Game: Pittsburgh Pirates @ San Diego Padres
Time: 9:40 p.m.
Odds: Pirates +234, Padres -265
Total: 8
On Tuesday night in San Diego, there will be a huge left-handed pitching matchup between the pitcher of the month and the pitcher of the ages. The oldest player in the major leagues right now, Rich Hill of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who is 43 years old, will take on Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres, the National League Pitcher of the Month for June.
Hill has a 4.84 ERA and a 7-9 record this year. Snell is 6-8 with a 2.67 ERA and is a victim of the Padres’ underwhelming offense. Over his last 11 starts, Snell has an ERA of 0.71 allowing a total of just five earned runs.
Hill has impressive career stats against the Padres and is well-liked throughout the baseball community. Hill dropped his first three contests against the Padres in the early stages of his career. However, since 2016, Hill has made 11 starts and has a 7-1 record with a 2.14 ERA against the Padres. In a 9-4 victory for the Pirates last month against San Diego in Pittsburgh, he earned a victory by limiting the Padres to four runs on nine hits over six innings.
In 14 career starts against the Padres, Hill has a 7-4 overall record, a 1.099 WHIP, a .212 opponents’ batting average, and a 3.26 ERA. He is 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA in five starts at Petco Park. The one big thing Hill has allowed is 14 home runs in 77.1 innings against the Padres. Eight of those homers were given up in 26 innings at Petco Park.
This is Hill’s 19th major league season and it got off to a strong start, but he has slowed down in July. Opponents are hitting .284 opponents’ against Hill this month and he has a 6.53 ERA, a 1.645 WHIP, and is 0-2 in four starts in July.
Snell, on the other hand, has been outstanding over the last two months. He has pitched 63 innings while only allowing five runs on 36 hits. He also has recorded 95 strikeouts. This equates to 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings and an average of 5.1 hits.
Snell has occasionally been held back by his command and control. He’s always had a high strikeout total. His pitch count, however, skyrockets when he faces deep counts, as it did in his most recent start on Thursday in Toronto. He averaged 21 pitches per inning while limiting the Blue Jays to one run on five hits in five innings, but he also walked seven batters.
Even though Snell has had an outstanding season, this could be his final start for the Padres. At the end of this season, he will be a free agent. There is growing talk that Snell and closer Josh Hader might be available at the trade deadline given San Diego’s lack of progress in the playoff race. The Padres are 5-2 in their last seven games at home.
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