Diamondbacks series preview vs the falling Padres
The Arizona Diamondbacks are back home against the San Diego Padres
The Arizona Diamondbacks come back home after a miserable road trip. They went 3-7 on the road trip through Colorado, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The bullpen struggled, the offense wasn’t consistent, and the starting pitching struggled at times. Add it all up and it’s no surprise the Dbacks only won 3 games. Coincidentally, each win occurred in a different series.
Despite the negatives, there were some positives to be found. Christian Walker continued to get hot by hitting .310, .412, .517 with a .929 OPS. He contributed 9 hits, including 2 HRs, 6 RBI’s, and 5 walks.
Plus, Ketel Marte IS BACK! He’s on a 10-game hitting streak and crushing the ball.
Ketel Marte’s on a 10-game hitting streak, in which he’s batting .389/.450/.722 (1.172 OPS).
— D-backs facts & stats (@dbaxfax) August 30, 2021
It’s his second double-digit hitting streak of the season. His career-high is 12 games, which was in his rookie year with the Mariners in 2015.
Also, Jake McCarthy got called up to make his MLB debut. He had a terrific game Sunday by getting his first hit, RBI, and Outfield Assist. Daulton continued his power-hitting ways with 3 HRs, 1 triple, and 6 RBI’s on the road trip. Congratulations Jake!
Thus, the only thing we can do is to push forward. The Diamondbacks can royally affect the Padres playoff chances in these next three games. The Padres are currently chasing the Reds by 1.5 games. They have gone 2-8 in their past 10 games. San Diego’s record is 69-62. Whereas the Diamondbacks enter play with a dismal 44-88. They have the 2nd worst record in the MLB.
The onus on the Diamondbacks will be to play spoiler once again. If they take 2/3 against the Padres, that might cripple them. The Padres are a confident team with Tatis Jr. leading them. However, since Tatis Jr. returned from the IL on August 15th, he’s played rather poorly. He’s barely above the Mendoza line as his batting line is .200, .286, .520, with 4 HRs, 8 RBIs, 4 walks, and 17 K’s. If the Padres want any chance of making it to the playoffs, they need Tatis Jr. to get healthy and productive.
The Matchups for this series
Monday, 08/30 @Chase Field 6:40 PM AZtime
Tyler Gilbert v Chris Paddack
Tyler Gilbert is facing the Padres for the second time in his career. I think we can all remember the first but if you can’t, here’s a review of the game. Can he repeat magic? He’s been hittable since that magical day. He’s currently 1-1, 9 walks, 16 K’s, 2.38 ERA in 22.2 innings.
Chris Paddack has struggled a lot this year. He’s getting activated off the IL Monday to make this start. He hasn’t pitched since July 27th. It will be interesting to see if he has any rust. His season hasn’t been one to remember. His stat line is 7-6, 20 walks, 90 K’s, and a 5.13 ERA in only 93 innings this season.
Carson Kelly has 4 hits off Paddack in his career. Ketel Marte has 7 hits off Paddack. Nick Ahmed has 5 hits and Walker has 3 hits off Paddack in their careers.
Tuesday, 08/31 @Chase Field 6:40 PM AZTime
Zac Gallen v Blake Snell
Zac Gallen is having a rather mixed season this year. He’s only faced the Padres once this year. It was a couple of weeks ago when he went 5 innings and allowed 4 runs, 3 HRs. Zac’s been good his last two starts and will look to keep it going. I certainly hope he can. His overall stat-line this year is 2-7, 37 walks, 102 K’s, and a 4.32 ERA in 85.1 innings.
Meanwhile, Blake Snell has not been the Blake Snell the Padres were expecting to get when they traded for him in the off-season. In fact, this has been his worst year in his career by far. He’s starting to find his form though. Over the past month, he’s gone 2-1, 10 walks, 44 K’s, and 2.12 ERA in only 29.2 innings. Overall, on the year, he is 6-5, 65 walks, 149 K’s, and a 4.58 ERA in 114 innings.
The Padres have hit Gallen well as 5 of their hitters have an HR off him. Additionally, out of those who have 5+ at-bats against Gallen, 5 of the batters have over a .333 batting average against him. On the other side, the Diamondbacks have struggled against Snell. Ketel is 1-14 against Snell lifetime. Walker is 0-10 in his career. Carson Kelly has had some success against Blake with 3 hits in 6 at-bats.
Wednesday, 09/01 @Chase Field 12:40 PM AZ Time
Taylor Widener v Yu Darvish
Taylor Widener will be on the bump for the season-series finale vs the San Diego Padres. The Dbacks will not face them again this year. Widener has struggled with his command lately by walking a few too many guys. He’s had 8 walks in his last two starts. Somehow, he’s managed to tight-rope around them. Widener has pitched really well against the Padres as he’s 1-0 and has 12K’s, 5 walks, and 2 ERs in 11 innings pitched. Overall, he’s 2-1, 32 walks, 64 K’s, and a 4.28 ERA in 61 innings this year.
Yu Darvish has been the Ace for the Padres. He started the season off brilliantly. However, he’s been quite hittable for the past two months. Since the beginning of July, he’s pitched to a 0-6, 8 walks, 49 K’s, and a 6.97 ERA in 41.1 innings pitched. In case you missed it, he is making his 2nd start since being activated off the 10-day IL after he left the game against the Dbacks early on August 12th. He only missed 14 days though as he came back on August 26th to pitch against the Dodgers. He struggled in that game giving up 4 ER’s in 6 innings of work. He’s faced the Diamondbacks a lot this year. Over his 4 starts, he has gone 0-1 and given up 12 ERs, 21 hits, 3 walks, and 29 K’s in 20.1 innings. His stats for the entire season is 7-8, 31 walks, 164 K’s, and a 3.80 ERA in 137.1 innings.
The Padres hitters have struggled in their career against Widener to this point. Only Eric Hosmer
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has been able to do much of anything against Widener as he has 2 HRs in his career. Meanwhile, the Dbacks are plenty familiar with Mr. Darvish. Ketel Marte has 5 hits and an HR off Yu in his time. David Peralta is 7/18 against Yu with 3 HRs and 5 RBIs. Lastly, Walker is 5/15 with an HR and 2 RBIs against Yu.
Quick Venom Bites
The Arizona Diamondbacks have optioned Humberto Mejia back to Triple-AAA Reno. They have called up RP Sean Poppen from Triple-AAA Reno. Presumably, this means that Merrill Kelly or Luke Weaver will be making the next start in that rotation spot.
This is going to be an exciting series against the Padres. Let’s hope the Diamondbacks can give them some of that Arizona Venom and ruin their season. Go Dbacks!
As always,
May the Force be with You…