Yankees at Padres
The San Diego Padres will try to maintain an impressive offensive streak at home when they continue a three-game interleague series with the New York Yankees on Saturday. Following a 7-6 victory in the series opener, the Padres have posted at least five runs in eight straight games at Petco Park.
However, San Diego is only 4-4 in that stretch and nearly saw its new-look bullpen cough up a big lead against the Yankees, who scored four times in the ninth inning and finally were retired with the tying run on third base. Wil Myers followed up a scorching month of June (.327, 11 home runs) with a two-run shot for the Padres, who also received a solo blast from rookie Ryan Schimpf. Brian McCann went deep for New York, giving him three homers in his last three games. The Yankees started the contest without right fielder Carlos Beltran (hamstring), who delivered a pinch-hit double in the ninth and was the runner stranded at third when the game ended.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, FS1
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Ivan Nova (5-5, 5.32 ERA) vs. Padres LH Drew Pomeranz (7-7, 2.76)
After working at least six innings in five consecutive starts, Nova has failed to go beyond the fifth in his last three turns, giving up 15 runs in 14 innings during that stretch. He owns a 6.98 ERA and 1.55 WHIP on the road this year but tossed seven scoreless frames in his only previous appearance at Petco Park in 2013. Myers (4-for-13, home run) has had some success versus Nova while Melvin Upton Jr. and Alexei Ramirez are a combined 7-for-38 against him.
Pomeranz posted his sixth start of the season without allowing an earned run when he limited Cincinnati to three hits over seven scoreless frames last Saturday. He has fanned at least six batters in six consecutive outings and entered the weekend ranked sixth in the National League with 10.42 strikeouts per nine innings. The 27-year-old held the Yankees to one earned run over seven innings in his only previous start against them back in 2014.
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees SS Didi Gregorius went 2-for-4 with two runs scored on Friday and is batting .429 with two homers and five RBIs during his five-game hitting streak.
2. The Padres on Friday placed RHP Erik Johnson (elbow) on the 15-day disabled list.
3. San Diego is 18-7 on Fridays and Saturdays but 16-38 on all other days of the week.