Friday night couldn’t have gone any better for the San Diego Padres.
Not only did they continue their scalding September with an 8-2 defeat of the visiting Miami Marlins, but losses by the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia enabled the Padres (85-69) to forge a three-way tie atop the National League wild-card standings. And their magic number to clinch a playoff spot was reduced to four when the New York Yankees defeated Arizona.
San Diego will hope for similar results on Saturday when it looks to improve to 5-0 this season against Miami.
The Padres are presently flying on a rocket ship to the postseason. They’ve won 11 of their last 12 games and have scored at least six runs in seven of their last eight. The idea of actually hosting a wild-card series is now taking on serious traction.
While San Diego would lose any tiebreaker with the Phillies or Cubs, it is easily the hottest of the three clubs coming down the home stretch.
“The only thing that we can worry about is playing each game the best we can and playing to our standard,” said manager Craig Stammen. “That first playoff game, we would love for it to be in San Diego.”
The Padres are 47-29 in Petco Park, including a 22-5 mark dating back to July 10. The only home series they’ve lost since late June came at Pittsburgh’s hands in late August.
“We’re in a good spot going into these last eight games,” said first baseman Ty France, who belted his career-high 21st homer to cap a six-run fifth inning Friday night. “Hopefully, we can just keep things going.”
Casey Mize (6-9, 3.69 ERA) will try to string together consecutive wins for San Diego. He scattered eight hits over five innings Monday night in an 8-7 victory at Colorado, allowing two runs. He is 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA in two prior starts against Miami.
Eury Perez (7-11, 3.99) looks to escape the roughest patch of his season, one that’s seen him allow 19 earned runs in his last four starts, covering 16 2/3 innings. The best start in that stretch came Sunday in a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Perez made it through five innings, allowing four hits and three runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Control has been an issue as he’s doled out 12 walks in that span. He’s 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two career outings against San Diego.
The loss came on July 25, when he worked seven innings and yielded three runs in an eventual 7-2 defeat that was the 11th game in a 12-game losing streak that eventually took Miami (76-78) out of the running.
With Miami out of the playoffs for a third straight season, it will use the remaining time to try to find answers for an inconsistent bullpen. Season-ending injuries to closer Pete Fairbanks and setup man Anthony Bender have made things harder.
Manager Clayton McCullough said he won’t have a set closer over the final eight games.
“We just look at using the best people we have to get to that point and then whoever’s left will get that opportunity,” he said.
–Field Level Media
