Stats Perform: A Look at Series that Began Tuesday, July 27
MARLINS (43-57) at ORIOLES (34-64)
● The Marlins and Orioles have matched up seven times in Baltimore since 2018, with the Marlins going 6-1. Four of those six wins were decided by one run. They split a two-game series in Miami in April, with the Marlins blanking the Orioles in their last meeting (3-0).
● The Marlins split a four-game series with San Diego through Sunday, with the Marlins taking the last two games. Their season-long win streak is four games from May 4-7.
● The Orioles are coming off their third three-game sweep of the season, against the Nationals at Oriole Park. It was their first three-game sweep in Baltimore since July 31 to August 2 last year against the Rays.
● Starling Marte has 21 stolen bases, tied for third most in baseball this season. That’s the most by a Marlin through 100 team games since Dee Strange-Gordon had 37 in 2017. The Marlins are ranked second as a team in stolen bases this year (71; Padres, 91).
● Spenser Watkins is 2-0 over three starts in his rookie season, giving up one earned run in each start. In his last outing last Monday at Tampa Bay he set career highs in both innings pitched (6.0) and strikeouts (7) in a 6-1 win.
● Trey Mancini went 5-for-12 (.417) with two home runs, two RBI and four runs scored in three games against the Nationals over the weekend, extending his hit streak to eight games. He’s hitting .340 with a 1.021 OPS in 12 interleague games this year.
BREWERS (58-42) at PIRATES (38-61)
● The Brewers are 7-3 versus the Pirates this year, and 27-12 since the start of 2019. The only two NL divisional matchups that are more lopsided over that span are the Dodgers over the Rockies (32-10) and the Dodgers over the Diamondbacks (28-11).
● Milwaukee is an MLB-best 29-18 (.617) on the road this year compared to 29-24 (.547) at home. That’s the largest win percentage differential by any MLB team between home and road this season, where road is better.
● The Pirates are coming off a 2-4 road trip in which they were swept in three games by the Diamondbacks before taking two of the three from the Giants. It was just the third home series loss by San Francisco this year (vs. Dodgers, May 21-23; vs. Cardinals, July 5-7).
● Pittsburgh traded second baseman Adam Frazier to the Padres on Monday for three prospects. He’s the first player to be traded while leading the majors in base hits at the time of the trade since Willie McGee in August 1990 (Cardinals to A’s).
● Tyler Anderson has pitched at least 5.0 innings in 20 straight starts going back to last September with the Giants. That’s tied with the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler for the secondlongest active streak in the majors, behind Justin Verlander’s 33 (hasn’t pitched in 2021).
● Tyrone Taylor went 5-for-11 (.455) with two homers and five RBI in Milwaukee’s series with the White Sox over the weekend, including his first career grand slam on Friday. He has 14 RBI this month, leading all NL rookies in July.
CARDINALS (50-50) at INDIANS (49-48)
● The Indians are 19-12 all-time against the Cardinals after splitting a two-game series last month in St. Louis. The teams haven’t faced off in Cleveland since the Cardinals won two of three in May 2015.
● Cleveland earned a 3-2 win over the Rays at home on Sunday to avoid a four-game sweep. The Indians are 7-15 (.318) since June 30, third worst in the majors (Rangers, 4-17; Nationals, 6-16).
● The Cardinals evened their record at 50-50 with Sunday’s 10-6 win in Cincinnati. It is the 17th time that they have had a .500 record this year, second most by any MLB team (Phillies, 19).
● Harrison Bader is batting .362 this month – tied for fifth best in the majors (minimum 50 PA) – with a 1.030 OPS. Prior to July this season he had a .219 batting average and .712 OPS.
● Adam Wainwright has just two career starts against the Indians, winning both (one each last year and this year). He is 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA in his last eight starts overall, with the first of those eight starts coming against Cleveland (7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R on June 9).
● Jose Ramirez is one of two MLB players leading his team in home runs (20), RBI (57), runs scored (64) and stolen bases (10), along with the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani.
YANKEES (51-47) at RAYS (60-40)
● Since the start of last season, Tampa Bay has gone 16-7 against the Yankees while limiting them to 3.1 runs per game. That’s the best record and fewest runs allowed per game versus the Yankees by any opponent over that span.
● The Rays’ 60-40 record is the second best in team history at the 100-game mark, behind their 62-38 record in 2010. They have won 13 of their last 17 games overall.
● The Yankees are just 20-28 (.417) versus AL East opponents this year, on track to be their worst-ever divisional record (33-45, .423 in 1982; divisional era began in 1969). The Yanks last finished under .500 within the division in 2016 (35-41).
● Rougned Odor has hit safely in seven straight games, batting .310 (9-for-29) with three homers and nine RBI over that stretch. He’s hitting just .194 in his career against the Rays, however (24/124).
● Jordan Montgomery is winless over his last eight starts (0-4, 4.00 ERA), the longest such drought of his career. He’s received seven total runs of support while in the game over those eight starts, for a 1.40 run support average.
● Playing his first series as a member of the Rays over the weekend, Nelson Cruz had two hits in 12 at-bats – both of them home runs. His 438 career home runs rank third among active players, behind Albert Pujols (675) and Miguel Cabrera (495).
DIAMONDBACKS (31-70) at RANGERS (35-65)
● Arizona has won 11 of its last 15 meetings with the Rangers, including a 6-2 record in Texas. They secured a 19-4 win on July 17, 2019 in Arlington, the second-most runs scored in Diamondbacks history.
● After winning four straight games at home through last Wednesday, Arizona dropped two of three games at the Cubs over the weekend. The D-backs are just 3-32 in road games since the start of May.
● The Rangers’ current 12-game losing streak is tied for the club’s second longest since moving to Texas in 1972, behind a 15-gamer in that 1972 season. The only longer losing streaks in MLB this year belong to the Diamondbacks (17 and 13) and Orioles (14).
● Taylor Widener has started seven games this season, earning a win in his first outing but going winless since. In his last outing he allowed a career-high five earned runs, but also had a career-high eight strikeouts and took a no-decision in an 11-6 win over the Pirates.
● Eduardo Escobar has 12 more home runs (22 vs. 10) and 22 more RBI (65 vs. 43) than any other Arizona player this year. His 203 RBI since the start of the 2019 season rank fourth in the National League.
● Adolis Garcia leads all rookies in home runs (22) and RBI (62) this season while ranking fourth with 88 hits. He is the first Rangers rookie all-time to reach 20 home runs within the team’s first 100 games of the season.
DODGERS (61-40) at GIANTS (62-37)
● The Dodgers have a 7-6 edge against the Giants this year, including a 3-0 record in San Francisco (May 21-23). Six of the last seven meetings between the teams have been decided by one or two runs.
● Los Angeles won back-to-back one-run games over the Rockies Saturday and Sunday, 1-0 and 3-2. The Dodgers are just 13-17 (.433) in one-run games this year (25th in MLB), compared to an MLB-best 48-23 (.676) in games decided by two or more runs.
● The Giants avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Pirates with a 6-1 win at home on Sunday. San Francisco still has the best record overall (62-37, .626) and at home (31-15, .674) in the majors.
● Lamonte Wade Jr. has homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, including his first career multi-homer game on Sunday. He is hitless against left-handed pitchers in his career (0-for-29), compared to a .276 average and .927 OPS versus righties.
● Logan Webb is 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA over his last six starts, after going 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in his first six starts of the season. He’s also unbeaten in five outings (four starts) at home this year (2-0, 1.64 ERA).
● Over his last six games, Chris Taylor is hitting .480 (12/25) with five homers, six RBI and nine runs scored. He has two multi-homer games over that span, matching the number he had over his first 685 career games played.
ATHLETICS (56-45) at PADRES (58-44)
● The Padres took two of three games from the A’s in Oakland last September, their first series win against them since June 2006. Oakland leads the all-time series, 24-12.
● San Diego is returning home after going 5-4 (with one suspended game) on a 10-game road trip. The Padres are 8-1 with a 2.33 ERA in interleague games this year, both best in the majors.
● Oakland lost the final three games of its four-game series with the Mariners through Sunday, with all three losses coming by one run. The A’s haven’t lost four in a row since opening the season with a six-game losing streak.
● Matt Olson is tied for fourth in the majors with 27 home runs. He’s hitting .387 with a 1.273 OPS in day games this year, compared to .217 with a .742 OPS at night.
● Among rookie pitchers with at least 10 starts this season, James Kaprielian ranks second in ERA (2.65; Trevor Rogers, Mia – 2.37) and first in opponent batting average (.207).
● Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his 30th home run of the season in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Miami. He’s the fourth player in Padres history with at least 30 homers and 20 steals in a season, joining Steve Finley (1996), Ryan Klesko (2001) and Wil Myers (2017).