Heading into this series, it would have been incredibly difficult to believe that the San Diego Padres would be staving off the sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s been a tough turnaround for the Friars, going from scoring a combined 21 runs against the Minnesota Twins to scoring just two against the Buccos.
They’ve wasted some gems from their pitching staff in the process. Michael King outdueled Paul Skenes on Tuesday night, pitching seven scoreless innings of baseball. It was an incredible outing from the right-hander that was rewarded with absolutely nothing from the offense. Unfortunately, it’s nothing new. King ranks fourth in least amount of run support across all starting pitchers.
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Taking the mound
Bubba Chandler (PIT) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
Chandler pitched against the Padres in their first matchup this season. He earned the loss after giving up three runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched. Part of that was a lack of run support (the Pirates were shutout that game), but Chandler has yet to find his groove at the big-league level. He owns a 4.38 ERA and 1.37 WHIP this season.
That said, Chandler has looked better lately. Despite a 4.25 ERA across his last 15 starts, in his last seven he owns a much more respectable 3.28 ERA. That was tainted by his outing in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers tagged him or four runs in four innings. Chandler will seek to turn that around against a recently-cold San Diego lineup.
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Vásquez pitched one of the best outings of his career in his last appearance. The righty went seven innings against the Minnesota Twins, surrendering just two runs on two hits. He earned the win in that start and will look to follow it up in tonight’s game. In his last seven games, Vásquez owns a 3.19 ERA. That’s a big improvement from his 4.19 ERA on the season.
Most of Pittsburgh’s lineup has yet to face Vásquez. That should give the right-hander an advantage for a bit, but he’ll need to find creative ways to get outs. If the offense continues to slump, Vásquez will be asked to deliver perfection in order to get the Friars a win.
Batter up!
The offense has been dead this series. There’s really no other way to say it. The biggest culprit has been Jackson Merrill, who has been quite two-faced in this second half. Despite being one of the best players in baseball, he is striking out at an absurd clip. Merrill needs to turn it around soon.
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Harris has looked good in his short time with the Friars. He’s gone 2-for-6 in the last two games with a double. The outfield feels a bit crowded in San Diego, so it’s unlikely he stays up long. That said, if he continues raking, it’ll be hard to keep him off of the roster.
Relief corps
Say what you will about the loss, Michael King did exactly what he needed to do. After the 12-inning marathon in Game 1, King saved the bullpen massively by making it through seven frames. The Padres only needed to use Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller to finish the game. Unfortunately, the game ended when Miller surrendered the first homer of his 2026 season to Oneil Cruz. It was the only run of the game.
Regardless, the ‘pen is stacked for the finale. The Padres can turn to Griffin Canning, Jeremiah Estrada, Kyle Hart, Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez. All of those options have the capability to go multiple innings if necessary, though Estrada has been wavy lately.
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