<img alt="MLB: MAY 20 Padres at Braves - Game 2" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lq3mp6LAVONQQ-KWYRujct_jASY=/0x0:7213x4809/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73459979/2153457201.0.jpg">
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Will the Padres reap what they sowed by avoiding a Cease-Sale matchup, or will the Braves struggle against Randy Vasquez? The pitching matchups for this series have been all sorts of wacky, as the Padres “skipped” originally-scheduled-for-Friday starter Randy Vasquez, pushing up Matt Waldron and Dylan Cease. That deprived us of witnessing a Chris Sale-Dylan Cease battle of aces on the final day of the “first half,” and instead, we get a Chris Sale-Randy Vasquez matchup this afternoon.
At this point, Chris Sale and his video game numbers need little introduction. He has the second-most fWAR in baseball among starting pitchers, but is the only guy in the top ten with 17 starts thus far. He probably won’t put up the 0.4-plus fWAR he needs to tie or exceed Garrett Crochet for the MLB lead in this start, but with Sale, you never know. He has an absurd 66 ERA-, 57 FIP-, and 62 xFIP-, his xERA is in that same range, and he’s had just one bad start (in which he still had a 94 xFIP-) all season. It’s hard to say that he’s been on a particular roll lately, because of how good his overall numbers are, but his line in his last six outings is 52/43/57, which is even more mind-boggling than his overall line. Basically, Chris Sale, he’s been dominant. Today, he’s the Padres’ problem to deal with.
Opposing him, rather than having pitched in the opener for this series, is the aforementioned Vasquez. Acquired from the Yankees in the Juan Soto blockbuster, his first season in San Diego has been pretty blah, as he’s essentially just been your generic fifth starter: 120 ERA-, 129 FIP-, 113 xFIP-. He’s definitely had some good outings, like his most recent start (6/1 K/BB ratio, a homer allowed, in 6 1⁄3 innings against the Diamondbacks), but that was also the first time in four starts that he had more strikeouts than walks.
This matchup is a rematch of earlier this season, when the Braves won 3-0. Sale was dominant, delivering to the Braves their only win of that four-game series, with a 9/0 K/BB ratio in seven scoreless frames. Vasquez, well, had the misfortune of facing Sale. He was charged with three runs while putting up a 2/0 K/BB ratio. Marcell Ozuna tagged him for a homer, but he had given up two runs before then as well, as the Braves cashed in extra-base hits with singles. The Braves will take that sort of result again, as they try to figure out how to navigate the rest of the season with an injury-depleted roster that now has the league’s third-largest xwOBA underperformance.
One thing worth noting about this game and this series is that all three starters the Padres have used or will use in this series have giant platoon splits. The Braves won the first game off Matt Waldron without lefties doing any damage, and no one did any damage off Dylan Cease yesterday. Vasquez has some truly horrific numbers against lefties (7.31 FIP, 5.49 xFIP), so maybe at least that part of the game will go according to the script for once. Braves lefties have just a .250 xwOBA and .147 wOBA in 31 collective PAs in this series, compared to a .326 xwOBA and .395 wOBA in 39 PAs from righties, despite these platoon splits.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 14, 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
XM Radio: Ch. 186 / Online
<img alt="MLB: MAY 20 Padres at Braves - Game 2" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lq3mp6LAVONQQ-KWYRujct_jASY=/0x0:7213x4809/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73459979/2153457201.0.jpg">
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Will the Padres reap what they sowed by avoiding a Cease-Sale matchup, or will the Braves struggle against Randy Vasquez? The pitching matchups for this series have been all sorts of wacky, as the Padres “skipped” originally-scheduled-for-Friday starter Randy Vasquez, pushing up Matt Waldron and Dylan Cease. That deprived us of witnessing a Chris Sale-Dylan Cease battle of aces on the final day of the “first half,” and instead, we get a Chris Sale-Randy Vasquez matchup this afternoon.
At this point, Chris Sale and his video game numbers need little introduction. He has the second-most fWAR in baseball among starting pitchers, but is the only guy in the top ten with 17 starts thus far. He probably won’t put up the 0.4-plus fWAR he needs to tie or exceed Garrett Crochet for the MLB lead in this start, but with Sale, you never know. He has an absurd 66 ERA-, 57 FIP-, and 62 xFIP-, his xERA is in that same range, and he’s had just one bad start (in which he still had a 94 xFIP-) all season. It’s hard to say that he’s been on a particular roll lately, because of how good his overall numbers are, but his line in his last six outings is 52/43/57, which is even more mind-boggling than his overall line. Basically, Chris Sale, he’s been dominant. Today, he’s the Padres’ problem to deal with.
Opposing him, rather than having pitched in the opener for this series, is the aforementioned Vasquez. Acquired from the Yankees in the Juan Soto blockbuster, his first season in San Diego has been pretty blah, as he’s essentially just been your generic fifth starter: 120 ERA-, 129 FIP-, 113 xFIP-. He’s definitely had some good outings, like his most recent start (6/1 K/BB ratio, a homer allowed, in 6 1⁄3 innings against the Diamondbacks), but that was also the first time in four starts that he had more strikeouts than walks.
This matchup is a rematch of earlier this season, when the Braves won 3-0. Sale was dominant, delivering to the Braves their only win of that four-game series, with a 9/0 K/BB ratio in seven scoreless frames. Vasquez, well, had the misfortune of facing Sale. He was charged with three runs while putting up a 2/0 K/BB ratio. Marcell Ozuna tagged him for a homer, but he had given up two runs before then as well, as the Braves cashed in extra-base hits with singles. The Braves will take that sort of result again, as they try to figure out how to navigate the rest of the season with an injury-depleted roster that now has the league’s third-largest xwOBA underperformance.
One thing worth noting about this game and this series is that all three starters the Padres have used or will use in this series have giant platoon splits. The Braves won the first game off Matt Waldron without lefties doing any damage, and no one did any damage off Dylan Cease yesterday. Vasquez has some truly horrific numbers against lefties (7.31 FIP, 5.49 xFIP), so maybe at least that part of the game will go according to the script for once. Braves lefties have just a .250 xwOBA and .147 wOBA in 31 collective PAs in this series, compared to a .326 xwOBA and .395 wOBA in 39 PAs from righties, despite these platoon splits.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 14, 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
XM Radio: Ch. 186 / Online
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