It was a dismal road trip for the San Diego Padres. The club dropped five of six games and now returns home to Petco Park on the outside of the playoff picture. They aren’t outside it by much (half a game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks), but it hurts. San Diego was viewed as one of the hottest teams in baseball. The Friars have cooled off significantly since then.
Now they’ll turn to the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals at home. The two teams own some of the most potent offenses in all of MLB.
San Diego’s pitching staff will need to lock it down if they hope to win either series. Not only that, but the Friars will need to rediscover some slug. They’ve lost it somewhat lately, but could rediscover it against two of the worst bullpens in baseball.
Taking the mound
Max Fried (NYY) v. Walker Buehler (SD)
Fried has spent a major part of his sophomore season in New York on the injured list. The lefty has pitched just 90 innings, though Fried has been remarkably effective during that time. The Yankees’ pitcher owns a 2.80 ERA through 16 starts. His strikeout numbers are down a little, but he’s still pitched quite well when he is on the mound.
The left-hander is coming off of an electric month of August. Fried posted a minuscule 1.33 ERA across four starts in the month. That said, his final start was just 3 2/3 innings after missing some more time on the injured list. The Yanks have planned to use Fried alongside Will Warren in a piggyback system for the series opener.
Despite his subpar stat line, Buehler has been one of the most valuable pitchers in baseball. The veteran right-hander has stabilized San Diego’s rotation alongside Michael King. Buehler had some tough stretches, hence his overblown 4.66 ERA, but he’s been fantastic down the stretch. Across his last seven starts, Buehler owns a 3.19 ERA (36.2 IP).
Apart from Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon, the Bronx Bombers don’t have much experience against the righty. The majority of that trio’s experience against Buehler comes due to their tenures in the NL West (Goldschmidt, Dbacks; Grisham, Padres; McMahon, Rockies). The three have a combined batting average of .235 against Buehler.
Batter up!
Despite their tough stretch, the Friars have hit quite well, scoring four or more runs in four of their last six games. They scored three in the other two games. They’ll need to turn it up against New York if they hope to reverse their recent misfortunes.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Dustin Harris, LF
- Freddy Fermin, C
- Ethan Salas, DH
With Salas making his MLB debut behind the dish on Wednesday in the series finale, it’s uncertain if he’ll play in the home opener. It seems likely that, if he does, it will be as the designated hitter with Fermin behind the plate, though that remains to be seen.
Relief corps
With starter Casey Mize working through just four innings, the bullpen was taxed a bit on Wednesday. Mize departed having surrendered four runs before Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Kyle Hart and Jhony Brito covered the rest of the game. All but Morgan surrendered a run.
Now, the bullpen is rested and will hopefully be reset after their off day on Thursday. The readily available options for the Padres are Griffin Canning, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez. Those final three represent San Diego’s highest-leverage options.
