Coming off back-to-back victories, our Padres will try to secure the series win tonight in the third of four games against the visiting Phillies. They'll give the ball to Eric Stults, who hopes to avoid his 17th loss of the season. Stults has been pitching better in his recent starts, going 4-3 with a 2.81 ERA in his last eight. Last Friday he allowed five runs (only two earned) in six innings as the Friars went on to win with Stults getting the decision to snap a three-start losing streak. The lefty is still looking for his first career win against Philadelphia. In three prior starts against them, he's gone 0-1 with a 4.00 ERA. That includes a loss on the road back in June, when he yielded four runs on eight hits through five innings of work.
Pitching opposite Stultsy will be San Diego native Cole Hamels, who's had a dominant career against his hometown team. In 15 career starts against our padres, he is 8-2 with a 2.21 ERA, including a 4-1 mark and 1.85 ERA at Petco Park. His last loss to San Diego dates all the way back to July of 2010. Hamels has had a great season with the Phillies so far, but has been especially successful lately. He's gone 20 straight starts without allowing more than three runs, posting a 1.89 ERA and 7-4 record in that span. The Phillies are looking to him to help them avoid a four-game losing streak, which would tie their season-long.
Once again our Padres will get things started at 7:10 PT tonight.