Padres Look to Take Series Against Marlins

Apr 9, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher

(41) throws the ball in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

After a heartbreaking extra inning loss in game one of the series, the Padres bounced back and are in position to take 3 of 4 from the Marlins. They’ll have to do it without their shortstop Everth Cabrera today who is a late scratch so he can be with his wife for the birth of their child.

Manager Bud Black will be hoping for his lineup to duplicate the success it had last night, especially Chase Headley and Seth Smith. The pair went a combined 4 for 7 and 7 RBI pacing the Padres to a 9-3 victory.

Going for the Padres today is Robbie Erlin (1-4, 4.95 ERA) who looks to build off a strong start in his last time out where he allowed just one run over 7 innings.

He’ll square off against  Henderson Alvarez (2-2, 2.62 ERA) who earned his second shutout of 2014 in his last start and has been one of Marlins’ better starters this season. If both pitchers maintain their form from their last time out we should be in for a great duel.

Hopefully the bats will stay hot for the Padres. They’ve scored 19 runs the past two games and have seen production throughout the order. If the Padres can keep up their pitching and the offence starts to roll around, this may be  a team to watch out for.

• The Padres’ are 3-0 on Mother’s Day at Petco Park since 2004.
• Over the last two games, the Padres’ have posted 26 hits with a team batting average of .366
• With last night’s victory, the Padres’ are now 12-1 when they score more than 4 runs in a game this year only trailing the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals.
• Last night, Seth Smith became the first Padre since Brian Giles in 2004 to come up one hit short of the cycle in consecutive games.

First pitch is at 1:10 PDT.