The San Diego Padres are in the middle of a four-game series with the San Francisco Giants. They won game one 6-4 and lost game two 8-3. This comes after splitting the opening two-game series from Seoul Korea against the Division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. Yu Darvish looked strong again in Game one while Joe Musgrove sputtered early on in game two.
Struggles for Musgrove
Joe Musgrove was knocked around early last night by the Giants. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up eight hits, four runs, one walk, and three strikeouts. The movement on his pitches in the opening inning just wasn’t there. He gave up three of his four runs in the first inning with two of those runs coming off a home run by Matt Chapman. Right now after two starts his barrel rate is 9.1 while the launch angle is at 15.2 for opposing batters and the average exit velocity of those batted balls is sitting at 93.2 after two starts. His WHIP is 2.16 and his XERA sits at 13.34 while his ERA is 9.72. For me watching last night after the first inning he calmed down and looked ok, but if he cannot start to eliminate these big innings I am afraid the Padres might have a problem with him, he’s got talent and great stuff. This is why his early struggles concern me, but I do believe he will snap out of it and provide the Padres with decent value this year and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him swap rotations spots with Dylan Cease before long.
Healthy Tatis is a good thing!
Fernando Tatis Jr is a superstar and the Padres need their superstar to be fully healthy. As of right now, I’d say he’s looked healthy and in store for a big season for the Padres. After going hitless in the season opener, he now has a three-game hit streak going. Last evening he slammed two home runs with two RBIs. Seeing a multi-home run game from Tatis is a good sight. He and Machado both have two on the year. Machado and Tatis feeding each other will be good for the team.
What to look for in Game Three
Dylan Cease makes his Padre debut against Jordan Hicks tonight at 7:10 the game will be broadcast on Fox. I will be interested to see if Jackson Merrill returns to the lineup against the right-hander in Center. I also am interested to watch the hard-throwing right-hand Hicks against this Padres lineup of Bogearts, Tatis, Croneworth, Machado, and Kim. I also want to see how Dylan Cease does with a much improved supporting cast around him tonight. The two teams are a good matchup and should be fun to watch yet again!
