Both the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners are coming off four-game sweeps over divisional opponents as they begin a three-game set on Tuesday.
The San Diego Padres are welcoming the Seattle Mariners to Petco Park for a three-game series after both teams completed four-game sweeps of its respective division rivals.
The Padres swept the Colorado Rockies and outscored them 28-12 over the four games while the Mariners swept the Houston Astros and outscored them 29-16 in their four-game set.
Before Seattle’s sweep, the team was 4-9 and the worst offensive team in Major League Baseball according to most categories. This is shaping up to be a typical Mariners season: excellent pitching (2.95 ERA, second-best with MLB-leading 10 quality starts) with a mediocre offense.
San Diego’s offense, specifically its star players, had a cold start to the season as well but have combined great hitting with solid pitching to go 9-2 this month ahead of the series opener with Seattle. The team’s OPS was near the bottom of the league last week, and it has crept up to 16th, so it appears the team has finally shaken off the rust.
The Padres will get much better once star right fielder (and now second baseman) Fernando Tatis Jr., center fielder Jackson Merrill, third baseman Manny Machado and shortstop Xander Bogaerts begin to hit like themselves again.
It’ll be a tough task to do so against Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo, who gets the ball in the series opener. Woo is 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA and 0.78 WHIP across 18 innings of work thus far and hasn’t gone less than five innings in any of his three starts.
He threw six innings of two-run ball on four hits and a walk with nine strikeouts against the Cleveland Guardians in his first outing. Woo then toed the slab against the Los Angeles Angels and allowed just one hit and one walk while punching out six over seven shutout innings before pitching five innings and allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks with two strikeouts against the Texas Rangers.
The Padres will turn to right-hander Michael King, who has been good since re-signing with San Diego during the offseason. King is 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 16.2 innings. He surrendered just one unearned run on one hit and four walks with six strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers his first time out which was followed by 5.2 innings of four-run ball on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox. King’s last outing saw him complete six innings and allow two runs on four hits and three walks while adding four strikeouts against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Given that closer Mason Miller hasn't worked since April 10, expect him to get an inning regardless of the score to keep him locked in on his quest towards becoming the first reliever to win the Cy Young award since Eric Gagne won it in 2003.
First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. PDT on ESPN Unlimited, MLB.TV and regional sports networks.