San Francisco @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Mar 28, 2010 ) San Diego 7, San Francisco 0
The suddenly torrid San Diego Padres look to continue building on a weekend sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks when they host the San Francisco Giants on Monday night in the opening contest of a three-game series.
The Padres (6-6) staged two come-from-behind victories against the Arizona bullpen in the series in which they elevated their record to .500 and jumped out of the National League West cellar.
San Francisco (8-4) limps into town after losing a late lead in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers when Manny Ramirez hit a pinch-hit, game-winning two-run homer. The Giants lost two of three to the Dodgers but still lead the NL West by two games.
San Diego’s sweep of the Diamondbacks was fueled by third baseman Chase Headley, who has been one of the top hitters in the National League over the first two weeks of the season.
Headley is hitting .375 and provided the game-winning heroics in both of the comeback wins. He hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth Friday to give the Padres a 6-4 victory and he connected on a go-ahead, two-run double during San Diego’s five-run seventh inning in Sunday’s 5-3 win.
Headley played left field last season but moved to his natural position of third base this season after Kevin Kouzmanoff was traded to the Oakland Athletics in the offseason.
Headley batted .262 last season with 12 homers and 64 RBIs but has long been viewed as a future .300 hitter since the Padres chose him in the second round of the 2005 draft.
Now 26, Headley is showing all the signs of having a breakout season. He was recently moved into the clean-up spot on the power-challenged squad and his clutch hitting over the weekend displays he’s comfortable in that role.
San Francisco starter Matt Cain (0-0) will try to slow down Headley and the Padres on Monday night.
Cain doesn’t have a decision in two starts this season. His earned-run average is 4.26 and he has eight strikeouts in 12 2/3innings.
Cain has a tidy 2.91 ERA in 18 career starts against San Diego but only has a 4-6 record to show for it.
Clayton Richard (0-2) takes the mound for the Padres and is looking for his first win of the season. Richard allowed three runs in each of his first two starts and took the loss both times. The Padres were blanked in his first start and tallied just one run in his second.
Richard was torched for six runs and eight hits in four innings by the Giants last season in his only start against San Francisco. Richard was acquired from the Chicago White Sox as part of the package the Padres received for Jake Peavy last summer.
The Giants had scored 43 runs over a six-game span before scoring just once in Sunday’s loss to the Dodgers. Catcher Bengie Molina leads the team in hitting with a .406 average.