FriarNotes: Merrill Continues Home Run Binge; Notes on Higashioka, Vásquez, Morejon and Home/Road Balancing
With his home run Saturday, rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill has hit seven home runs in the last 10 games.
Merrill is the only Padres’ rookie to ever have seven home runs in a 10-game span.
Other notes about Merrill’s Saturday:
— At 440 feet to center, it was the longest home run of Merrill’s career by 29 feet.
— The home run was Merrill’s 10th of the season and his career. Only Fernando Tatis Jr. had 10 homers for the Padres at a younger age.
Several other Merrill notes from Saturday:
— He was 3-for-3 with the home run, three RBIs and a walk. It was his sixth game with three or more hits and the three RBIs were a career high.
— His second-inning single came on the last pitch of a 13-pitch at-bat. It was the longest at-bat of his Major League career and the longest by a Padre this season.
Over his last 10 games, Merrill is 13-for-34 with the seven home runs, 11 RBIs, two walks and eight runs scored for a .382 batting average, a .417 on-base percentage and a 1.000 slugging percentage for a 1.417 OPS.
Merrill is now 75-for-259 on the season with eight doubles, a triple, 10 homers, 35 RBIs and 34 runs scored with a .290/.327/.444/.771 slash line.
NOTES:
— C Kyle Higashioka’s home run Saturday was his fifth in June in just 34 at-bats. He is hitting .235 this month (8-for-34) with a triple, the five home runs (including a walk-off) and nine RBIs, three walks and seven runs scored — for a .297 on-base percentage and a .735 slugging percentage for a 1.033 OPS. Higashioka also threw out two baserunners Saturday for the third time this season and the fifth time in his career.
— RHP Randy Vásquez allowed five hits and three walks with three strikeouts over five shutout innings Saturday. He improve to 2–4 on the season while lowering his earned run average to 5.10. Saturday marked the first time this season that Vásquez left a game without allowing a run.
— LHP Adrian Morejon worked a perfect inning Saturday and has been scored upon in only one of his last eight outings and two of his last 14. Over those 14 outings, Morejon has given up three runs on 10 hits and five walks with 14 strikeouts in 19 innings for a 1.42 ERA and a 0.789 WHIP. On the season, Morejon is 1–1 with a 2.23 ERA, a 1.113 WHIP and a .231 opponents’ batting average with a 4.38-to-1 strikeouts-to-walk ratio while averaging 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
— The Padres go into Sunday’s looking to extend their winning streak to a season-best five games. The Padres are 8–1 in their last nine home games — with six of those wins played before sellout crowds — to improve to 21–21 at home this season. On the flip side, the Padres have lost nine of their last 10 road games to slip to 20–19 on the road after starting 19–10.
