Florida @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 31, 2010 ) Florida 6, San Diego 3
If the San Diego Padres thought they had their hands full with Ricky Nolasco, things only figure to get substantially harder when they have to face the ace of the Florida Marlins on Sunday.
Josh Johnson will take the ball for the Marlins, who will be eying a three-game sweep of the first-place Padres in the finale at Petco Park.
Nolasco was unhittable early on in Saturday’s 6-3 win, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing three runs and five hits in 8 1/3 innings.
The loss was substantial for San Diego, which dropped its second straight and is in danger of dropping from the top spot in the National league West.
San Francisco’s 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday trimmed the Padres’ lead to just 1.5 games over the Giants.
The Padres went quietly for the most part against Nolasco and will now face one of the leading candidates for the NL Cy Young award.
Johnson (10-3, 1.72 ERA) has been as good as advertised this season. He owns the major’s best ERA and is fifth in baseball with 146 strikeouts.
Over his last five starts, Johnson has given up just five runs with 39 strikeouts He has just two wins in that span, however, with the Marlins giving him no more than four runs of support in any outing.
The right-hander has been particularly strong in his career against the Padres, going 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA in three starts - five appearances, two of which came this season. He took a win with a complete game on April 26 and a loss on June 26 despite eight innings of two-hit ball.
Supplying the offense of late for Florida has been Dan Uggla and rookie Mike Stanton. Both homered in Saturday’s win. Stanton has been hot with five hits and four RBIs over his last three games to bring his average up to .233.
San Diego has been held in check offensively in the two series’ losses, totaling just five runs despite 14 hits.
Looking for some support will be Padres starter Jon Garland (9-7, 3.56 ERA), who will be eying his third win this season over the Marlins in as many starts. The right-hander has allowed just two runs on seven hits over 12 2/3 innings in the two prior outings against Florida.
Newly acquired shortstop Miguel Tejada picked up his first hit as a member of the Padres on Saturday and is 1-for-7 since joining the team in a trade with Baltimore.