The Padres have their hands full this week vs. the Braves

The San Diego Padres may have taken three out of four against the Atlanta Braves earlier this month but it will be hard to win three games again in their next series, which starts later tonight at Petco Park. Forget three games—on paper, it’s going to be hard to win two of the three.

The Braves are coming to San Diego with a six-game winning streak, as they swept the Cincinnati Reds and the Kansas City Royals in their last two series. Atlanta scored more than three runs in four of those six games. The Padres did it just twice in their last six.

San Diego hasn’t gotten good production from a few positions in their lineup. Juan Soto is hitting under .180 and Fernando Tatis Jr. doesn’t return until Thursday when both teams will have already left town.

The Braves, meanwhile, have six hitters with an OPS north of .800 (the Padres have two). They are getting a ton of production from Sean Murphy and Matt Olson while San Diego’s catchers and first basemen haven’t done much in the first 17 games.

San Diego’s ace, Yu Darvish, just pitched yesterday so the Padres will be without their best starting pitcher for this series. Joe Musgrove also isn’t scheduled to return until their next series, which is in Arizona this weekend.

That leaves the Padres with Ryan Weathers, Blake Snell and Nick Martinez starting these three games while the Braves have the top of their rotation taking the mound.

Game 1 (Tonight): Max Fried (ATL) vs. Ryan Weathers (SD)

First Pitch: 6:40 pm PT

Game 2 (Tuesday): Spencer Strider (ATL) vs. Blake Snell (SD)

First Pitch: 6:40 pm PT

Game 3 (Wednesday): Charlie Morton (ATL) vs. Nick Martinez (SD)

First Pitch: 1:10 pm PT