Off to San Diego! Preview of the Diamondbacks and Padres series

The Arizona Diamondbacks have achieved a thrilling and impressive series victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Christian Walker delivered a historic series and hit five home runs in the three games.

The team jumped on a bus right after the game and headed to San Diego, where they will begin another crucial three-game series starting Friday night. The D-backs are in the midst of an uphill battle to overcome all of their injuries and make it back to the postseason.

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

The Padres are 7-3 in their last 10 games. They are coming off a road series against the Texas Rangers in which they won two of three games. During that time, they were without several key players, including Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Luis Campusano, Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Campusano is expected back for this series, and possibly Bogaerts as well.

Despite these injuries, the Padres are fourth in the National League in runs scored and OPS (.734). Jurickson Profar is hitting .317 with 12 home runs, 56 RBI and an OPS of .893. Rookie Jackson Merrill is hitting .289 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI. He has been their best hitter over the past week, hitting 9-26, .346 and 2 home runs. Donovan Solano is also in good form, hitting 9-23, .391 over his last six games.

Christian Walker is the hottest Diamondback who just made Dodger Stadium his personal hitting facility. However, he has been far less successful at Petco Park, where he has only a .211 batting average with six home runs in his career and none since 2022.

Gabriel Moreno is 7-13 with two doubles and a home run since coming off the injured list with a sprained left thumb. However, he caught all three games in Los Angeles and will likely sit out at least one of those games and make way for reliever Jose Herrera.

Friday, July 5, 6:40 p.m.

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

Cecconi’s season has been marked by short outings with inconsistency and things that fade after the second inning. He has failed to complete five innings in five of his last six outings.

In two previous games against the Padres this year, Cecconi allowed nine runs in 8.2 innings. In his last game against the A’s on June 28, he pitched four innings and allowed three runs on five hits and two walks, but he did manage seven strikeouts in the D-backs’ 9-4 loss.

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 of late, allowing just one run in nine innings pitched in his last two games. He pitched well in a no-decision game against the D-backs on June 6, going 6.2 IP and allowing three runs on six hits.

Saturday, July 6, 6:40 p.m.

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

Pfaadt is the Diamondbacks’ best player, with nine innings pitched and good starts. Unfortunately, he is also the team’s best player with the most bad losses, having suffered four losses in those nine good starts. He had a strong outing last time he pitched, allowing just one run, a solo home run, in six innings against the A’s.

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

Waldron throws a knuckleball 39 percent of the time, along with a four-seamer and a sweeper. He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, posting a 1.95 ERA in nine games since May 11. The Red Sox slowed him down a bit in his last outing, throwing him out in the fifth inning and allowing three runs on six hits, including two home runs.

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

Note: *ROKU GAME BROADCAST* It’s free. Click here to learn how to watch it.

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

Nelson pitched well last time out after a home opener against the Dodgers, going five innings and allowing just one run. While his appearances and results have had ups and downs, it’s encouraging that this FIP is over one run below his ERA. Fielding Independent Pitching is a metric based on walks, home runs, and strikeouts with balls in play (not home runs) that are factored out to eliminate luck in batted balls.

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

The Padres signed Cease late in spring training and he has pitched solidly for them. He has started 18 times and averaged just under 6 IP per start. His FIP is also one run lower than his ERA, but is in the low 3s. Don’t let his ERA fool you. Cease has pitched well for San Diego.

At least, he was until recently. In his last four starts, he has allowed 17 runs in 19 innings, 8.05 ERA. In his last start at Texas, he allowed six runs on eight hits, including two home runs, in just 3.2 innings. In the game before that, however, he threw seven scoreless innings against the Nationals. In his two starts before that, he was ejected early.

The D-backs’ bullpen has gone 15 innings in the Dodger series and has not allowed a run in the last 11 innings. Paul Sewald blew his first save of the year on Tuesday, but has 11 of 12 save chances and a 1.56 ERA. He has allowed just eight hits in 17.1 innings. Justin Martinez, 3-0, 1.54 ERA, threw a career-high three innings as a relief pitcher last night and is likely out until Sunday.

Robert Suarez is an excellent closer with a 4-1 record and 1.03 ERA. He has 22 of 23 save chances. Since San Diego has an all-right-handed rotation, four left-handed hitters enter the series. Yuki Matsui (3.37 ERA), Adrian Morejon (2.39 ERA) and Wandy Peralta (3.94 ERA) give manager Mike Shildt plenty of options for matchups.