The San Diego Padres own the best pitching in the majors, but their performance on the mound ranks around the middle of the pack on the road.
The Padres would like to start getting on a roll away from home and their next challenge is the opener of a three-game series with the Yankees, who have slugged 37 of their 57 home runs at Yankee Stadium.
San Diego heads into the second leg of a season-high nine-game trip with a 2.75 ERA slightly ahead of the New York Mets. The Padres hold a 4.15 ERA on the road where they are 8-7 though they enhanced their road mark in a three-game sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Padres allowed five runs, struck out 22 and ended the series with a 4-0 win that gave them a fourth straight road victory. It was San Diego’s eighth shutout this season but only second on the road and the Padres issued two walks after allowing 13 in the previous two games.
“I think the thing for us right now is hopefully get back to home with a winning record on the road,” San Diego third baseman Manny Machado said. “You know, we haven’t really been playing really well on the road. We’ve been playing great at home in front of our fans. It’s a good start to this road trip.”
Machado has been doing good things at the plate lately. He collected three of San Diego’s 10 hits and is 8-for-21 over his past five games.
Xander Bogaerts drove in three runs after going 4-for-29 in his previous eight games and Fernando Tatis Jr. was able to play for the second straight day after being hit on the left forearm by a pitch on Friday.
The Yankees are 5-7 over their past 12 games and showing some inconsistencies at the plate. New York scored at least 11 runs in two of its wins but Sunday’s 7-5 loss to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays was the seventh in that span by two runs or fewer.
Unlike Saturday when the Yankees mustered five hits and did not draw a walk for the second time all season, they had eight hits and seven walks while nearly erasing a five-run deficit.
Aaron Judge doubled in the eighth inning to extend his on-base streak to 30 games and his hitting streak to 14. Judge has the longest single-season streak of his career and is hitting .474 (27-for-57) in that span.
The Yankees were without shortstop Anthony Volpe, who missed the sixth game of his career with a shoulder injury but he could return Monday.
“It’s tough,” Judge said. “We battle with the best of them even if we get down early. We got faith in everybody in this lineup.”
Judge and the Yankees will see a familiar face when they face Nick Pivetta (5-1, 1.78 ERA), who has won his past four starts. Pivetta did not get his fifth win until July 29 when he was with the Boston Red Sox last season.
Pivetta is 1-4 with a 6.99 ERA in 13 career appearances (eight starts) against the Yankees and Judge is 5-for-18 off him.
Carlos Rodon (4-3, 3.43), who is 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA in his past three starts, opens the series for the Yankees. Rodon allowed two runs on two hits in six innings Tuesday in Baltimore and has not allowed more than four hits in any start this season.
The left-hander is 2-2 with a 2.88 ERA in four career starts against San Diego.
–Field Level Media
