After a week straight of losing games, the San Diego Padres finally put one back in the win column. With their win on Sunday afternoon, the club staved off the sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers. That, thankfully, put an end to the Friars’ eight-game losing streak. It has felt like much longer than that, but the club has started to look better. The last three games have felt especially healthy, despite San Diego being 1-2 in that span.
Starter JP Sears pitched four hitless innings against L.A.
before giving up a single in the bottom of the fifth. Bench coach Randy Knorr, who replaced Craig Stammen after the latter was ejected in the first inning, decided to pull Sears for unknown reasons. San Diego’s starters have looked better lately. They’ll need to keep that up against the Arizona Diamondbacks heading into their final homestand before the All-Star break.
Taking the mound
Brandon Pfaadt (AZ) v. Walker Buehler (SD)
Pfaadt has been a solid back-end starter for Arizona, but he’s struggled lately. This season, the righty owns a 5.40 ERA through just 43 1/3 innings pitched. Pfaadt’s pitched better as of late, but he still owns a 4.50 ERA across his last 14 innings.
San Diego should have no problems tagging the righty for some runs. Jake Croneworth owns a lifetime .409 batting average against him (22 at-bats). Similarly, third baseman Manny Machado has a 1.061 OPS versus Pfaadt. Both will look to continue that success.
After completely turning his season around, Buehler had a setback in his last start. Buehler had given up just one run apiece in every start he made in June. Then came his last outing against the Chicago Cubs. Nine earned runs in just four innings of work. It was, by far, the righty’s roughest outing this season.
The Friars will have to hope that Buehler can rebound quickly and quiet Arizona’s bats. The Diamondbacks haven’t been able to put many runs on the board lately. San Diego will hope to keep that up in the four-game set against them.
Batter up!
The lineup looked healthy against Los Angeles against everyone but Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Aside from that Game 3 shutout, the club put up a combined 15 runs in the series. Sunday’s eventual win came thanks to a Machado three-run shot that proved to be the difference maker.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, DH
- Sung-Mun Song, SS
- Rodolfo Durán, C
- Samad Taylor, LF
Tatis has also looked healthy, going 3-for-5 in the series finale. The only batter at the top of the lineup that has struggled is Cronenworth, after a hot start at the plate, he has struggled lately. He could be dropped in the order ahead of the series opener against Arizona. That would likely mean Taylor’s return to the number two spot.
Relief corps
The bullpen looked somewhat spotty in the finale but managed to lock things down. If not for Machado’s three-run homer in the seventh, the game would have been much closer thanks to the two runs L.A. got back. That said, Yuki Matsui and Bradgley Rodriguez pitched well through command issues. Adrian Morejon looked good, striking out three across 1 2/3 innings.
And then, the return of the Reaper. Mason Miller locked down his first save since June 23. In doing so, he put his ERA back below 1.00 after raising it on Saturday night. He pitched a perfect inning against the Dodgers and may pitch again tonight, but will likely be on the bench to rest. Kyle Hart, Alek Jacob, Ron Marinaccio and Wandy Peralta will be available for tonight’s opener against the Dbacks.
