Pittsburgh @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 25, 2010 ) San Diego 6, Pittsburgh 3
The past week has found the San Diego Padres in a rut of sorts with the club dropping four of six games.
And while any losing skid at this point in the season could be catastrophic for a young team, the Padres still find themselves in the same place they were prior to the four setbacks - first place in the National League West.
Thanks in part to San Francisco’s mediocre play, the Padres maintain a two-game cushion over their Northern California counterparts as they head into a brief three-game homestand against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates beginning on Tuesday at Petco Park.
Life figures to get momentarily easier for the Padres against a Pittsburgh squad that owns an NL-worst 39 wins and sits entrenched in the Central division’s cellar.
The Pirates have traded wins and losses over their past seven games, but have dropped six straight against San Diego, getting outscored 37-15 in the process.
Pittsburgh will be opening up a six-game road trip, something that hasn’t been kind this year. The team has won just four of its past 32 games away from home, including a recent streak of 17 straight defeats.
The Padres, who used a 10-1 win over Arizona on Sunday to avoid a sweep, will turn to Wade LeBlanc (5-10, 3.61 ERA) in the opener.
The 26-year-old left-hander has struggled of late, going 1-6 over his previous eight starts. But some of the blame should fall on the shoulders of the offense as LeBlanc has been the victim of poor run support. He has received over two runs of offense just once in five outings.
LeBlanc was tagged for four runs in 6 1/3 innings of a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. He’ll try to get back on track against the Pirates, whom he is 2-1 with a 3.95 ERA in three career starts.
Taking the ball for Pittsburgh is Jeff Karstens (2-7, 4.27 ERA), who is winless in his past eight starts, owning a 4.17 ERA in that span.
Karstens has made three appearances - one start - against San Diego, going 0-2 and allowing nine runs in 8 1/3 innings.
In Saturday’s 8-7 win over Colorado, Pirates rookie third baseman Pedro Alvarez delivered a game-winning three-run homer in the 10th. He has been on a hot-streak recently with three home runs and nine RBIs over the past five games - raising his average 22 points to .240 on the campaign.