The San Diego Padres will send Robbie Ray to the mound for the first time, and expectations are high against Houston.
The San Diego Padres acquired a couple of reliable starters at the trade deadline, and they’ll debut the second one tonight against the Houston Astros. The first, Casey Mize, bombed in his his first test against the Arizona Diamondbacks this week, but they’re hoping for better results from Robbie Ray against the Houston Astros.
On paper, this one should go better. Ray is a former Cy Young winner, so he’s a notch up the ladder from Mize, who’s a good pitcher but doesn’t have nearly the same level of bona fides.
Ray has been nails in his last four starts, giving up just three earned runs, including his last outing against the Padres when he shut down the San Diego lineup for the San Francisco Giants. The Padres managed just four hits to go with a walk and six strikeouts, so the Padres would love to get anything close to that tonight. Ray is also pitching to an ERA of 3.08, so those expectations are more than reasonable.
The fly in the ointment is the timeline here. A lot of the new trade acquisitions have been coughing up hairball starts across baseball right now, mostly due to the combination of travel, adapting to a new environment and being shut down before the deadline to protect a valuable asset. That’s what happened to Mize, and there’s no reason it couldn’t happen again.
As for the Astros, they’re a horse of a very different color. They just lost two of three to the Toronto Blue Jays, but before that they mounded a hot streak that allowed them to climb to the top of the AL West standings.
That’s not necessarily a big deal given that they’re just two games over .500 at 59-57, but they have just as much as the Padres right now, maybe more given that they have two possible roads to the postseason via a division title or a wild card berth.
Houston starter Ronel Blanco is an opportunity waiting to be capitalized on. He’s made just three starts so far, and the 32-year old right-hander has given up a total of 12 runs in those starts. The Padres offense has been more productive lately, and the key to this game will be getting off to an early lead to give Ray a comfort zone and some room to operate.
The Padres will follow up with Michael King starting tomorrow night, which represents an excellent chance to take this series and either move up or solidify their position as playoff contenders.
