The San Diego Padres were an average team at the All-Star break. Things have gone much differently in the second half.
The Padres have won 19 of 23 and surged to the top of the National League wild-card standings, tied with the almost equally scorching Arizona Diamondbacks. San Diego will try to keep its hot play going in a three-game series at the Colorado Rockies this weekend in Denver.
Matt Waldron (7-9, 4.00 ERA) will get the nod for the Padres in Friday night’s opener while Cal Quantrill (7-8, 4.56 ERA) will take the mound for Colorado.
San Diego’s streak has coincided with a similar one for the Diamondbacks, who have won 18 of their last 21, and both teams are 69-53 and chasing Los Angeles in the NL West. The Dodgers have owned the division for more than a decade and added the MVP frontrunner in Shohei Ohtani, but that hasn’t deterred the Padres.
“We’re making a run for it,” Jackson Merrill said after Wednesday’s 8-2 win over Pittsburgh that completed a three-game sweep of the Pirates. “At the end of the day, whatever the standings are, those are the standings.”
This run of success seemed unlikely after San Diego dealt Juan Soto to the New York Yankees during the offseason. But the team’s pitching staff got stronger, and acquiring Dylan Cease before the season has been beneficial.
“If you look at what I think of as great playoff teams — it’s teams that have pitching depth,” said Michael King, who came over in the Soto trade and tossed six shutout innings on Tuesday night. “It’s a great bullpen and starting pitching that can win you games.”
The Rockies don’t possess those qualities, which is why they have the worst record in the NL and are 34 games below .500. They were swept at Arizona this week after losing two late leads and getting blown out Wednesday, and they head home for three games without their top catcher.
Colorado put Elias Diaz on outright waivers on Thursday, parting with the 2023 All-Star Game MVP who was hitting just .196 since the beginning of July. That likely means veteran Jacob Stallings and rookie Hunter Goodman will take over as the catching tandem.
With or without Diaz, the Rockies are desperate to bounce back from getting swept.
“You always want to win. That’s the goal no matter what,” manager Bud Black said. And you learn that by going through these games and as a group, coaches and players, talking about how to do it.
“For us coaches, watching players develop and grow and learning through tough situations, and how you respond and how you come back and, in a way, become unbreakable. That’s something I cherish.”
Quantrill is back after Colorado skipped his last turn in the rotation due to forearm soreness. He is making his third start this season against the Padres.
He took the loss at San Diego on Aug. 4, which is the last time he pitched. In his career, he is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in four starts against the Padres.
Waldron is 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in two starts against the Rockies in his career. He earned the victory Aug. 4, when he allowed one run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media