Last night's extra-inning victory may have our Padres slightly less rested than usual, but they hope to make good things happen at Petco Park this afternoon as Eric Stults takes the mound to try to secure the series win and send the Nationals off on a sad flight.
Stultsy hasn't had his sharpest stuff lately, but hopefully he can turn things around in front of the troops today. Over his last three starts, he's gone 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA. Most recently he gave up four runs on five hits (including two homers) through six innings against the Cubs in Chicago. He has already faced the Nats once this season, going 5 1/3 innings. He allowed 10 hits and issued a walk, but only surrendered two runs. His only other career appearance against Washington was a more successful one, as he kept them to one run in eight innings of work to earn the win in May of last year.
Jordan Zimmermann pitched against Stults in both of those starts, and he'll do so again this afternoon. In April he gave up three runs in six innings, but ultimately ended up with a no-decision as the Nat's took the loss in 12 innings. In last year's matchup, Zimmermann's complete game effort ended in a tough-luck loss. He was fantastic his last time out, giving up only five hits to the Phillies. Prior to that he had a four-game stretch in which he went 1-1 with a 5.96 ERA, so he'll try to keep his June record spotless as he closes out the series in San Diego.
Last night the Padres handed the Nationals their first loss in six tries. Let's see if our boys can get their own win streak going this afternoon. Game time is 1:10 PDT.