The San Diego Padres are returning to Petco Park today after a wonderful stretch for the Friars on the road.
After starting off the season 2-4, they won both away series and are coming back to San Diego sitting at .500. The vibes are high after their 8-2 shellacking of the Pittsburgh Pirates yesterday.
With a pitcher’s duel going through six-plus innings between starters Michael King and Mitch Keller, the Friars put up a four-run seventh inning. It was a lead they wouldn’t surrender, despite King and Kyle
Hart allowing two runs in the bottom of the seventh to the Bucs.
The game reminded the Friar Faithful who the Padres are. Their pitching mostly dominated, the offense hammered mistakes and they were aggressive on the base paths.
With a four-game series against the division-rival Colorado Rockies starting today, San Diego will look to capitalize on their momentum.
Taking the mound
Jimmy Herget (COL) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
With José Quintana scratched after landing on the injured list with a right hamstring strain, the Rockies didn’t announce their starting pitcher until today.
They’ll likely make it a bullpen game after ace Michael Lorenzen pitched 5 2/3 innings against the Houston Astros in Colorado’s 9-1 win yesterday. Jimmy Herget will lead off the group.
The Rockies’ bullpen has been quite good through the first two weeks of the season, posting a 2.91 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. It would be a surprise if San Diego can’t find a solution for their division rivals, with them going 10-3 against Colorado last season.
However, in the past the Friars have (for whatever reason) had difficulty beating the struggling Rox. They did a good job last year putting those woes to bed, hopefully they can tonight as well.
Vásquez has shown flashes of bonafide ace stuff in his first two starts for the club. In 12 innings pitched, he has a 0.75 ERA with only one run allowed thus far.
Vásquez was a back-end starter for the Padres going into this year, but he’s pitching like a front-end one. He’s managed to stymie a Detroit Tigers lineup that, two days earlier, tagged Nick Pivetta for six runs.
There’s nothing to suggest he can’t handle this Rockies lineup just like he did the Tigers and the Boston Red Sox already this year. But, if Vásquez does stumble, the bullpen is rested well enough to dominate.
Batter up!
With Manny Machado getting a rest day yesterday, he’ll be back at the hot corner tonight. But Miguel Andujar had a great day in his place, going 2-for-4 at the plate. This road trip has been great for Andujar, after ending the homestand with a .167 batting average, he’s since raised it to .310 in the last six games.
But Nick Castellanos was also great yesterday (1 H, 2 RBI, 1 BB). This is exactly what San Diego had in mind when they signed Castellanos and Andujar: make it difficult to not have them in the lineup:
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Nick Castellanos, 1B
- Freddy Fermin, C
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
If the offense can keep it rolling after pounding out 24 hits against Pittsburgh, they’ll be able to solve the Rockies’ pitching staff easily.
Relief corps
King went six full innings yesterday and came back out for the seventh before giving up back-to-back hits. That forced manager Craig Stammen’s hand and he was lifted in favor of Kyle Hart. Hart looked a little shaky but managed to get out relatively unscathed (1 H, 1 BB).
Behind him was Jeremiah Estrada in the eighth inning and closer Mason Miller in the ninth. Estrada looked more like his usual dominant self despite his recent lackluster performances.
Miller’s strikeout streak came to an end at 11 with Jake Mangum’s game-ending groundout, but he has still yet to allow a run in 26 2/3 innings.
Today’s game will likely see Bradgley Rodriguez, Wandy Peralta, Ron Marinaccio, Adrian Morejon and David Morgan available out of the ‘pen.
Morejon has struggled lately, and that was highlighted by his inability to get more than one out in Tuesday’s 1-7 loss to the Pirates. If he can begin to rebound from his (thus far) dull performance, it will go a long way towards assuaging worries about his relief appearances.
Miller will likely be available as well to close even though he pitched yesterday. He was efficient, only throwing 10 pitches, and the Friars have shown a willingness to use him in consecutive games.
