Craig Stammen gambles on experience over recent form, tapping the veteran southpaw to stifle Milwaukee’s lineup despite his postseason struggles and a rocky tenure in San Diego.
The San Diego Padres rolled to a 2-0 series win against the Chicago Cubs in a short Wild Card series.
The pitching dominated, and the bats came to life as the Padres outscored the Cubs, 12-1, in the two-game series.
Nick Pivetta had a short start on Game 2, but Gavin Sheets' monster pinch-hit home run helped lead San Diego to victory in a wild scene at Petco Park.
Going into the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee unsurprisingly decided to use Cy Young candidate Jacob Misiorowski for Game 1, although Padres manager Craig Stammen had a trickier decision.
Many expected it to be Walker Buehler, but the decision came on Friday that veteran Robbie Ray will get the ball for the opener.
The Padres acquired Ray in a deal with the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline. However, Ray has not lived up to the hype just yet.
In nine starts with San Diego, he has a 5.02 ERA. He has gone six innings in four starts, but he has allowed four or more runs in three starts and failed to get past the fourth inning in three of those.
Ray last pitched against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 23, and he went 3.1 innings, allowing just one run but giving up seven hits before being removed.
In Ray's career, he has five postseason appearances. Two came with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017, and he had a 6.75 ERA in 6.2 innings. The other three came with the Seattle Mariners in 2022, when Ray went just 3.2 innings with a 12.27 ERA.
Ray is definitely rested, and he hasn't pitched since the Sep. 23 start against LA.
The other choices were likely between Walker Buehler and Randy Vasquez, and the expectation has been that Michael King will start Game 2 on Sunday, which sets King up for his usual rest.
Here's one stat that bodes well for an Diego regarding the choice to start Ray.
Ray faced the Brewers on August 12, and he went four innings and allowed two runs on two hits, so he didn't do bad in just his third start in a Padres uniform.
There is a chance that Vasquez or Buehler is available out of the bullpen if Ray gets in trouble early on.
At the end of the day, it might be a gamble by Craig Stammen.
