Dodgers/Giants Highlight Weekend Series Beginning Thursday

GIANTS (30-19) at DODGERS (30-19)

● These teams are each 30-19, tied for second place in the N.L. West. It’s only the third season among the last 40 in which each team won at least 30 of its first 50 games (also 2003 and 2015).

● The Giants have scored only 41 runs in their last 18 games against the Dodgers (2.3 per game) dating back to September 7, 2019.

● The Dodgers were held to three hits by the Astros yesterday, their lowest total in any game this month.

● Buster Posey has hit 17 home runs against the Dodgers and Brandon Belt has 16, the most homers for the Giants against the Dodgers since Barry Bonds retired with 53 home runs against L.A.

● Max Muncy homered in each of his last two games against the Giants, and he’s hit nine home runs against them since 2019, four more than any other player on either side of this rivalry in that time.

● Alex Wood has not allowed more than two runs in any of his last seven starts while throwing at least five innings in each of those games.

ORIOLES (17-32) at WHITE SOX (28-20)

● The White Sox have the third best run differential in the major leagues this season (+69) while the Orioles are third worst (-56).

● The Orioles have lost nine in a row and 16 of their last 18. That’s tied for their worst 18-game stretch over the last 19 seasons.

● The White Sox were shut out by the Cardinals yesterday and left a season-high 13 men on base.

● Trey Mancini has scored 13 runs over the last 10 games, and he’s scored at least one in nine of those 10 games (all but Tuesday in Minnesota).

● Nick Madrigal has had consecutive three-hit games, tying the longest streak by a rookie this season (done four other times, including by Yermin Mercedes). The only major-league player to have three straight games with three or more hits this season was Giancarlo Stanton (April 28-30).

● Bruce Zimmermann has not lasted five innings in any of his last four starts, although he did have a relief outing of 5.2 innings during that stretch. Dylan Cease allowed an average of 1.85 home runs per nine innings over the last two seasons, but he’s permitted only three home runs in 45.1 innings this season (0.60 per nine innings).

ANGELS (22-27) at ATHLETICS (29-22)

● The Angels won the season series from the Athletics each season from 2014 to 2018 but since 2019, the A’s are 21-11 against the Angels, and won the season series in each of the past two seasons.

● The Angels have won three straight games, tying their longest winning streak of the season (April 3-5), and their 26 runs since Sunday are their most in a three-game span this season.

● The A’s hit nine home runs in their series against the Angels last weekend, tied for the second highest total in a three-game series in the major leagues this season – only the Rays have hit more (11 vs. Orioles, May 18-20).

● Taylor Ward had five RBIs yesterday after never previously having had more than two in any of his previous 113 games in the major leagues.

● Mark Canha leads the major leagues with 40 runs scored, and he’s scored 12 times over his last 11 games.

● The only one of Shohei Ohtani’s pitching starts in which he didn’t make it out of the first inning was his last start against the A’s on July 26 last year, when he gave up five runs without getting an out. Chris Bassitt is tied for the major-league lead in hit batters this season (seven).

CARDINALS (27-22) at DIAMONDBACKS (18-32)

● The Cardinals are 92-60 (.605) all-time against the Diamondbacks, the highest winning percentage for any National League team against Arizona.

● This is the 14th consecutive season that the Cardinals will be .500 or better at the 50-game mark. The last season in which they had a losing record through 50 games was 2007.

● At 18-32, the Diamondbacks have tied the second-worst 50-game start in team history. They were also 18-32 in 2004, and 16-34 in 1998, their inaugural season.

● Ketel Marte hit .462 (12-for-26) with six extra-base hits over his first six games this season before going on the injured list. Since coming off the IL, Marte is hitting .182 (4-for-22) with one extra-base hit in seven games.

● Edmundo Sosa’s current eight-game hitting streak is one shy of the longest by a rookie this season. Texas’ Adolis Garcia and Minnesota’s Alex Kirilloff each had nine-game hitting streaks.

● Carlos Martinez is averaging 4.6 strikeouts per nine innings, the fewest among pitchers who have thrown 40+ innings this season. Left-handed batters have three home runs and a .579 slugging average against Matt Peacock this season; right-handed batters have one homer and are slugging .277.

RANGERS (22-29) at MARINERS (23-27)

● In the last series between these teams (May 7-9), each team had 10 or more hits in each game. Each team has had only two games of 10+ hits since that series.

● The Rangers have lost their last eight road games, their longest streak since a 10-game road losing streak in 2014.

● The Mariners have scored no more than four runs in any of their last 10 games. That’s the longest such streak in the major leagues this season, and Seattle’s longest since 2015 (13 games).

● Kyle Lewis has had multiple hits in each of his three games against the Rangers, as many as he has in 28 other games this season. Lewis has not had consecutive multiple-hit games at any other point this season.

● Adolis Garcia has an RBI in five straight games, tied for the second longest streak by a rookie in Rangers history (done most recently by Michael Choice in 2014). David Murphy had a six-game RBI streak in April 2008.

● Kolby Allard, who is making his first start of the season, has a 6.53 ERA in 18 starts in the major leagues, and a 4.67 ERA in 15 relief appearances. Chris Flexen has allowed a .333 batting average, the highest of any pitcher who has thrown at least 30 innings this season.