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WHO: San Diego Padres vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
WHAT: It’s Paddack Day!
WHEN: Saturday, June 22, 2019, at 1:05pm
WHERE: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
HOW: Watch on FOX Sports San Diego (or FOX Sports Go), listen on 97.3FM The Fan. Spanish broadcasts on FOX Deportes San Diego and XEMO 860AM.
WHY: Last night, the Padres offense was unable to get anything going against the Pirates in game 1 of their road trip. This afternoon, they will look to put a few more points up on the scoreboard in support of rookie righthander Chris Paddack. The young ace is making his first start since being optioned back to Single-A Lake Elsinore 10 days ago. Per Padres.com, he spent that time both resting his arm and refining his changeup.
It will be interesting to see how Paddack looks after his time in Riverside County. In his previous 3 starts before being optioned, he had put up a 7.53 ERA in large part because he had taken to giving up home runs at an alarming rate (3.77 HR/9) even while still striking out more than his fair share (10.05 K/9) and limiting the issuance of free passes (1.26 BB/9). The home runs are hopefully more of a fluke and less a sign of things to come. Today will be our first chance to see which way things are trending.