Padres News: Pedro Avila May Be Pitching His Way into More Prominent Role for Friars

Although it's a small sample size, Avila has been promising.

After Rich Hill allowed 7 hits and 3 earned runs to the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday afternoon, relief pitcher Pedro Avila stepped up for the Padres — although their offense did not as San Diego lost 3-0.

However, Avila did his part, allowing just 3 hits and no walks across 4.2 scoreless innings. On the season, the 26-year-old righty holds a 0.98 ERA and a 2.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 18.1 innings.

When asked about Avila developing a larger role in the Padres' bullpen, manager Bob Melvin didn't offer much.

"We'll see as we go forward," Melvin said.

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MLB.com

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Avila has had an unstable career in the major leagues and has never settled in San Diego. He's only appeared in nine games for the Padres, beginning all the way back in 2019. According to Melvin, Avila's small dosage of experience in the big leagues is paying off.

"I think he's gotten a lot of confidence with what he's done at the big league level," Melvin said. "Whether it's a three-inning outing, whether it's a spot start, certainly a game like this. He's got a lot of pitches to work from. And if he's throwing strikes, he's tough to think along with."

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MLB.com

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Avila's durability makes him an ideal reliever, as he can chew up innings without sacrificing runs.

"We're looking at these like small victories, right? I mean, we los the game and that's not what we wanted, but now we have a much more rested bullpen tomorrow because of him," Melvin said.

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MLB.com

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Padres third baseman Manny Machado expressed his disappointment in the offenses' performance and their failure to take advantage of Avila's performance.

"He's been throwing the hell out of the ball," Machado said. "For us not to give him some runs, how he pitched, is just definitely a downfall for us. But for himself, he's been throwing really well for us, and it's huge for the ballclub."

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MLB.com

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The Padres are five games behind in the NL Wild Card race.