Arizona @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 25, 2010 ) Arizona 3, San Diego 9
For as good as the San Diego Padres have been, it comes as somewhat a surprise considering their pedestrian offense that ranks near the bottom of the league in several major categories.
And while pitching has been their calling card, the Padres broke out their bats in Wednesday’s 9-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
They’ll now go for the three-game sweep when they take the field against Arizona in Thursday’s rubber match.
Adrian Gonzalez belted a three-run homer and Miguel Tejada had a two-run shot to supply the offense in the second game, San Diego’s ninth straight win over the Diamondbacks at Petco Park.
And in the process, the Padres picked up a game in the National League West standings over the Giants, who suffered a 12-11 setback to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.
San Diego, which last won the division in 2006, now holds a 6.5-game edge in the standings.
Padres starter Kevin Correia (10-8, 4.82 ERA) will attempt to get back in the groove after a sluggish outing his last time out.
The right-hander was charged with five runs and seven hits before being chased with two outs in the fifth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.
Prior to that, Correia had been very strong in winning five of six starts while going six-plus innings in all but one of those appearances.
Correia, who has spent his entire career in the NL West after pitching six seasons with San Francisco Giants before joining the Padres in 2009, has faced the Diamondbacks 21 times - third most of any team he’s battled.
In those appearances - 12 of which were starts - he is 4-6 with 3.66 ERA. He’ll need to find a way to slow Kelly Johnson (5-for-15 with three homers) and Chris Young (9-for-35 with four homers), each of whome have enjoyed the most success against him.
Taking the hill for Arizona is set to be Southern California-native Ian Kennedy (7-9, 4.41 ERA), making his second career start at Petco Park.
Kennedy, a 2006 first-round pick of the New York Yankees, could win back-to-back games for just the second time in his first campaign with the Diamondbacks.
Prior to taking a no-decision, the right-hander allowed just two runs over seven innings of a 9-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. His only other two-game winning streak came in the middle of July.
Arizona, which has lost seven of the past nine, is just 19-42 on the road.