Arizona @ San Diego preview
Petco Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 8, 2010 ) San Diego 10, Arizona 1
It’s playoffs or bust for the San Diego Padres. And right about now, it appears more and more likely that a postseason trip is in the cards.
The Padres figure to get some assistance in those playoff pursuits when they welcome the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks to town for a three-game set that gets underway on Tuesday.
San Diego has enjoyed great success of late against their Arizona counterparts, particularly at home, where the club is in search of its eighth consecutive win over the Diamondbacks at Petco Park.
The Padres’ upcoming schedule looks to be advantageous to success with 16 of their next 19 contests coming at the friendly confines. They have won four in a row and 12 of 15 home, including a perfect 6-0 there against the Diamondbacks this season.
San Diego (74-49), which owns a 5 1/2 game edge in the National League West over San Francisco, will match last year’s win total with one more victory.
The last time the Padres captured the NL West crown came in 2006. Since that time they have finished in third, fifth and fourth, respectively.
The Padres avoided losing their third straight game with a 7-3 victory over Milwaukee on Sunday as Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley belted home runs. Gonzalez has homered in three of his past five games
Clayton Richard (11-5, 3.69 ERA) will get a chance to keep his current hot streak going as he takes the ball eying his fifth straight win.
Richard has been strong over a stretch of 10 consecutive outings, going 6-1 in that span.
The 26-year-old left-hander is hoping for better results against the Diamondbacks after facing them two times on the campaign. Over those two appearances, Richard is 1-1 and has surrendered 10 earned runs over a combined 10 innings.
Opposing him is set to be Rodrigo Lopez (5-11, 4.94 ERA), who is winless since July 8. In that time, he is 0-4, including a loss and a no-decision to Arizona in which he allowed a combined nine earned runs.
Lopez allowed three runs on eight hits over five innings of a no-decision to Cincinnati his previous time out. On the season, he has surrendered 30 home runs, tops in the NL.
The Diamondbacks enter the series fresh off taking two of three from Colorado after dropping five of six prior to that. They last were victorious in San Diego on Sept. 15.