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Series Preview: Padres (8-5) at Diamondbacks (6-6)

The end of a long and tiring road trip is almost here for the Padres.

By John Gennaro
MLB: San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Standings

The San Diego Padres are tied for 1st place in the NL West after winning their series in San Francisco, and head to Arizona to take on a Diamondbacks team that handed them their only series loss of the early season a little over a week ago.

Until something changes for the Rockies and Giants, the NL West appears to be a three-team race between the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks.

Expected Pitching Matchups

  • Pedro Avila (MLB debut!) vs. Zack Godley
  • Chris Paddack vs. Luke Weaver
  • Matt Strahm vs. Merrill Kelly
  • Eric Lauer vs. Zack Greinke

What to watch for

The Padres pitching staff is already stretched pretty thin, hasn’t had an off day in a week, and there’s no off days scheduled until 4/17. That means another major-league debut on the mound in the form of Pedro Avila!

Arizona scored 22 runs in their first three games against the Padres, so keeping them from getting on the scoreboard has to be priority number 1 for Darren Balsley and these starters.

Who to watch for

  • The San Diego infield has had some incredible defense, but all of the team’s over-.300 hitters right now play mostly in the outfield (Wil Myers, Manuel Margot, Hunter Renfroe). Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado have shown plenty this year, they just need to find a bit more consistency. They’ll be needed in this series.
  • Luis Urias was called up and handed the 2B job due to Ian Kinsler’s intense struggles at the plate to start the season. Urias has been worse than Kinsler in the very short amount of time that he’s been here so far, and San Diego will need something from the 2B to get on top of Arizona.
  • If Chris Paddack has aspirations to be the ace of this staff, and is likely on an innings restriction for this season, he needs to make the most of starts like this. Early in the season, on the road, in the middle of 12 consecutive game days, Paddack needs to give the team more than 3.2 innings. I’m looking for a Quality Start from him if he can get aggressive with the AZ hitters.

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