inning or later leads MLB.

He also leads MLB with a .417 (25-for-60) average with two outs; the next closest player is Los Angeles-NL’s Freddie Freeman, who is hitting .391 (27-for-69) with two outs.

ROSTER MOVES: The O’s recalled Cole Irvin from Triple-A Norfolk today…In a corresponding move, Nick Vespi was optioned to the Tides after yesterday’s game.

STARTING PITCHER – #19 COLE IRVIN LHP
QUICK HITS: Recalled from Triple-A Norfolk prior to today’s game, his third stint with the O’s…Scheduled to make his fifth appearance (fourth start) of the season, third start at home, and fifth career start against the Royals this afternoon…Will be his first appearance since May 20 at Toronto and first start since April 13 vs. Oakland…Spent the 2022 season with the Athletics; led the team in wins (9), starts (30), innings pitched (181.0), and strikeouts (128)… Posted career-lows in ERA (3.98), opponent batting average (.251), on-base
percentage (.293), slugging percentage (.416), and OPS (.709)…Allowed two earned runs-or-fewer in 17 of his 30 starts…Acquired by the Orioles along with RHP Kyle Virbitsky from Oakland in exchange for SS Darell Hernaiz on January 26, 2023…Originally selected by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2016 First Year Player Draft out of Oregon.

LAST START: Did not factor into the decision in his last start on April 13 vs. Oakland…Allowed six runs on five hits (1 HR) with two walks, a hit batter, and four strikeouts in 4.0 innings…Did not complete 5.0 innings for the third straight start; also failed to do so in three consecutive outings from August 24 to September 5, 2021 with Oakland…Marked his first start against his former team…Threw 80 pitches, 50 strikes.

HIGH TIDE: Has gone 6-1 with a 3.21 ERA (15 ER/42.0 IP) and five quality starts in seven outings with Triple-A Norfolk this season…Completed 5.0-or-more innings in each of his seven assignments…Allowed two earned runs-or-fewer in six of his seven starts…Owns a 4-1 record with a 2.32 ERA (8 ER/31.0 IP) in his last five outings for the Tides since April 29…Earned the win, his third in a row, in his last start for Norfolk on May 31 (G1) vs. Gwinnett…Surrendered two runs on fi ve hits (1 HR) with a hit batter and three strikeouts in 6.0 innings… Threw 97 pitches, 67 strikes.

CAREER AGAINST THE ROYALS: Making his fifth career start against the Royals…Dealt the loss in his last start against the Royals with Oakland on June 24, 2022 at Kauffman Stadium…Allowed three runs on seven hits (2 HR) with two walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings…Threw 66 pitches, 46 strikes… Owns a 1-2 record with a 2.19 ERA (6 ER/24.2 IP) and three quality starts in four career outings against Kansas City.

AGAINST THE AL CENTRAL: Making his 13th career appearance (12th start) against the AL Central…Has pitched to a 4-3 record with a 2.82 ERA (21 ER/67.0 IP) and eight quality starts through his first 12 assignments against the division…Allowed three earned runs-or-fewer in 11 of those games… Earned the win in his last start against the AL Central on September 11, 2022 vs. Chicago-AL with Oakland…Allowed three runs (2 ER) on four hits with two walks, a hit batter, and five strikeouts in 7.0 innings…Threw 95 pitches, 64 strikes.

HIT IT IF YOU CAN: Irvin relied on his four-seam fastball more than any other pitch in 2022, throwing it 36.1 percent of the time…Opposing batters slashed .222/.263/.387 (51-for-230) against his primary pitch, meaning that he recorded more strikeouts (69) by way of the heater than hits allowed (51)…Irvin induced 121 swings and misses on 941 fastballs for a 12.8 percent swing-and-miss rate.

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