On their first road trip of the year, the San Diego Padres embark on a weekend road trip to face off against the San Francisco Giants.

Coming off their first homestand of the year, the San Diego Padres head up the coast, looking for a quick turnaround against the Giants. 

Heading In…

• The Padres went 1-2 over their last series, picking up a victory this past Wednesday (for more, see our very own Max Schwartzberg’s recap of the game).
• The Giants are coming off a three-game sweep against the division-rival Dodgers
• For the Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. continued his torrid start to the year, hitting his third home run of the year in the Cardinals series. In 58 career games against the Giants, Tatis is slashing .271/.324/.558 with 16 home runs and 30 runs batted in. 
• Giants designated hitter Jorge Soler has been on a tear the past three games, hitting two home runs in his last two games against the Dodgers, including this 452-foot towering drive to center field.
• For more on who’s hot for the Padres, our fellow East Village Times writer Nick Lee dived into the numbers in his latest piece.

Pitching Matchups

Both teams will be rolling out their third through fifth starters for this series, so the starting pitching matchups (barring injury) are as follows:

Friday, April 5: Dylan Cease (SD) vs. Jordan Hicks (SF)

Saturday, April 6: Michael King (SD) vs. Keaton Winn (SF)

Sunday, April 7: Matt Waldron (SD) vs. Logan Webb (SF)

It is worth noting that the off-day on Thursday is allowing the Giants to skip past the fifth spot in their rotation to prepare for Blake Snell’s debut on Monday (per the San Francisco Chronicle). 

Giants Hitters

The Giants, heading into their first homestand of the season, will be sending out a lineup similar to their previous ones against the Padres, as seen here:

Jung Hoo Lee – Center Field

LaMonte Wade Jr. – First Base

Jorge Soler – Designated Hitter

Michael Conforto – Left Field

Matt Chapman – Third Base

Thairo Estrada – Second Base

Mike Yastrzemski – Right Field

Patrick Bailey – Catcher

Nick Ahmed – Shortstop

(This lineup comes from the Giants’ April 3 game vs Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow)

Giants Pitching

The Giants will be sending out their three, four, and one starters against San Diego, all right-handed pitchers. Hicks dominated the Padres in his first start of the year, holding them to three hits over five innings with six strikeouts, with eight swinging strikes & 14 foul balls. 

Keaton Winn has not yet faced the Padres this season. He has faced the Padres twice in his career, allowing one run over ten innings in the 2023 season, per Baseball Reference. 

Logan Webb made only one start against San Diego in 2023, holding the team to one run in a nine-inning complete game. His first start this season came against the Padres, resulting in a no-decision, giving up two runs over six innings, with 12 swinging strikes and 16 foul balls allowed. 

Keys to the Series

Giants:

Save the Bullpen

The Giants’ bullpen has seen high usage over the last four games, throwing six innings on Sunday, 4 ⅓ innings on Tuesday, and four innings apiece on Monday and Wednesday. Even worse, the Giants bullpen has surrendered runs in three of those four games. If the Giants want to secure games, their starters will need to pitch deep to get them to their late-inning arms. 

Keep the Power

The Giants hit a combined ten home runs in their first seven games, and the power played a role in their wins over the Padres last weekend. If they want to win the series, they will want to keep their slug up against this Padres staff. 

Padres:

Quality Starts

The Padres saw an improvement in their rotation’s performance in the last two games against St. Louis, with Joe Musgrove earning the first win for a pitcher to start a game for the Padres. Keeping the quality starts up would allow the Padres to get to the back end of their bullpen with relative ease. 

The series kicks off this Friday at 1:35 pm Pacific time, with Dylan Cease on the mound for the Padres. Watch it on Padres.TV and listen live on 97.3 The Fan.

Diego Garcia

I am a proud lifetime San Diegan. Currently a student at San Diego State, I’ve been a Padres & baseball fan my entire life, and have been involved with baseball (be it writing, coaching, content creation) continuously since 2018. I’m big on baseball statistics, statistical analysis, and sports strategy.

Outside of sports and baseball, I’m a musician and aspiring music educator residing in San Diego