San Diego Padres series preview: Padres at Baltimore Orioles

The San Diego Padres head to Baltimore for a two-game series against the Orioles. How do these teams match up?

The San Diego Padres were rolling after a sweep of the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. But the momentum was quickly negated after they were themselves swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were just 33-40 before the Padres came to town.

Now, the Friars travel to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to play the Baltimore Orioles, whose 22-56 record makes them literally the worst team in Major League Baseball. And while good teams rally against contenders, they should also pummel the bad teams—so the Padres need to show well in this series.

While we’re still unsure of who the 2019 San Diego Padres are, the 2019 Baltimore Orioles are 1-9 in their last 10 games, their sole victory coming against the Seattle Mariners (33-47) to snap a 10-game losing streak. Their pitching staff has given up a lead in five of their last 10 games.

This is a series that the Padres absolutely should win, bringing them back to .500 before the St. Louis Cardinals come to Petco Park.

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Leading the Orioles is RF/1B Trey Mancini, who is currently hitting .305/.364/.928 and has 17 home runs on the year. He was heating up before suffering an elbow contusion against the Oakland Athletics, forcing him to miss a couple games.

Mancini is back in the lineup and looks to pick up where he left off, which includes some incredible first-inning magic—he’s batting .419 with an unbelievable .889 slugging percentage in the first inning this season.

He’s going to demand the Padres’ attention, as he also ranks highly in several American League hitting categories.

On the mound, the Orioles are struggling with a thin pitching rotation that’s surrendering 5.85 earned runs per game. Game 1 is shaping up to be a bullpen game, as Jimmy Yacabonis (1-1, 4.70 ERA) has been named the starter. Yacabonis opened one other game this year, allowing one hit in two scoreless innings and throwing one strikeout.

Dylan Bundy will start Game 2, owning a 4.59 ERA and leading the American League in losses with nine. He’s allowed a little less than one hit per inning this year, giving the Padres’ bats a chance to do some damage.

For the Friars, Logan Allen is scheduled to make his second start of the year in Game 1. After an impressive debut against the Brewers, when he allowed only three hits in seven scoreless innings that led to a 4-1 victory (as you can rewatch in the video at the bottom of this article), Allen will try to make it 2-0 as the Padres continue to manage their young and inexperienced rotation.

Meanwhile, Matt Strahm is expected to face off against Bundy in Game 2. Strahm, who is now 2-6 with a 4.85 ERA, started the season strong but has struggled as of late. He’s pitched less than 5.1 innings in his last three outings and is allowing a career-high .264 batting average. The Orioles’ 25th-ranked team batting average provides the perfect opportunity for him to regain his confidence.

The last time these teams faced off was in 2016, when the Orioles swept the Padres in a two-game series in San Diego. Hopefully the results will be reversed this time around.

The Padres vs. Orioles series begins Tuesday at 4:05 p.m. PT/7:05 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the San Diego Padres’ 2019 season, continue following Friars on Base all season long.