Game Preview: Game 119 @ Atlanta Braves

After the Braves shut us out and evened up the series last night, our Padres need to come out strong tonight and get the advantage back with a victory in game 3. Not only will our offense be looking to bounce back from last night, but Edinson Volquez hopes to rebound from a couple of rough outings.

Volquez only lasted 3 1/3 innings his last time out, surrendering six runs on seven hits to the Pirates. In his start prior to that, he failed to escape the second inning. In 1 2/3 innings, he gave up four runs on two hits in his eighth loss of the season. Against Atlanta, Volquez is 1-2 with a 2.86 ERA over four career starts, but he hasn't faced them since 2010.

Brian McCann will be happy to see Volquez on the mound. In his career, McCann is 3-for-7 with a double and a home run against Volquez. However, he has yet to record a hit in this series, so Volquez will try to keep him off the bases again tonight. Martin Prado may be a tougher opponent, however. Prado has never faced Volquez, but he is 4-for-8 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs scored in the first two games of this series, and he's put together a streak of three straight multihit games.

Prado will try to continue his hot hitting and lead the Braves offense in getting some run support for Paul Maholm, who will make his third start since joining the team just before the trade deadline. In his two starts prior to tonight, he has gone 1-1 while posting a 1.69 ERA. Most recently, he threw a gem against the Mets, who he kept to just three hits in a complete game shutout that took only 95 pitches.

Maholm will be looking for his first win after being on the losing end of four of his five career starts against San Diego. Chase Headley is 2-for-7 against him lifetime, and also 2-for-7 in this series so far with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored. Headley continues to be an offensive juggernaut for our Friars. The NL Player of the Week has hit safely in 10 of 13 games played in August so far, and six of those have been multihit games. Hopefully he and the rest of the offense can have some success against Maholm and bounce back from their poor showing against Tim Hudson last night.