The San Diego Padres dropped the series opener against the Boston Red Sox 5-2 on Friday and will turn to RHP Randy Vasquez to even up the series on Saturday.
The San Diego Padres have had a lot of misfortune nearly two weeks into the season, losing five of seven games and slumping offensively.
In its two series against the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants, the Padres lost the first two games and salvaged the finales to avoid being swept. After losing the series opener to the Boston Red Sox on Friday, San Diego has lost the opener in each series and is trending towards losing another series.
Starting pitching was a concern all throughout the offseason and so far, San Diego has gotten three great starts and four not-so-great starts.
Opening Day was a disaster for right-hander Nick Pivetta, then righty Michael King threw five one-hit innings with six strikeouts, followed by six two-hit innings with eight strikeouts from right-hander Randy Vasquez to close out the Tigers series.
The Giants series started with a low-scoring affair that saw righty Walker Buehler lose his Padres debut after he lasted four innings and allowed three runs, then right-hander German Marquez allowed four runs on eight hits through just three innings in a blowout loss and the series concluded with a masterful bounce-back performance from Pivetta, who threw five one-hit innings with eight strikeouts in a dominant win for the Padres.
King surrendered four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in 5.2 innings against the Red Sox and took the loss. He pitched well for the most part but ran into some trouble late in his outing. King was responsible for the runner on base that scored on Red Sox second baseman Marcelo Mayer’s two-run home run, a blast given up by lefty reliever Wandy Peralta.
It was a good effort from King, but the offense has been cold and pretty much nonexistent outside of left fielder Ramon Laureano. The 31-year-old has two homers and four RBI and is slashing .318/.348/.636 even after going 0-for-4 against Boston.
San Diego is batting just .192 as a team, the second-worst batting average in Major League Baseball. Its .554 OPS is worst in MLB by 45 points and 21 runs scored is the lowest mark as well (trailing Boston’s 22).
The Padres will look to warm up the bats in the second game of the series when it faces off against left-hander Connelly Early, who had a nice first outing against the Cincinnati Reds last weekend. Early threw 5.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits with six strikeouts in a no-decision.
Early will face the following lineup:
1. Fernando Tatis Jr. (RF)
2. Laureano (LF)
3. Miguel Andujar (DH)
4. Manny Machado (3B)
5. Xander Bogaerts (SS)
6. Freddy Fermin (C)
7. Ty France (1B)
8. Jake Cronenworth (2B)
9. Bryce Johnson (CF)
Vasquez will toe the rubber for the Padres and try to break the streak of losing the first two games of a series. He will face a lineup that is also trying to get on track:
1. Roman Anthony (DH)
2. Trevor Story (SS)
3. Jarren Duran (LF)
4. Willson Contreras (1B)
5. Wilyer Abreu (RF)
6. Caleb Durbin (3B)
7. Mayer (2B)
8. Carlos Narvaez (C)
9. Ceddanne Rafaela
Vasquez will need to be careful of Abreu, who is off to a blistering start. He is 11-for-28 (.393 BA) with three home runs and six RBI.
First pitch is at 4:10 p.m. EST on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.