While last night’s game had some entertaining moments, it’s time to put that ugly mess in the rear view mirror. The Diamondbacks have the league’s best record and a powerful offense, but the Padres have the type of scrappy players to put an end to their five-game skid and take a W from the division leaders.
Jhoulys Chacin will need to bring his “A” game to keep a potent Diamondbacks offense in check. He’s had one very good outing (6.2 innings of shutout ball against the Giants on the 8th), one “meh” outing, and one very bad one in the season opener against the Dodgers. He needs to keep the ball in the park with sluggers like Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, and Yasmany Tomas in the lineup. He induced plenty of ground ball outs against the Giants, so let’s hope that he can bring that back today.
Today’s starter for the Diamondbacks is their “ace”, Zack Greinke. He didn’t look much of an ace last season, and he hasn’t so far this year, either. He’s only made it past the fifth inning in one of his three starts. The Padres’ offense hasn’t been exactly lighting it up the last several games, so Greinke may be looking at this game as a chance to get his season on track.
Last night’s shellacking came after a long cross-country flight that wasn’t described as “smooth” by the passengers. Hopefully a night of rest after an embarrassing loss can bring the boys to the ballpark rested and hungry for some revenge.
Game Time: 6:10 start PDT.
Radio: 94.9FM, La Poderosa 860AM (Sp.)
TV: FSSD, Fox Deportes SD, MLB Network
Online: MLB.tv