Stats Perform Offers A Look At Series Beginning Friday
ATHLETICS (33-25) at ROCKIES (23-34)
● The Athletics and Rockies have met seven times since 2018. The Rockies are 6-1 in that span outscoring the A’s 27-12.
● Oakland has the greatest differential in win percentage when playing on the road vs. at home. They are 17-17 (.500) at home and 16-8 (.667) on the road for a difference of .167. Tampa Bay is the only team with a higher winning percentage on the road (.700).
● The Rockies have won six straight home games, and nine of their last 11 in Denver. Colorado has 26 extra-base hits (18 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR) during the six-game winning streak. The Rockies have collected at least eight hits in all six games and have allowed 8+ hits just once.
● Matt Olson is coming off a three-game series with the Mariners where he posted seven hits, the most hits in a single series in his career.
● The Rockies have won four straight games overall, and during this run Charlie Blackmon is 8-for-16 (.500) with five extra-base hits, four runs, six RBIs and just two strikeouts. Blackmon has raised his batting average 25 points during this run (.237 → .262).
● Jon Gray is 8-1 with a 3.06 ERA against American League teams in his career. He is 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA when pitching at home this season. Frankie Montas has taken a loss in his last three starts despite pitching to a 3.24 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 16.2 innings pitched.
INDIANS (30-24) at ORIOLES (19-37)
● Cleveland went 15-6 against Baltimore between 2017 and 2019, winning five of the six series between the clubs. The Orioles’ lone series victory during that span came the last time these teams met, in June 2019 at Camden Yards.
● The Indians took two of three against the White Sox in their last series, with all three games decided by two runs or fewer. Cleveland is an MLB-best 17-8 in games decided by two or fewer runs this season. Baltimore has the worst record in the AL in such games at 8-17.
● After ending their 14-game losing streak on Tuesday, the O’s beat the Twins yesterday to win their first home series of 2021. The seven straight home series without a win to open the year was tied for their longest since moving to Baltimore in 1954 (1988 & 1991).
● This season, Jose Ramirez is batting .282 with a 1.048 OPS in Cleveland’s wins compared to .225 and .655 in its losses. He has hit all 13 of his home runs in wins and the Indians are 12-0 in games when he homers, the most wins without a loss for any single player this year.
● After hitting .211 with one home run through his first 30 games of the season, Ryan Mountcastle is hitting .289 with five home runs in 21 games since. In 13 home games since May 1, he is hitting .347 (17/49) with four homers and 13 RBI.
● In two career starts at Camden Yards – both last year, Keegan Akin pitched 10.1 shutout innings while striking out 17 batters. Making his first career start, J.C. Mejia has allowed only one hit while striking out seven in 5.0 innings over three career appearances.
NATIONALS (23-30) at PHILLIES (26-29)
● The Phillies took two of three from the Nationals in the nation’s capital last month, giving them a 9-4 record over the Nats since last season. Philly swept Washington at home last year, its first home sweep of the Nationals since August 2014.
● Washington split its four-game series in Atlanta, scoring 11 and five runs in its two wins and three and one run(s) in its two losses. In 31 games since the start of May, the Nationals are 9-0 when scoring five or more runs compared to 4-18 otherwise.
● Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing streak with a 17-3 win in Cincinnati on Tuesday. Philadelphia’s seven HR matched a franchise record done twice before (9/8/98 & 7/26/18).
● On Monday, Rhys Hoskins became the 25th Phillies player since 1920 with 400+ hits and 100+ home runs for the club. The 458 games he needed to reach that mark are the third fewest by any of them, bested only by Ryan Howard (383) and Chuck Klein (390).
● Zach Wheeler had a career-high 14 strikeouts in his last start, his third straight with 10 or more, joining Steve Carlton (twice) and Curt Schilling (six times) as the third Phillie to do that in the live-ball era. He is 2-1 with a 2.37 ERA in his last five starts against the Nationals.
● Max Scherzer struck out 10 Brewers in his last start, his 101st game with double-digit strikeouts, the fifth most since 1920. In eight career starts in Philadelphia, he is 5-1 with seven quality starts, a 2.63 ERA and a .194 opponent batting average.
RED SOX (33-23) at YANKEES (31-26)
● The Yankees went 9-1 (.900) against the Red Sox last season, the second highest winning percentage by one team against the other in a season in the history of this rivalry. In 1912, the Red Sox went 19-2 (.905) against the Yankees. Previously, the Yankees’ best record against Boston in a season was in 1927 (18-4, .818).
● The Red Sox have had 10 or more hits in only one of their last 10 games, dropping their season batting average by 10 points, from .267 to .257. The Red Sox are hitting .204 over their last 10 games.
● The Yankees have the lowest slugging average with men on base in the major leagues this season (.348). With the bases empty, the Yankees are slugging .392, 12th highest in the majors.
● Rafael Devers is still fifth in the major leagues in RBIs, but his current streak of 24 plate appearances without an RBI is his longest of the season.
● Aaron Judge hit four home runs over three games from May 14-16, but since then he’s hit only one home run in 17 games.
● Nathan Eovaldi has thrown the most innings this season (60.1) among pitchers who have not allowed more than one home run. Michael King has not thrown more than four innings or reached 75 pitches in any of his five starts in the major leagues.
ASTROS (31-25) at BLUE JAYS (29-25)
● These teams are 1-2 in the major leagues in batting average (Astros, .264; Blue Jays, .259).
● The Blue Jays are leading the major leagues in slugging average, at .444., and their 81 home runs are second to only the Braves (84).
● Astros pitchers have allowed a home run, on average, every 24.1 at-bats in home games this season, and every 32.0 at-bats in road games.
● Kyle Tucker was hitting .175 with five home runs and 16 RBIs in his first 33 games this season, through May 8. But over his last 22 games, since May 9, he’s hitting .365 with six homers and 19 RBIs.
● Marcus Semien has hit safely in 10 straight games after having a 12-game hitting streak earlier this season (May 1-13). Before this year, Semien had only one double-digit hitting streak in the major leagues (17 games in June 2019)
● Zack Greinke’s rate of 7.0 strikeouts per nine innings would be his lowest since 2005, his second season in the major leagues (5.6). Hyun Jin Ryu has not allowed a stolen base this season and he’s permitted only seven in his 865.2 innings in the major leagues.
DODGERS (33-23) at BRAVES (26-28)
● LA came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Atlanta in last year’s NLCS en route to winning its first World Series since 1988. The Dodgers are 7-5 all-time at Truist Park, including splitting two games in the 2018 NLDS, but dropped two of three in their last visit in August 2019.
● The Dodgers scored 11 first-inning runs in their 14-3 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday, their most in any inning since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.
● Atlanta split its four-game series with Washington, allowing four combined runs in the two wins compared to 16 in the two losses. For the season, the Braves are limiting opponents to 2.5 runs per game in wins compared to 7.1 in losses – that is the largest split in the majors.
● Cody Bellinger is the third Dodger in the live-ball era with at least 500 hits and 100 home runs prior to turning 26 years old, along with Duke Snider and Adrian Beltre.
● Since last season, Ronald Acuna Jr. has scored 59 runs and hit 21 home runs at Truist Park. His 59 runs are 11 more than any other player at their home park (Dansby Swanson ranks second with 48) and his 21 homers are four more than any other player.
● Ian Anderson started Games 2 and 7 against LA in last year’s NLCS, allowing two runs over 7.0 combined innings. He is 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in nine career starts at Truist Park (incl. postseason). In his only career start against Atlanta in Game 3 of last year’s NLCS, Julio Urias allowed one run over 5.0 innings. He is 4-1 with a 2.53 ERA on the road this year.
RAYS (36-22) at RANGERS (22-36)
● Since 2016, the Rays and Rangers have met 12 times in Arlington. The Rays have gone 8-4 during that stretch, and have collected double-digit hits in each of the last five road meetings with the Rangers, and in nine of their last 10.
● Tampa Bay is 21-9 (.700) when playing on the road this season, the highest win percentage on the road in baseball. The Rays started the season going 2-4 on the road, but have since gone 19-5 (.792).
● The Rangers are a break-even 13-13 at home this season, but have won 11 of their last 18 in Arlington after a 2-6 start at home. In Texas’ last home action it swept three games from the Astros (May 21-23).
● Austin Meadows is on a seven-game hitting streak (11-for-25, 5 HR, 15 RBI). Only two other players have at least 10 hits, five home runs and 15 RBIs over a seven-game span this season, Boston’s J.D. Martinez (April 3-11) and San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. (May 9-25).
● Adolis Garcia is one of two players in baseball with at least 50 hits, 15 home runs and 5 stolen bases (53/16/7). The other is Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. (53/17/9).
● Josh Fleming allowed just one run over five innings despite earning a loss in his season debut vs. Texas on April 14. Kyle Gibson will make his return from injury tonight. Prior to going on the IL, he posted an ERA of 2.24 and a WHIP of 1.01 (60.1 IP) this season.