At the end of a 1-5 road trip concluding with a 7-3 loss Wednesday in Cincinnati that knocked the San Diego Padres out of the last wild-card spot in the National League, first-year manager Craig Stammen slapped a smiley-face emoji on the situation.
“We didn’t play our best baseball, especially here in Cincinnati,” he said. “But I also think we should be thankful because somebody didn’t run away with the third wild-card spot that we’re fighting for. We’re still right there, where we want to be, in contention.”
San Diego will try to start stacking wins on Friday night when it opens a three-game series with the visiting New York Yankees.
At 73-67, the Padres are a half-game behind Arizona for that coveted final wild-card position. They have a game in hand on the Diamondbacks, who start a road series Friday night in Houston.
Arizona is 5-5 in its last 10 games but that’s been enough to make up ground because San Diego has dropped seven of its last nine. Three of the losses on its unsuccessful road trip were by one run.
The Padres have not taken full advantage of a friendly schedule. They have lost three of their last four series against teams with losing records. First baseman Ty France says it’s “go time” for him and his teammates.
“There’s nothing else you can really say about it except we need to play our best baseball now and start winning these games,” he said.
Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.66 ERA) takes the ball to begin this series. He received a no-decision Saturday in his last outing, allowing three runs on seven hits in five innings of a 7-6 loss at Tampa Bay. Buehler, 32, is 0-1 with a 14.54 ERA in two regular-season appearances (one start) against New York.
While San Diego is stumbling into this series, the Yankees (80-60) enter after pulling out a 6-3, 10-inning win Wednesday night at the Los Angeles Angels. Austin Wells’ two-run single fueled a five-run 10th that pulled New York within 3 ½ games of Tampa Bay in the American League East and kept it five games ahead of Boston for the first wild-card spot.
All five runs in the 10th came with two outs, pleasing manager Aaron Boone.
“To do all the damage that we did there with two outs was massive and turned a light day offensively into a really good way to end this series and head into an off-day,” Boone said.
Max Fried (4-4, 2.80) gets the call for the Yankees on Friday night. His last outing was Saturday night, when the 32-year-old pitched the first 3 2/3 innings of a 9-2 win over Boston, yielding three hits and a run with one walk and four strikeouts. Fried is 3-1 with a 2.11 ERA in six career starts against San Diego.
New York has the second-best record in the American League but will have to catch Tampa Bay to avoid the wild-card round.
“Everyone’s got to be ready every single day,” Boone said.
The Yankees have taken two of three from the Padres in each of the last three seasons.
–Field Level Media
