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WHO: San Diego Padres vs. St. Louis Cardinals
WHAT: It’s Paddack Day!
WHEN: Saturday, June 29, 2019, at 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: PetCo Park in San Diego, CA
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: In Chris Paddack’s first start after returning from Lake Elsinore, he went five innings while allowing two runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In a way, the performance was encouraging; 2 runs over 5 innings is solid. Looked at more closely, though, there is still potentially cause for concern. Paddack walked 3 batters and allowed a home run while striking out only 1 Pirate. Those are not the kind of numbers we had come to associate Paddack with at the start of the season. Still, finding a way to go 5 innings and keep his team in the game despite poor peripherals has me optimistic about today.
Offensively, don’t look now but Eric Hosmer has recovered from his terrible start as a Padre (batting .245/.314/.384 over his first 760PA) to actually be out-hitting Franmil Reyes this season (112 to 111 wRC+). Since April 20, Hosmer has hit .323/.374/.523 and been the 2nd best hitter on the team behind only Fernando Tatis Jr. If he can keep this up, look out for the Padres.