The Padres send Michael King against Ben Lively of the Guardians Sunday afternoon in Cleveland. In a year in which walks and home runs are down, King saw both those rates increase. It’s an interesting change for him given that he moved from a pretty good home run park in The Bronx to a tougher one in San Diego. Lively lowered his ERA about two runs by moving north in Ohio. He’s pitched about the same number of innings he did for the Reds in 2023, but allowed five fewer home runs. His walk and strikeout numbers are almost identical, but I suspect the Guardians defense has helped as he allowed 18 fewer hits overall.

The Astros are now a game ahead of the Mariners as Houston tries not to be sweepless in Seattle. Ronel Blanco takes the mound against Bryan Woo. Blanco holds batter to a .169 BA this season based on a .180 BABIP. The way to score against him is the home run, as he allowed sixteen of those, accounting for one quarter of the hits against him. Woo comes into the game with a 2.45 ERA in nine starts and forty four innings. He walked just five batters while recording a mere 29 K. All the balls in play don’t do much damage, as the BABIP against him is just .261.

Enjoy!