On to San Diego! Diamondbacks At Padres Series Preview

Christian Walker will try to stay hot along side All-Star Ketel Marte as the D-backs roll into San Diego for a critical three game series.

Jun 13, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks first base Christian Walker (53) celebrates with Arizona Diamondbacks second base Ketel Marte (4) after hitting during a solo home run against the Los Angeles Angels the third inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks are flush off a thrilling and impressive series victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Christian Walker had a historic series, mashing five homers in the three games.

The team hopped on a bus and headed for San Diego right after the game where they'll begin another critical three game series starting Friday night. The D-backs are in the middle of tough fight to overcome all their injuries and make it back to the postseason.

NL Wild Card Standings Through July 4th / Jack Sommers

The D-backs have a 3-4 record against the Padres. The first Wild Card position tie-breaker is the head to head records. Winning this series would not only pull the D-backs a game closer to San Diego in the standings, but also even up the season series. The D-backs split the season series with the Cardinals 3-3 and the Mets 2-2.

The Padres are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They're coming off a series on the road against the Texas Rangers, taking two of three. They've been without several key players during this stretch including Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Luis Campusano, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove. Campusano is expected back for this series, and possibly Bogaerts too.

Despite these injuries the Padres rank 4th in the National League in runs scored and OPS (.734) Jurickson Profar is hitting .317 with 12 homers, 56 RBI and a .893 OPS. Rookie Jackson Merrill is hitting .289 with 12 homers and 43 RBI. He's been their hottest hitter over the last week, going 9-26, .346 with 2 homers. Donovan Solano is hot too, going 9-23, .391 over his last six games.

Christian Walker comes in as the hottest Diamondback having just made Dodger Stadium his personal batting range. He's had far less success in Petco Park however where he's hit just .211 with six homers in his career, and none since 2022.

Gabriel Moreno is 7-13 with two doubles and a homer since coming off the injured list due to a sprained left thumb. He caught all three games in Los Angeles however and will likely sit out at least one of these games, giving way to backup Jose Herrera.

Pitching Matchups

Friday, July 5th, 6:40 P.M.

Slade Cecconi, RHP, 2-6, 5.81 ERA, 4.94 FIP in 57.1 IP

Cecconi's season has been plagued by short outings with inconsistency and stuff that tends to wane once he gets past the second inning. He's failed to complete five innings five out of his last six outings.

In two prior outings against the Padres this year Cecconi gave up nine runs in 8.2 innings. In his most recent outing against the A's on June 28th he went four innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks. He did strike out seven in the D-backs' 9-4 loss however.

Randy Vasquez RHP, 2-4, 4.88 ERA, 5.31 FIP in 51 IP

Vasquez is a 25 year old right hander who has been pitching better lately, allowing just one run in his last two outings across nine innings pitched. He pitched well in a no-decision against the D-backs on June 6th, going 6.2 IP and giving up three runs on six hits.

Saturday July 6th, 6:40 P.M.

Brandon Pfaadt RHP, 3-6, 4.28 ERA, 3.92 FIP in 103 IP

Pfaadt leads the Diamondbacks in innings pitched and quality starts with nine. Unfortunately he also leads the team in tough losses, taking the L four times out of those nine quality starts. He had a strong outing last time he pitched, allowing just one run, a solo homer, against the A's in six innings of work.

Matt Waldron RHP, 5-7, 3.56 ERA, 3.61 FIP in 93.2 IP

Waldron throws a knuckleball 39% of the time to go with a four seamer and a sweeper. He was one of the hottest pitchers in baseball posting a 1.95 ERA over a nine game stretch dating back to May 11th. The Red Sox slowed him down a bit in his last outing, knocking him out of the box in the fifth inning, scoring three runs on six hits, including two homers

The D-backs faced Waldron twice this year. They bombed him for seven runs on eight hits on May 5th, but the D-backs caught him in the middle of that hot streak on June 8th and he held them to just one run on three hits in six strong innings.

Sunday, July 7th 1:10 P.M.

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Ryne Nelson RHP 5-6, 5.42 ERA, 4.32 FIP in 73 IP

Nelson pitched well following an opener against the Dodgers last time out, going five innings and giving up just one run. While he's been up and down with his outings and results, it's encouraging that this FIP is over a run lower than his ERA. Fielding Independent Pitching is a metric based on walks, homers and strikeouts with balls in play (non homers) stripped out to removed batted ball luck.

Dylan Cease RHP, 7-7, 4.24 ERA, 3.27 FIP in 103 IP

The Padres acquired Cease towards the end of spring training and he's been solid for them, making 18 starts and averaging just under 6 IP per start. His FIP is also a run lower than his ERA, but it's in the low 3's. Don't be mislead by his ERA. Cease has pitched well for San Diego.

At least he was until recently. Over his last four starts he's given up 17 runs in 19 innings, 8.05 ERA. In his last start in Texas he gave up six runs on eight hits, including two homers, lasting just 3.2 innings. The outing before that he threw seven shutout innings against the Nationals however. He was knocked out of the game early in his two starts prior to that.

Bullpens

The D-backs' bullpen logged 15 innings in the Dodger series, and haven't allowed a run in their last 11 innings. Paul Sewald blew his first save of the year on Tuesday, but is 11 for 12 in save chances and boasts a 1.56 ERA. He's allowed just eight hits in 17.1 innings. Justin Martinez, 3-0, 1.54 ERA threw a career high three innings of relief last night and is likely out until Sunday.

Robert Suarez is a lights-out closer with a 4-1 record and 1.03 ERA. He's 22 for 23 in save chances. Due to having an all right handed rotation San Diego is carrying four left-hand relievers into the series. Yuki Matsui, (3.37 ERA), Adrian Morejon (2.39 ERA) and Wandy Peralta (3.94 ERA) give manager Mike Shildt plenty of matchup options.