By opponents’ winning percentage, the San Diego Padres have the easiest remaining schedule in the majors.
However, 4-3 and 6-2 losses to the visiting Baltimore Orioles in the first two contests of the current series made it seven losses in nine games for San Diego overall. The Padres are in danger of getting swept in the series finale on Wednesday.
Dropping seven of nine at any stretch of a season is concerning. Doing it with the calendar now in September is more troubling. And doing it in a stretch in which San Diego is chasing the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West is even worse.
Padres manager Mike Shildt pointed at pitching as the reason for the latest loss. Starter Yu Darvish only pitched four-plus innings and left trailing 3-2, keeping the team’s remaining high-leverage relievers out of the mix. San Diego pitchers walked five and yielded 10 hits on the night.
“When you don’t control the strike zone, you sometimes aren’t as clean defensively,” Shildt said. “We need to be able to play with a lead and get a lead to the bullpen. I have complete confidence that we’ll be more than fine. I expect us to show up (Wednesday) and play a nice, clean fundamental baseball game.”
San Diego (76-63) will look to left-hander Nestor Cortes (2-3, 5.06 ERA) to provide a much-needed quality start. He lasted only three-plus innings Friday night in Minnesota, taking a 7-4 loss as he permitted three runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Cortes was about to be removed from the contest when he was ejected by plate umpire Manny Gonzalez for questioning ball-strike calls.
The former New York Yankee has plenty of experience in his career against Baltimore, most of it good. He is 5-1 with a 2.20 ERA in 11 career outings, nine of them starts, vs. the Orioles, fanning 72 in 57 1/3 innings.
Opposing Cortes will be another left-hander, Cade Povich (2-7, 5.04), who last pitched Thursday in Baltimore’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Povich scattered seven hits over five innings, allowing two runs and walking none while striking out five. This will be his first career outing against the Padres.
The Orioles (63-76) cashed in their playoff hopes awhile back but have looked like a team running down a postseason dream in this series. Leading the way has been Jeremiah Jackson, whose first-inning homer Tuesday night stretched his batting streak to 13 games.
The team’s decision to trade off veterans for prospects gave Jackson his shot at playing time, and the 25-year-old third baseman/right fielder is hitting .333 with four homers and 17 RBIs through 29 games.
“Professionally, this is the best I’ve hit,” he said after rapping out three hits, including a home run, in the series opener. “The mechanics are there. I think the main thing is just competing in the box and not trying to do too much, and just try to do my job and help the team win.”
Jackson and Emmanuel Rivera, who contributed a pair of two-run singles on Tuesday, knocked in all six Baltimore runs in the series-clinching win.
–Field Level Media
