FriarNotes: Darvish Throws Only Zeroes Since Return; Notes on Suarez, Solano, Campusano, 6-Run Innings
Yu Darvish has yet to give up a run in his two starts since returning from the injured list.
Over a pair of five-inning outings against Cincinnati at Petco Park and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Darvish has given up six hits and a walk with eight strikeouts in 10 scoreless innings. He gave up three hits in each outing.
He has also been efficient, using only 83 pitches against the Reds and 70 against the Cubs.
Plus, Darvish’s victories against the Reds and the cubs followed Padres losses. The Padres had lost five straight games when his victory over the Reds triggered a four-game winning streak.
Four of Darvish’s first seven starts this season have followed a Padres’ loss. The Padre are 3–1 in those games and Darvish has a 3.50 earned run average in his four starts as a stopper.
NOTES:
— For the second time this season — and in his career — Robert Suarez got a five-out save Monday night. Three of his league-leading 11 saves and his one win this season have come in outings longer than an inning. The Padres have a history of great closers with the list topped by Trevor Hoffman. But Suarez is cut more along the lines of earlier Hall of Fame closers Goose Gossage and Rollie Fingers, who worked in an era where closers worked up to three innings. On the season, Suarez — a 33-year-old Venezuelan who was signed out of Japan by A.J. Preller — has a 0.59 ERA, a 0.717 WHIP and a .143 opponents’ batting average — giving up one run on seven hits and four walks with 14 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings covering 14 games.
— When the Padres signed Donovan Solano as a minor league free agent on April 17, it was with an eye toward the 36-year-old Colombian helping fill the designated hitter role when Manny Machado was able to return to third base. Solano, a career .279 hitter with a .335 on-base percentage and a .712 OPS, made his Padres’ debut (2-for-3 with a walk, a RBI and a run scored) Monday night at third as Machado got a total day off with another newcomer (Luis Arraez) in the designated hitter role. Like Arraez, Solano can play first, second and third as well as DHing — giving the Padres added depth at four spots.
— C Luis Campusano was 2-for-4 with a three-run double in the Padres’ six-run sixth Monday night at Wrigley Field. Now 25, the Padres’ second-round pick in the 2017 draft, is hitting .274 on the season with nine doubles, two home runs and 22 RBIs in 32 games. As the Padres’ near the quarter-point of the season, Campusano is only 17 games shy of his career-high for games played.
— The Padres now have four innings of six or more runs in 38 games this season — one of only three clubs to have done that.
