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The Padres were defeated yet again last night, conceding the series to the visiting Giants. Tonight they'll have one last chance to salvage a win and avoid a sweep with James Shields going opposite Jeff Samardzija on the mound.
It's taken eight starts for Shields to get just two wins this season. In his latest, he went seven scoreless innings, collecting nine strikeouts, on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers. That win brought him to 2-5 on the season and lowered his ERA to 3.12. While Shields hasn't been at his sharpest this season, he's thrown six or seven innings in each of his appearances. He could do well with a little more run support from the Padres offense, who have averaged fewer than two runs per 27 outs from Shields.
The veteran righty has had mixed results against the Giants. In five career starts against them, he is 2-2 with a 2.53 ERA. He has already faced them once this season, and pitched well, limiting them to just one run on three hits through seven innings of work. Unfortunately that one run was enough for San Francisco as the Padres were shut out, sticking Shields with the loss.
The Giants remain atop the NL West while riding an eight-game winning streak going into tonight's contest. They'll be hoping for more of the same from Samardzija, who is 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA on the year. He's gone at least 7 2/3 innings and allowed two or fewer runs in each of his last three starts and has pitched solidly for most of the season.
But it was against these Padres that Samardzija threw his worst game of the year so far. He gave up five runs in 5 2/3 innings against them at AT&T Park in April. Luckily for him, the Giants offense still dominated, and he was gifted with a winning decision in that game. That was his fourth career win against the Padres. Overall, he is 4-1 with a 3.60 ERA in seven appearances (five starts) against San Diego.
Game time: 6:10 pm PT
Radio: The Mighty 1090, La Poderosa 860 (Sp.)
TV: FSSD, Fox Deportes San Diego (Sp.)
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