Padres: Who is Going to Pitch in Game 3?

After all of the excitement from winning game two wore off, the San Diego Padres quickly had to think about who would be able to pitch in game three.

San Diego Padres manager Jayce Tingler was asked right after the game who would pitch game three and he candidly said, “I have no idea”

And as I write this early Friday morning we still don’t know who will be starting when this game gets underway in seven hours.

It’s a win or go home game, so you figure just about everyone will be available to pitch and everyone will have a very short leash.

Zach Davies is the only pitcher who think is definitely unavailable for this one.

AJ Cassavell of MLB.com mentions in his Game 3 FAQ article that he thinks Garrett Richards won’t be available after coming out of the bullpen in games one and two, but he only threw a combined 13 pitches in those two outings. I’d have to think he’s available and could even be an option to start.

Luis Patino seems the most likely candidate to start, but Tingler would have a very short leash on the rookie — much like Rick Renteria did with his own rookie that he started in game three against Oakland.

I wasn’t a huge fan of how quick Renteria pulled the trigger on his pitchers in that game and hopefully Tingler doesn’t make the same mistake.

Someone is going to have to give the Padres multiple innings in this game — even if they give up two or three runs.

The bottom line is, if San Diego is going to advance it will be on the backs of their offense. That’s what it got it done in game two and you just have to hope that carries over to game three.

Then you just hope the pitching can hold down a Cardinals offense that really hasn’t been great all year but has exploded in this series.

I’d start Patino and hope he gives you two or three innings. And then I’d let Richards start an inning fresh and hope he gives you two innings.

If those two can give you five innings and not allow more than 4 runs, then I think the Padres will be in good shape — or at least they’ll have a chance to win the game.

I mean, that’s no worse than what Chris Paddack and Zach Davies have done to start the last two games.

After that, you just have to hope that Johnson, Pagan, Pomeranz, and Rosenthal can carry you the rest of the way.

The one caveat here is that if Matt Strahm is hurting, the Padres could remove him from the playoff roster — he’d be done for the entire postseason — and then bring up a fresh arm.

Who that would be, I don’t know. And I feel like if there was someone else they trusted more they’d already be on the roster over guys like Austin Adams, Tim Hill or Dan Altavilla.

But that’s how I would try to manage this game if I were Tingler. Clearly I’m not, so we’ll see what the first-year manager does Friday night.