Newfound San Diego slug not enough, drops second straight series

Lucas Giolito of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Texas Rangers

The San Diego Padres have had a rough go of things lately. After a week of facing easier opponents and performing inconsistently, they’ll now face three of the toughest teams in MLB over the next two weeks. The Friars have seven games against the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers, three against the Chicago Cubs and three versus the Atlanta Braves.

They’ll play Game 1 against Atlanta tonight after dropping the rubber game to the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon. After scoring 13 runs in their first two games against Texas, the Friars’ lineup went mostly dormant in the series finale.

They had one productive inning, scoring three runs in the fourth. But a bad send by the third base coach resulted in Gavin Sheets being out at home plate. Had he stayed at third, San Diego would have scored at least four runs in the frame. Instead, the Friars lost by one run, unable to make up the difference. They’ll need to play much better this series, otherwise it’ll be a long week for the Friar Faithful.

Holmes has been a solid back end option for Atlanta, posting a 4.33 ERA through 68 2/3 innings pitched. The righty is in his third year in the majors and has cemented himself as a serviceable starter for the Braves.

That said, he hasn’t done a great job of limiting baserunners. Holmes owns a 1.40 WHIP (1.50 in his last seven starts), exemplifying his troubles with finding the strike zone consistently. The Padres will need to take advantage of those mistakes tonight.

Despite looking like an ace for the first half of the year, King has been downright awful lately. In his last seven starts, the right-hander owns a 4.58 ERA. He’s surrendered three-plus runs in five straight starts and has yet to show signs of turning things around.

King posted an ERA under 3.00 through the season until his start on May 30 against the Athletics. Since then, his ERA has rise from 2.76 to 3.60 in just 23 innings of work (15 ER). Atlanta has one of the most potent lineups in baseball. If King can return to form, now is the perfect time to do so.

The Padres don’t have an abundance of experience against Holmes. The experience they do have has bee successful, but it’s a small sample size. They’ll need to continue to slug the way they did in Texas if they hope to have any chances of beating Atlanta.

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. Will Wagner, DH

8. Ty France, 1B

9. Rodolfo Durán, C

After Tatis got a day off from starting in yesterday’s series finale, he’ll be back in the lineup today. He’s been electric lately, hitting .339/382/.484 in his last 15 games with a .826 OPS. Manager Craig Stammen might rest another one of his starters today, but it seems unlikely given the opponent the Friars are facing.

With San Diego using Wandy Peralta as an opener for starter Lucas Giolito, the combination was able to get through five innings after Giolito found trouble in the third inning. Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio and Yuki Matsui covered a scoreless inning apiece from there on.

That gives the Friars some wiggle room with their ‘pen. Should the game be close, Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan and Mason Miller will all be available to pitch in relief. Adam has struggled to limit hard contact lately — giving up two home runs in the Rangers series — but has been one of the most trustworthy relievers of the past few years.