Padres Series Preview: Friars Back Home to Face Reds in Three-Game Set
The San Diego Padres will be back home at Petco Park this weekend to face the Cincinnati Reds in a three-game set. After what seemed like an eternal 10 game road trip the Padres will be back home in jopes of continuing their winning ways.
The Padres and Reds have faced each other this season. That series would be about a month ago and oh have things changed. There’s been trades, players going back into form and even some players barely finding their form. A lot has happened for both teams since they last faced each other.
The Padres would take the series three games to one, but that isn’t really relevant. The Reds are currently performing out of their skins. They have managed to win their last four series. That would include a series with the San Francisco Giants. This is definitely not the same team we would see a month ago. The Padres are 2-2 in series after the all-star break. They have definitely been very up and down. The two series they have won have been against the Nationals and Giants. Two of the best teams in the MLB. This series can really go either way at Petco Park. Expect some more exciting baseball to come your way this weekend at Petco Park.
Pitching Matchups
Brandon Finnegan vs Edwin Jackson 7:40 p.m.
Anthony DeSclafani vs Christian Friedrich 5:40 p.m.
TBA vs TBA 1:40 p.m.
The pitching matchups really do not offer any clarity on who has an edge in this series. Both teams have had players which can be very inconsistent and that does not change in this series. In the first game of the series the Reds will have Brandon Finnegan. Finnegan has actually really struggled this season with an ERA of 4.93. However, one of his better starts of this season would come earlier in the season against the San Diego Padres. Finnegan would deliver a quality start as he would allow three runs through six and two-thirds innings. He would also manage to strike out eight Padres batters. Finnegan can definitely turn out to be a menace, especially at Petco Park. The Padres will have veteran, Edwin Jackson on the mound. The German born pitcher has really been pitching quite well for the Padres. In two starts he has only allowed four total runs. His walk count may have seemed worrying with five in his first game. But Jackson really brought it down with only three in his last start. Hopefully Jackson can stay consistent and deliver another quality start for the Padres.
The second game of the series really seems to be in the Reds favor due to the pitching matchup. The Reds will have their best pitcher thus far, Anthony DeSclafani. DeSclafani has really impressed this season with a 6-0 record and an ERA of 3.09. He would also dominate the Padres the last time these two teams squared off. DeSclafani would throw an absolute gem as he would throw eight scoreless innings against the Friars. He would also show great control as he would not walk a single batter. Luckily for the Padres, DeSclafani is actually coming off his worst start of the season. He would allow five runs through five innings against the San Francisco Giants. This could play a factor and maybe help out the Padres in some way. The Padres will need a bit of offensive help as Christian Friedrich will be on the mound. Friedrich really has not looked good as of late, he definitely has struggled. To add to this Friedrich would actually struggle against the Reds earlier in this season. Friedrich would allow four runs in five innings of work and would also walk four batters. Game two of this series definitely seems to be leaning towards the Reds favor. But who knows maybe the home field advantage may come into play with some of our batters.
Players to Watch
The last time the Reds and Padres faced each other, Joey Votto was struggling severely. Votto would actually have a really bad series as he would go 3-12 with no RBI. I think that will be a lot different in this series. Since then Votto has really picked it up and is back in all-star form. Apparently the man hates kids but man he is playing some good baseball. Votto now sits on a very nice BA of .281 with 18 homers and 52 RBI. Votto also sits on a very impressive OPS of .909. As of right now Votto is one of the hottest players in baseball. In his last seven games he has a stellar BA of .435 with three home runs, seven RBI and even a stolen base in the mix as well. Keep an eye on Votto as he may troll some kids during BP or he might just hit a couple of home runs.
Man talking about players who are hot right now we go to Jay Bruce. Bruce is absolutely on fire at the moment. In his last seven games Bruce has a BA of .357 with a whopping six home runs and 13 RBI. Bruce has also manged to sneak in a stolen base in there as well. As far as his season, he has been tremendous for the Reds. He of course made the 2016 All Star Game along with fellow teammate, Adam Duvall. Bruce has been tearing it up with 25 homers on the year as well as a league leading 79 RBI. Bruce definitely looks to possibly be on his way out of the Reds. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with him this weekend.
We will continue the trend of talking about “who’s hot” in the MLB with one of our own. Like the weather in his hometown of Poway, Alex Dickerson has been blazing hot as of late. Dickerson has managed to do most of his damage within his last seven games. He has had a BA of .417 with four home runs and eight RBI. Like the other two gentleman Dickerson would also manage to steal a base in there as well. There is one factor that is the most impressive about Dickerson. He has manged to hit a home run in four straight games. That is just insane, I mean that is no easy feat at all. Dickerson is definitely one to watch in this series and in many more series to come.
The Padres are back home at Petco Park and there’s someone who will probably be happier about it than you. That someone is of course Wil Myers. Myers has been struggling severely on this last road trip. You can quite clearly tell by his stats in his last five games. Myers has only managed to get three hits with no home runs in his last five games. As mentioned several times before Myers home/away splits are among the widest in the MLB. As of now Myers has a very nice BA of .333 at Petco Park as opposed to a dreadful .210 on the road. There is an even wider gap in Myers OPS. At home Myers has a stellar OPS of 1.036 while on the road he has a very unimpressive mark of .638. It is definitely a great time for Myers to be at home. Let’s hope that both the Padres and Myers can take advantage of this home stand.
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.
