Stats Perform: A Look At Weekend Series Opening on Thursday

BRAVES (53-37) at NATIONALS (30-60)

● The Braves have won their last six meetings with Washington and 11 straight at Nationals Park. This is their longest road winning streak against any single opponent since they won 14 straight at the Astros between June 26, 1991-September 13, 1992.

● Braves RHP Kyle Wright has allowed one run or fewer in three of his last four road starts. This stretch has brought his overall road ERA down to 2.75, which ranks 10th lowest in the NL among pitchers with at least 35 innings pitched on the road this season.

● Braves 3B Austin Riley has homered in four of his last five games and has a .459/.487/.946 slash line during a nine-game hitting streak. He's 9-for-19 (.474) with four homers and nine RBI in his last four games against the Nationals.

● The Nationals have lost four straight and 22 of their last 24 games against NL East opponents. They are 7-33 (.175) against division opponents this season, the worst winning percentage in the majors.

● Juan Soto homered in both games of a doubleheader on Wednesday versus the Mariners extending his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games. During this streak, Soto’s been tearing the cover off the ball with a .400/.565/.780 triple-slash.

● Nationals RHP Andres Machado is unscored upon in his last 10 appearances, allowing six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 11 innings. His .195 opponent average during this span (since June 16) ranks third among NL relievers (minimum 10 games).

ROYALS (35-53) at BLUE JAYS (47-42)

● The Blue Jays took two of three against the Royals in Kansas City back on June 6-8. The two Toronto wins were both shutout victories while Kansas City won 8-4. The Blue Jays had a team batting average of .309 in the series compared to the Royals’ .221.

● The Royals have won six of their last nine games. On Tuesday, they committed four errors for the first time since August 1, 2020. They had seven errors in their previous 14 games combined. They have a team batting average of .272 this month after hitting .239 in June.

● Andrew Benintendi is hitting .383 (31-for-81) over his last 23 games. From 2016-2019, he hit .271 in 223 games against the American League East compared to hitting .175 in 44 games against that division since.

● The Blue Jays have won two straight after losing four in-a-row and nine of their previous 10 games. They scored four or more runs in each of their last three games after scoring three or fewer runs in their previous seven games.

● Bo Bichette is hitting .304 with two home runs, 10 RBI and eight runs scored over his last 17 games and has at least one hit in 16 of them. He is hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a home run and three runs batted in against the Royals this season.

● Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 20th home run of the season yesterday against the Phillies. It was his second season with 20 or more home runs and second straight. His father had 11 straight 20-home run seasons from 1998 to 2008 and 12 overall.

TIGERS (37-52) at GUARDIANS (43-44)

● The Tigers have won seven of nine games against the Guardians this season including the last five. These teams have split the two games played in Cleveland so far. The last time that Detroit won a season series against Cleveland was in 2015.

● The Tigers have lost five of their last six games after winning their previous six games. They are 3-5 on this current road stand. Their .213 team batting average on the road is the worst in the majors and their 24 home runs on the road is tied for the lowest with the Rockies.

● Jonathan Schoop is hitting .381 (16-for-42) with nine runs scored during his 11-game hit streak. His career-high hit streak is 16 set last season from July 7-26. He is hitting .344 (11- for-32) with eight runs scored in nine games against Cleveland this season.

● The Guardians have lost two straight and are 7-16 over their last 23 games. If they lose on Thursday, they will fall two games below .500 for the first time since June 4 (23-25). They have a 4.64 team ERA this month after having a team ERA below four in each of their first three months.

● Triston McKenzie has won his last two starts going 13 innings allowing zero runs on just four hits. He is 2-1 in his five career starts against the Tigers (the one loss was this season on May 29). He has a 1.17 ERA, and the Detroit batters are hitting just .136 against him.

● Miguel Cabrera is hitting .357 (10-for-28) with nine runs batted in this season against the Guardians but has yet to hit a home run. He needs one more run batted in tie to Ted Williams for 15th place on the all-time list.

WHITE SOX (43-45) at TWINS (49-41)

● The Twins have won five of six matchups this season including all three in Minnesota back on April 22-24. Minnesota’s starting pitchers had a team ERA of 2.67 in the six meetings compared to Chicago’s starters with a team ERA of 6.11.

● In their last eight games, the White Sox have lost two, won two, lost two and won two straight. In the four wins, they outscored their opponents 21-3 and in the four losses, they have been outscored 11-21.

● Luis Robert has back-to-back three hit games. He had back-to-back games with three hits last season as well (August 16 and 18). The last White Sox player to have three or more hits in three straight games was Leury Garcia from May 28-30, 2019.

● The Twins are 2-4 in their last six games. They have a team ERA of 3.76. The last full season (not counting 2020) that they finished with a team ERA this low was in 2005 when their staff posting an ERA of 3.71.

● Jose Miranda was hitting .229 with 16 runs batted in games through June 27 (40 games) but is hitting .348 (16-for-46) with 16 runs batted in since then (14 games). The 16 runs batted in during this last stretch leads all Minnesota players.

● Johnny Cueto is 3-1 in his last five starts after starting the season 0-3 in his first six appearances (five starts). He was 92-63 in eight seasons with the Reds from 2008 to 2015, while his opponent Sonny Gray, had a 23-20 record with Cincinnati from 2019-21.

METS (55-34) at CUBS (34-54)

● The Mets and Cubs are facing off for first time this season at Wrigley Field. The Mets have struggled at Wrigley as of late dropping six of their last seven series played there including getting swept in three games in April of last season.

● After winning their last game, the Mets have reached 55 wins before the All-Star break. This is their second time they have done so in franchise history, with the only other time coming in 1986 (59 wins) where they went on the win the World Series.

● Pete Alonso (74 RBI) and Francisco Lindor (64 RBI) lead all MLB teammate pairs with 136 RBI. This is tied for the second most RBI by two Mets’ teammates before the All-Star Break in their team’s history behind David Wright and Carlos Beltran’s 142 combined RBI in 2006.

● Chicago has scored three or less runs in six of their last seven games including six straight losses. The Cubs hold the fourth worst record in MLB when scoring three or less runs at home this season (2-19, .095).

● In his 11 games (five starts) at home this season, Keegan Thompson is 4-1 with a 2.14 ERA and an opponent batting average of .216. Thompson also posted a career high 9 strikeouts in a single game versus the Braves at Wrigley in mid-June.

● New York has scored first in six of their last eight games and hold the fourth best record in MLB when they score first (44-10, .815). Meanwhile, the Cubs have scored first the most times this season (56 games) but hold MLB’s worst record (28-28, .500) in those games.

MARINERS (47-42) at RANGERS (41-45)

● The Mariners have won five of their six games on the road against the Rangers dating back to last season. The Rangers were held to three or fewer runs in four of these six matchups. ● The Mariners are 10-1 in July and are riding their first 10-game winning streak since April 8- 17, 2002. They have an MLB leading 2.05 team ERA in July, the best mark in the American League by over a run (Baltimore Orioles – 3.07 ERA in July).

● Marco Gonzales has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts bringing his season ERA down to 3.24, good for 12th lowest in the AL. He's 2-1 with a 1.97 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and .562 opponent OPS in his last five starts against Texas.

● The Rangers have won back-to-back series for the second time this season. They have not won three series in a row since their three consecutive series victories between April 30th and May 9th of last season (Red Sox, Twins, Mariners).

● Rangers SS Corey Seager had his five-game home run streak snapped Wednesday but has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 contests (.381/.460/.810) with six homers and 13 RBI. He leads the AL in RBI (13) and OPS (1.165) in the month of July.

● Leody Taveras is 8-for-15 (.533) with six RBI during a four-game hitting streak. Since going 1-for-11 in his first four games of the season, he has a .373/.387/.576 slash line in 22 contests.

BREWERS (49-40) at GIANTS (45-42)

● The Giants took their only game versus the Brewers this season 4-2 on the back of homers from Joc Pederson and Luis Gonzalez. The Giants are 23-6 (.793) in games where they hit at least two home runs, the fourth best winning percentage in the majors.

● Corbin Burnes owns a 2.20 ERA and .89 WHIP this season. This is Burnes’ second consecutive season with an ERA under 2.5 and a WHIP under one at the break and if he keeps this up, he would be the 10th pitcher ever to do so in consecutive seasons dating back to 1933 (first MLB All-Star Game).

● Brewers RHP Devin Williams is unscored upon in 25 appearances since May 13, allowing eight hits and eight walks while striking out 39 over 23.2 IP. This is the second longest active games streak without a run among relievers to appear in 2022 (Ryne Stanek – 26).

● The Giants are coming off their first series win since taking two of three games in Pittsburgh in mid-June. Their 8-9 record (.471) versus the NL Central is their only losing record against any division this season.

● Carlos Rodon has allowed 0.36 (4/100) home runs per nine innings this season, the lowest rate in MLB among ERA qualifiers. Rodon has faced 169 straight batters without allowing a home run dating back to June 7th, the longest active streak among any starter in 2022.

● Giants IF Wilmer Flores is 9-for-20 (.450) with four homers and nine RBI during a five-game hitting. Flores’ four homers in five games is his second most hit in any five-game span (five HRs hit in five games between July 3-July 7, 2016) over his 946-game career.