The bats will have to come back to life tonight to avoid losing the series to the Braves. After last night's loss, our Padres will be playing for the split tonight as they wrap up their four-game set in Atlanta.
Jason Marquis is coming off his best start of the season. He threw a two-hit complete game shutout to clinch the series in Pittsburgh. Now he'll be given the task of helping our Padres avoid their first series loss since they faced the Reds in late July / early August. Our pitching hasn't been strong these past two nights, but our offense hasn't been much help either. But unlike earlier in the year, that isn't the case in most of the games they've been playing lately. Our boys just need to find their bats again and give Marquis some room to work with.
We'll be facing off against right-hander Kris Medlen. Since joining the rotation in place of the injured Jair Jurrjens, he has been fantastic for the Braves. He's given up only one earned run in each of his three starts so far. Most recently, he pitched 6 1/3 innings against the Mets, allowing only five hits while striking out seven. He's only pitched 3 1/3 innings all-time against our Padres, but has been tagged with two losses. He'll try to get his first career win against us tonight while remaining undefeated as a Braves starter.