After a blowout loss Friday night, the Padres will try to bounce back behind a start from second-year starter Dinelson Lamet. The Padres offense was shutout for just the third time during the 2019 season. The pitching gave up at least 10 runs for the 12th time this year.
Dinelson Lamet has only given up more than three runs once, and hasn’t done it since his July 12 start against Atlanta. The 27-year-old righty has given 17 free passes in 41 innings of work, which has been his biggest issue since coming back from Tommy John Surgery. That could be a problem for Lamet since Boston is 5th in baseball in drawing walks this year, and finished last season 6th.
The Red Sox will send right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi to the mound Saturday evening. The Red Sox signed Eovaldi to a 4-year, $68M contract over the offseason after he led Boston to a World Series Championship in 2018. However, the 8th-year veteran has not been the same since he went to the injured list in mid-April for a loose body in the right elbow. In 12 appearances (and one start) since he returned, Eovaldi has a 7.63 earned run average and walked 7 batters in 15 innings. The Padres’ hitters will try to be patient and draw more walks in the middle game of the 3-game set.
| Saturday, August 24, 2019 5:40 PM PDT |
|---|
| Petco Park - San Diego, CA |
| Boston Red Sox | ||
|---|---|---|
| RHP Nathan Eovaldi | ||
| 1-0, 6.69 ERA | ||
| CF | Betts | .285 |
| 3B | Devers | .331 |
| SS | Bogaerts | .308 |
| RF | Martinez | .312 |
| LF | Benintendi | .282 |
| C | Vasquez | .282 |
| 1B | Moreland | .244 |
| 2B | Holt | .315 |
| P | Eovaldi | .000 |
| San Diego Padres | ||
| RHP Dinelson Lamet | ||
| 2-2, 3.95 ERA | ||
| 2B | Garcia | .265 |
| LF | Naylor | .250 |
| 3B | Machado | .265 |
| 1B | Hosmer | .285 |
| RF | Renfroe | .232 |
| CF | Margot | .244 |
| SS | Urias | .191 |
| C | Hedges | .194 |
| P | Lamet | .083 |
Josh Naylor is starting after missing out on the starting lineup on 2 straight games. Naylor is batting .318/.423/.545 in the last 7 games and has been hot overall since his August 1 call up.
Manuel Margot, who led the team with 2 hits last night, moved down to the 6-hole for Saturday’s showdown against the Red Sox.
J.D. Martinez hit a pair of 3-run home runs for a 7-RBI night on Friday. He is the only Red Sox player in the lineup who has faced Lamet before, going 1-for-6 (.167).
Rafael Devers leads Boston in BA (.331), RBI (103), SLG (.593), and OPS (.972), and hits (171). Devers went 3-for-5 last night, including a run-scoring double and is batting .433/.485/.900 in the last 7 games. He’ll bat second playing third base.
The middle game of the 3-game series starts at 5:40PM PT in downtown San Diego. The game will be live from Petco Park on Fox Sports San Diego and 97.3 The Fan.
