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Our Padres pulled off the victory against the Diamondbacks last night behind Tommy Medica's late-inning go-ahead home run. Tonight they'll try to accomplish a feat that hasn't been realized in two weeks: winning consecutive games.
On the mound to lead them to a series victory will be Tim Stauffer, making his second start of the season after a successful starting debut last Friday. A clean-shaven Stauffer made his first start in over two years against the Cubs, keeping the Cubs to just two hits in five scoreless innings. The performance earned the righty a second start as Andrew Cashner and Robbie Erlin remain sidelined and in recovery. Though Stauffer has mainly been used as a long reliever this season, he is by no means new to the starting role.
Growing up, in high school, college and the Minor Leagues, I started. I feel that I can start at this level. I don't mind the bullpen, either. I want to pitch in the Major Leagues.
He is also no stranger to the Dbacks. In five career starts against the Snakes, he is 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA. But the last of those starts was back in September of 2011. In six bullpen appearances (spanning 10 1/3 innings) against Arizona, he's allowed only one run. That includes two scoreless innings in which he allowed only one hit on May 2nd at Petco Park.
Stauffer will be facing Arizona's Chase Anderson, who made his major league debut two-and-a-half weeks ago. He went 5 1/3 frames in each of his first two major league appearances, but they resulted in very different outcomes. His debut saw him keep the White Sox to just one run on two hits, but in his latest start he surrendered five runs to the Dodgers. Anderson also threw three shutout innings on Friday at Citi Field, but a rainout ended his outing before it could be called an official game.
Watch at 6:40 PDT tonight as our boys go for the series win.