It’s back to the TBD portion of the show for the San Diego Padres entering Wednesday afternoon’s series finale against the visiting Colorado Rockies.
With the Padres’ rotation in flux after a spate of injuries and ineffective outings from pitchers not named Michael King, manager Craig Stammen is employing a tactic often used by A.J. Hinch down the stretch in 2024 when the Detroit Tigers came from far behind to earn an American League wild-card berth.
Hinch loaded up with openers on days Tarik Skubal wasn’t pitching and played mix-and-match with the rest of his staff.
As for the Padres, they have questions to answer on a daily basis outside of King and Walker Buehler, who’s pitched well his last two starts after struggling for most of July.
“The other three days in the rotation are going to be based on the previous day, the previous two days,” Stammen said. “We’ll decide based on the opponent, based on what we think the lineup will be, and who we think is most available and most effective.”
Right-hander Griffin Canning (1-9, 6.97 ERA) likely will start or get bulk innings out of the bullpen on Wednesday. He last pitched on Thursday, absorbing a 6-5 loss in Atlanta, where he was touched for five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings.
Canning is 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA in three career starts against Colorado.
The good news for the Padres is that an offense that spent most of the season making outs continues to pound out hits as the calendar reaches the end of July. The Padres had 16 on Tuesday night in a wild 8-7 triumph over the Rockies, including the first five-hit game in the career of Fernando Tatis Jr.
Tatis raised his batting average to .285, distancing himself further from his struggles through the first two months, as the Padres won their fourth straight game.
“He had a great game tonight,” Stammen said. “He showed his toughness.”
Tasked with stopping San Diego’s suddenly potent attack is Rockies rookie right-hander Gabriel Hughes (0-2, 2.79 ERA). He most recently pitched last Wednesday in an 8-0 loss to Washington, yielding one run on five hits in five innings while walking one and striking out five.
This will be his first career start against the Padres.
With better pitching and defense, Colorado could be shooting for a sweep of the two-game series after delivering 10 hits off San Diego’s front-line pitching. But four errors — all of which led to runs — and control issues at bad times scuttled the Rockies’ hopes.
“Errors and walks, walks and errors,” Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. “You’re not going to win in the big leagues if you walk guys, especially late in the game, and then you make errors in big moments.”
It added up to yet another gut-punch loss for Colorado at Petco Park, where the team is 1-13 in its last 14 games dating to August 2024. The Rockies are 1-7 this year against San Diego with three walkoffs and a fourth loss after they squandered a ninth-inning lead in April at Coors Field.
Wasted in the latest defeat was a homer and three RBIs from Mickey Moniak, who’s terrorized the Padres the last two years for eight homers.
–Field Level Media
