This was a very good weekend to be a San Diego Padres fan. The Friars completed off a sweep of the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t a lot of a contest. The Padres slugged out eight runs towards the Twins, with three homers. Two got here from Fernando Tatis Jr., and one from Jackson Merrill. In doing so, Merrill added to the primary 20/20 season of his profession.
It was a potent weekend for the Padres’ offense. They need to be capable to proceed that towards the Pittsburgh Pirates, however it wouldn’t be an enormous shock to see some regression within the coming collection. Hopefully, San Diego can preserve the great vibes rolling as they march towards the postseason. With their win Sunday, the Padres are two video games forward of the Arizona Diamondbacks within the Wild Card.
Taking the mound
Braxton Ashcraft (PIT) v. Robbie Ray (SD)
Ashcraft has pitched properly in what has been a surprisingly stalwart Pittsburgh rotation. The proper-hander owns a 3.68 ERA with 13 wins for the Pirates. The strikeout numbers look good as properly, with 159 Ks in 149 1/3 innings pitched. He’ll be a troublesome opponent for the Friars in what ought to be an attention-grabbing matchup.
That mentioned, the righty has regressed a bit since his stellar rookie season in 2025. After posting a 2.71 ERA in 69 2/3 innings working as a swingman, his ERA has bumped up a bit this 12 months. That’s to be anticipated, as Ashcraft transferred to a full-time beginning function with the Pirates, however it’s nonetheless noteworthy.
Since becoming a member of the Friars, Ray has appeared strong in every of his begins. His debut with San Diego wasn’t the very best (4 ER, 5.0 IP), however he’s appeared stellar since then. The lefty has given up simply three runs on 5 hits in his final 10 innings of labor. His greater drawback has been limiting walks, with six free passes in that very same time.
Not most of the Pirates have confronted Ray earlier than. The one hitter with greater than 10 at-bats towards the left-hander is veteran Brandon Lowe (14). The second baseman owns an abysmal .143 common towards Ray in that point. That ought to bode properly for the Friars, because it’s doable that tonight may flip right into a pitching duel in Petco Park.
Batter up!
That is Tatis’ second multi-homer recreation within the final 5 video games. It’s an unimaginable turnaround from the identical participant who didn’t hit his first dwelling run till Might 30. Tatis has put the Friars on his again whereas carrying the membership in direction of the playoffs. He’s been an enormous contributor of their second-half surge.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Ty France, 1B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Gavin Sheets, DH
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Luis Rengifo, LF
- Freddy Fermin, C
Not most of the Padres have confronted Ashcraft earlier than. They’ll have to have the ability to adapt to the righty shortly, in any other case it’ll be a fast loss for San Diego. Of the 2 Friars who’ve confronted him (Jake Cronenworth and Freddy Fermin) the duo is 1-for-2 with a double.
Reduction corps
The Padres wanted a efficiency like this from starter Walker Buehler, they usually obtained it. Buehler pitched six pristine innings, giving up a lone run to Brooks Lee on a solo shot. After that, Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui lined the ultimate three innings, every giving up successful.
That can permit the Friars to be inventive if Ray stumbles in his begin tonight. San Diego has Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart, Jeremiah Estrada, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez obtainable out of the ‘pen. Canning simply pitched 4 scoreless innings for the Padres on Saturday so it appears unlikely he pitches. Estrada will probably be the primary out of the bullpen given his lack of utilization these days.
