After throttling of rivals in Game 1, tables turn on San Diego

After reeling off a four-game win streak against baseball’s two top teams, the San Diego Padres were dealt their worst loss of the season at the hands of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. L.A. scored 15 runs in total, nine of which came in the sixth inning after Randy Vásquez struggled to locate his pitches, and Will Wagner made a crucial error at second base.

It was a tough game to watch. But, at the end of the day, it’s just one loss. Hopefully, the Friars can pick up where they left off in Game 1, and take the rubber match Sunday afternoon.

Sheehan’s had a rough go of it lately in the Dodgers’ rotation. After looking like a serviceable back end starter for most of the season, he’s pitched incredibly poor in the month of June. He owns a 7.31 ERA in this month alone. It’s ballooned his ERA from 4.50 at the beginning of the month to 5.32 entering today’s matchup.

That said, the Friars’ lineup owns a combined .250 batting average (24 at-bats) against the right-hander. Admittedly, it’s a small sample size, but the club will need to perform much better in the series finale today in order to finish the week on a high note.

Speaking of high notes, King’s last start against the Atlanta Braves was the best game he’s pitched since he last faced the Dodgers. After pitching seven shutout innings against them in May, King was ridiculously inconsistent until facing Atlanta. He had given up three-plus runs in all five of his starts since facing L.A. for a total of 19 earned runs over 26 2/3 innings.

There was a lot to like about his outings, but King couldn’t seem to limit damage in the big innings. He struggled to command his pitches well, and things went off the rails quickly. He’ll hope to continue his resurgence against the division rivals in the series finale today.

If the Friars are going to take the series finale, Sheehan’s the best Dodgers starter to do so against. He’s struggled lately and doesn’t have the best track record against Padres batters. That said, with not much experience versus the righty, San Diego will need to push down on the gas.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
2. Samad Taylor, RF
3. Jackson Merrill, CF
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Gavin Sheets, LF
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. Ty France, 1B
8. Miguel Andujar, DH
9. Rodolfo Durán, C

Tatis has started in right field throughout this series. It’s likely that changes after Wagner’s costly error last night. But, Sung-Mun Song could also start at second base if called upon. The Friars haven’t used him much since calling him up, but it could be worth giving him a shot against Sheehan.

Vásquez looked great through three innings of work. After Kyle Hart opened for him, surrendering one run through two innings of work, Vásquez made it through the fifth inning scoreless before the dreaded sixth. The Padres were tied one apiece before he proceeded to give up seven runs to Los Angeles.

Not helping was Ron Marinaccio, who relieved Vásquez. He surrendered two more runs in the inning and three more in the eighth. David Morgan came in and gave up a run before finishing it off. Catcher Rodolfo Durán pitched the ninth with the game well out of hand. Not even he left unscathed, surrendering a run to the Dodgers.

All that to say, it was an uncharacteristic outing for the Friars’ pitching staff. Unfortunately, it’s a continuing problem for Vásquez, but that’s a separate topic entirely. The one hopeful note is that it saved the high-leverage relievers for today’s finale. Jason Adam, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Wandy Peralta are readily available out of the ‘pen. None has an ERA above 2.60 (Adam) across the last 30 games.