The San Diego Padres and Cleveland Guardians will open a two-game interleague series at Petco Park Tuesday when the two playoff clubs complete the season series.
When the two teams met in Cleveland May 4 for a double-header after the first game was postponed due to rain, the Padres split with the Guardians, winning Game 1, 5-4, and dropping Game 2, 6-5.
In the first game, Clevinger, making his season debut, gave up three runs in 4-⅔ frames against his former team. Machado’s two-run homer in the third inning put San Diego up 3-0 at the time. In the sixth inning, Austin Nola hit a go-ahead RBI double and Jake Cronenworth hit a sac fly for a 5-3 lead. Steven Wilson, Nabil Crismatt, Luis Garcia and Taylor Rogers combined for 4-⅓ innings, giving up one run and striking out one batter.
In the second game, MacKenzie Gore squared up against Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill who each pitched into the sixth inning. Gore gave up one run over 5-⅔ innings while Quantrill allowed three runs over six frames. For the Padres, the bullpen faltered late, giving up a three-run eighth inning lead and losing in extra innings to cap the 19-inning day.
The Padres (68-56, 2nd NL West) have struggled to score runs, despite adding Juan Soto, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury at the trade deadline. With the exception of a 10-run outburst in the series finale in Miami, the Padres have scored just 11 runs in six of their last seven games. Their only two wins during that stretch came thanks to a pair of Josh Bell homers and excellent pitching from Joe Musgrove and Sean Manaea.
After winning player of the week, Machado put up another 1.010-OPS week, recording hits in six of those seven games. Soto hit just .174 but held a .367 on-base percentage while hitting his second home run as a Padre. Bell had just one hit in his last 34 at-bats before his home run Saturday, and then he hit a two-run homer on Sunday that would be the only runs the Padres would score.
If the Padres want to win against bigger and better teams, they are going to need to see more production from the rest of their lineup.
The Guardians (64-56, 1st AL Central) have not lost a series since July 10. They are 21-14 since then and have passed the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central race.
Andres Gimenez boasts a line of .381/.447/.595/1.042 in Cleveland’s last 15 games. Outfielders Steven Kwan (.320 BA, .893 OPS), Oscar Gonzalez (.348 BA, .875 OPS) and catcher Luke Maile (.300 BA, .833 OPS) have all been hitting well for the Guardians during that stretch as well.
First pitch on Tuesday, Aug. 23 for the series opener is at 6:40 p.m. PT with the finale of the quick two-game set Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. PT.