05/18 Padres Preview: Game 42 vs. Washington

The Padres will try their luck again tonight as they take on the Nationals in the third of a four-game set. Southpaw Eric Stults will try to rebound from a disappointing loss in Florida. He gave up three runs through 5 1/3 innings of work while issuing a season-high five walks. He had given up three runs through 13 innings on his two starts prior to that, however. Tonight will be his first career outing against Washington, who have taken the first two games of this series. He'll try to get the Padres out of a rut that has seen them lose five of their last seven games with starting pitching posting a 6.83 ERA over their last six.

It'll take some more of that fight we saw by the Padres lineup in last night's game to overcome Jordan Zimmermann, who has been nails this season and is going for a league-leading eighth win tonight. He's won each of his last four starts, keeping his ERA to a miniscule 0.85 in that span while collecting 24 strikeouts and walking just four batters. In his most recent start, he limited the Dodgers to two runs in 7 2/3 innings at Dodger Stadium. In three career starts and 19 total innings against the Padres, Zimmermann is 1-1 with a 1.42 ERA. Two of those starts took place at Petco Park, where he's yielded just one run on eight hits while striking out 16 through 13 innings of work.