Padres at Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks have crawled out of the cellar in the National
League West and attempt to creep further up the standings when they open
a four-game series against the host San Diego Padres on Thursday.
Fourth-place Arizona is 1 1/2 games behind the second-place Padres but
San Diego took two of three games when the teams met in mid-April.
The Padres have won four of their past six games but the two defeats were back-to-back shutouts against the San Francisco Giants before they exploded for a 9-1 victory in Wednesday’s series finale. Center fielder Wil Myers was 1-for-13 to start the month of May but broke out of his funk with his first three-hit game since April 21. Arizona won two games from Colorado on Wednesday after being rained out the previous two days and the results were mixed for red-hot slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who struck out in four of his five at-bats in the opener before homering among two hits in the second game. Goldschmidt is 17-for-37 with two homers over the last eight games and went 4-for-11 with a homer in last month’s three-game series with San Diego.
TV: 9:40 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, FSN San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Padres RH Odrisamer Despaigne (2-0, 2.95 ERA) vs. Diamondbacks RH Rubby De La Rosa (2-2, 5.40)
Despaigne is returning to the rotation in place of injured Brandon Morrow (shoulder) and is making his third start of the season. He won both his previous starts, including a seven-inning stint against Arizona on April 14 in which he allowed one run and two hits. Despaigne is 2-2 with a 2.59 ERA in five career starts against the Diamondbacks.
De La Rosa gave up only three hits while losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last turn but two of them were homers as he was touched up for five runs in five innings. He has allowed six homers in 30 innings while accumulating 31 strikeouts against eight walks. De La Rosa is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two career starts against San Diego with the victory occurring April 13 when he gave up three runs and six hits in six innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Padres LF Justin Upton, a former star with the Diamondbacks, went 5-for-11 with two homers when the teams met last month.
2. Arizona INF Aaron Hill went 6-for-9 with a homer in Wednesday’s doubleheader and tied his career high of four RBIs in the opener.
3. Myers is 4-for-7 with two doubles and two RBIs against De La Rosa.