San Diego @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 11, 2010 ) San Diego 3, San Francisco 2
The San Diego Padres have taken a hit to their pitching depth after a span of two unfortunate occurrences in a three-day span.
Starting pitcher Kevin Correia was scratched from his Sunday start in Houston after learning of his younger brother’s tragic death, and Tim Stauffer underwent an emergency appendectomy Tuesday morning in San Francisco.
Correia was placed on the bereavement list while Stauffer went on the disabled list and could miss four to six weeks.
The Padres, who play the second of a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants tonight, replaced the two key pitchers with left-hander Cesar Ramos and right-hander Adam Russell.
Correia’s brother, Trevor, fell to his death off a cliff while hiking in Southern California on Saturday. Correia’s spot in the rotation comes up next Saturday when the Padres host the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Stauffer started in Correia’s place against the Houston Astros and pitched five scoreless innings.
According to published reports, Stauffer began having stomach issues Monday night and called the team trainer around 3 a.m. complaining of increasing pain.
Stauffer has been one of the Padres’ top pitchers this season. He has a 2-1 record and a 0.39 earned-run average in 10 appearances.
Correia has a 4-2 record and 3.97 ERA in six starts.
Both Ramos and Russell were recalled from Triple-A Portland and were with the Padres earlier this season. Ramos had a 3.86 ERA in six games and Russell pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in three games.
The Padres are already without No. 2 starter Chris Young, who has been on the disabled list with shoulder pain since early April.
Clayton Richard starts today for the Padres. Richard (1-2) has a 3.34 ERA in six starts and got a no-decision against the Giants on April 19, when he allowed one run and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Matt Cain (2-1) will be on the mound for San Francisco. Cain has a 2.79 ERA and has won back-to-back outings in which he has allowed just five hits over 15 innings.
He pitched eight innings of one-hit ball against Colorado on May 1 and followed that up with another strong outing against Florida.
Cain pitched against Richard on April 19 and gave up two earned runs in six innings.
Meanwhile, Giants outfielder Mark DeRosa is sidelined with wrist pain. DeRosa underwent surgery on the left wrist in the off-season but has felt a lack of strength in the wrist all season long and has been dealing with numbness in his fingers over the past few weeks.
DeRosa is hitting just .194 with one homer and 10 RBIs.
The Padres won the first game of the series 3-2 on Tuesday night despite stranding 15 runners. San Francisco left 11 runners on base.