When left-hander Nestor Cortes joined San Diego at the trade deadline last week, he marveled at the bullpen that general manager A.J. Preller had assembled.
“I was joking with my friends last night, all you’ve got to do is get to the fifth inning — possibly the fourth,” Cortes said. “Then you turn it over.”
The Padres, of course, will look for more from Cortes (1-1, 9.00 ERA) when he makes his third start of the season and the first for them in the rubber game of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix on Wednesday night.
“We are going to need six and seven innings from our starters occasionally,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “That’s going to be important as well.”
Arizona right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (1-2, 4.91) will oppose Cortes on Wednesday, making his third start of the year as he takes the rotation spot vacated with the trade of Merrill Kelly to Texas.
The Padres survived a four-inning start from Yu Darvish and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.s’ two-run homer off new reliever Mason Miller in the eighth in a 10-5, 11-inning victory over Arizona on Tuesday.
Cortes, 30, appears to be the top choice to fill the fifth spot in the Padres’ rotation after JP Sears was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on Tuesday, a day after giving five runs in five innings of a 6-2 loss in the first game of the series.
With the return of No. 2 starter Michael King imminent, the Padres had six starters for five spots. King threw 61 pitches at Triple-A El Paso in what could be his final rehab start Sunday.
“Not going to put it in pen, but we’ll put it in dark pencil — he’s got a good chance for his next start to be for the big league club,” Shildt said.
King has not pitched since May 18 because of right shoulder and thoracic nerve injuries.
Cortes opened the season in the Milwaukee Brewers’ rotation but made only two appearances before being placed on the injured list with a flexor strain in his left elbow. His second start for the Brewers on April 3 was a thing of beauty — he gave up one hit and two walks while striking out six in six scoreless innings of a 1-0 victory over Cincinnati.
Cortes, who spent his first seven seasons in the American League, is 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against Arizona.
DeSclafani had a rocky time in his second start of the season Friday, giving up five hits and four runs in a 5-1 loss to the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif. He was given the start because of the uncertainty surrounding trade candidates Kelly and Zac Gallen, each of whom was pushed back a day. Kelly was traded the day before, and Gallen remains.
DeSclafani, who missed the 2024 season while recovering from surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm, is 0-2 with a 11.37 ERA as a starter and 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA and a pair of three-innings saves — his first career saves — out of the bullpen.
“Every day is a day to prove yourself, and all these guys know that,” said DeSclafani, who is 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 11 career appearances against the Padres.
–Field Level Media
