San Diego @ Los Angeles preview
Dodger Stadium
Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2010 ) San Diego 6, LA Dodgers 0
Ryan Ludwick is showing signs of becoming the productive middle-of-the-order hitter the San Diego Padres have been looking for to protect All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
The Los Angeles Dodgers kept walking Gonzalez during Tuesday’s game and Ludwick kept driving in runs. Ludwick matched his season high with four RBIs and now has 25 RBIs in 47 games with San Diego since being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ludwick will look to do more damage Wednesday night when the Padres and Dodgers meet in the second game of the three-game series in Los Angeles.
The right-handed hitting Ludwick started slow with the Padres but now has nine RBIs in his last eight games. Ludwick is batting .367 (11-for-30) during the hot streak that has seen his batting average rise to .266.
Ludwick has been productive when it counts – he’s hitting .385 with runners in scoring position this season. Overall, the right fielder Ludwick has 16 homers and 68 RBIs.
San Diego’s win in the series opener allowed it to remain a half-game behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West race. The Padres are also one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the wild-card race.
Tim Stauffer starts today for the Padres. It will be Stauffer’s fourth straight starting assignment after starting just once prior to September.
He made an emergency start in place of an ill Mat Latos against the Dodgers on Sept. 6, earning a spot in the rotation by allowing one run and four hits in four innings.
Stauffer followed by throwing six innings of three-hit scoreless ball against San Francisco before losing to St. Louis in his last outing, when he allowed four runs and six hits in five innings.
The loss to the Cardinals dropped Stauffer’s record to 4-4. He has a 1.99 earned-run average in 63 1/3 innings.
The Dodgers counter with left-hander Ted Lilly, who dominated the Padres on Aug. 3 in his first start for Los Angeles after being acquired from the Chicago Cubs.
Lilly gave up one run and two hits in seven innings to start a stretch where he won his first five starts as a Dodger. Since then, he’s 0-3 with a no-decision and pitched four innings or less in two of the four outings.
Lilly is 5-3 with a 4.12 ERA for the Dodgers. His season ledger reads 8-11 with a 3.83 ERA.
Ludwick has a career mark of just .172 against Lilly but four of his five hits against him have been doubles.
The Padres received some bad news with word that valuable utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr. will miss the rest of the regular season with a stress fracture in his leg.
Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis went 2-for-3 Tuesday and is now 10-for-14 (.714) over his last five games to raise his average to .287.