From the Offices of Stats Perform: Yankees Battling Worse Start in 55 Years

FOR SERIES BEGINNING

Thursday, April 22, 2021

YANKEES (6-11) at INDIANS (8-8)

Ø The Yankees swept a best-of-three series to eliminate the Indians from the playoffs last year. That gave New York a 3-2 edge in postseason series against Cleveland.

Ø The Yankees are 6-11, tying their worst 17-game start over the last 55 seasons. The last time they had more than 11 losses through 17 games was in 1966 (4-13). They also started out 6-11 in 1970, 1972, 1985, and 1991.

Ø The Indians are hitting .209 and the most hits they have had in a game this season is 10, done twice. They are the only major-league team that has not had more than 10 hits in a game this year.

Ø Gary Sanchez has not had an extra-base hit in his last 28 at-bats, tying the sixth longest drought of his major-league career.

Ø Jordan Luplow has hit five home runs this season, with three in his last four games, after he hit only two home runs last season.

Ø The Yankees have scored only one run in Domingo German’s two starts this season and it came after he left the game. In 2019, German’s average run support was 7.6 per game, fourth highest among pitchers with 20+ starts. Aaron Civale is one of four major-league pitchers to win his first three starts this season, along with Eduardo Rodriguez, Carlos Rodon, and Steven Matz.

MARINERS (11-7) at RED SOX (12-7)

Ø The Red Sox have won each of their last five home series against the Mariners. Seattle’s last series win at Fenway Park was a three-game sweep in August 2014. Boston outscored Seattle, 34-8, in the Mariners’ last visit to Boston (May 10-12, 2019).

Ø The Mariners have allowed only one home run over their last five games, and they have not allowed more than one home run in any of their last 11 games. That’s after surrendering 13 homers in their first seven games this year.

Ø The Red Sox have 27 more hits than strikeouts, the best ratio for any major-league team this season.  The only other teams with more hits than strikeouts this year are the Astros (+20), Angels (+10), and Nationals (+3).

Ø Mitch Haniger is hitting .315 with four home runs; Ty France is batting .306 with four homers. The only other team with a pair of players hitting .300 with three or more homers is the Angels, who have three (Mike Trout, Jared Walsh, Shohei Ohtani).

Ø J.D. Martinez is slugging .750, third highest among major-league batting qualifiers, behind Ronald Acuna, Jr. (.887) and Mike Trout (.804).

Ø Justin Dunn has averaged 7.3 walks per nine innings in his major-league career, the highest among pitchers with 50+ innings since 2019. Dunn has issued 10 walks in 9.2 innings this season. Nick Pivetta has held left-handed batters to three hits, all singles, in 23 at-bats this season (.130). Right-handed batters are hitting .333 and slugging .600 against him (10 for 30, five XBH).

ANGELS (9-7) at ASTROS (7-10)

Ø The Angels have gone 6-1 over their last seven games against the Astros, this coming after they had gone 6-23 over their previous 29 games against them.

Ø The Astros have lost nine of their last 10 games, the first time they have had nine losses in a 10-game span in a single season since doing so in September of 2013.

Ø Yuli Gurriel has five more walks (13) than strikeouts (8) this season, tied for the second-best differential in the majors behind Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman (+8).

Ø Shohei Ohtani is the first player in MLB history to hit 5+ home runs and also have 10+ strikeouts on the mound in the month of April in a season.

Ø Alex Cobb has struck out 17 batters over his first two starts with the Angels. The only other pitchers to have that many punchouts over their first two starts with the Halos are Shohei Ohtani (18 in 2018) and Tim Fortugno (18 in 1992).

Ø Cristian Javier has a .189 opponent batting average over his 12 career starts, the lowest mark all-time by an Astros pitcher over his first 12 MLB starts.

MARLINS (8-9) at GIANTS (11-7)

Ø All 18 of the Giants’ games this season have been decided by four runs or fewer, the third-longest streak in franchise history to start a season (23 straight in 1997, 19 straight in 1942). They are the only MLB team this season that has had every game decided by four runs or fewer.

Ø Buster Posey has four homers and four RBI this season. Since RBI became an official stat in 1920, he’s the second Giants player to have his first four RBI of a season all come on solo homers (also Pat Burrell in 2011).

Ø The Marlins are one of three MLB teams that have not allowed an opponent to collect a dozen hits in a game this season, along with the Blue Jays and Brewers.

Ø Jesus Aguilar is one of two MLB players with double-digit RBI this season despite not having a home run, along with Cincinnati’s Jonathan India.

Ø Aaron Sanchez is 0-1 with a 2.45 ERA in three starts this season. Of the 34 MLB pitchers who have made three or more starts and have a sub-2.50 ERA this year, he is the only one who doesn’t have a victory.

Ø The Marlins are 4-0 over Daniel Castano’s last four starts, with Castano posting a 2.04 ERA and allowing zero homers over that span. The success has come despite the fact that he has just three total strikeouts in those four starts (17.2 innings).

PADRES (10-10) at DODGERS (14-4)

Ø The Dodgers have five shutouts in their 18 games this season, the most by any team through 18 games since the 2015 A’s (5) and the most by an NL team through 18 games since the 1985 Dodgers (5).

Ø Justin Turner’s 1.175 OPS is the highest by a player 36 or older through his team’s first 18 games (minimum 60 PA) since 2007, when Barry Bonds had a 1.239 mark and Jim Thome was at 1.233.

Ø The Padres have held their opponents to a .199 batting average this season but have just a 10-10 record. They are the first team to hold their opponents to a sub-.200 batting average through 20 games and yet be at or below .500 since the Indians in 1968 (.182 opponent BA, 9-11 record).

Ø Eric Hosmer’s 1515 career hits are tied with Robinson Cano for second most among all MLB players since he made his debut on May 6, 2011, behind only Jose Altuve (1624).

Ø Ryan Weathers has held opponents to a .100 batting average over his first four career appearances, the lowest ever by a Padres pitcher over his first four Major League appearances (minimum 30 batters faced).

Ø Walker Buehler’s 1.03 career WHIP is the fourth lowest in MLB history among pitchers with at least 60 starts, behind Addie Joss (0.97), Ed Walsh (1.00) and Clayton Kershaw (1.00).