It's officially the 11th-to-last game of the year for our Padres tonight after they were mathematically eliminated from the 2014 postseason last night. With this last week and a half, our Padres will do their best to ruin everything for their remaining opponents and end their season with some good moments.
Tonight, for instance, we'll get to see a guy who has missed a majority of the season working his way back from an elbow injury. Robbie Erlin will make his first start since May 17th and second appearance since returning to the big league club. He didn't have the best outing his last time on the mound, allowing three runs in two relief innings. on September 7th. He gets the start tonight in place of Tyson Ross, who experienced some soreness after his latest outing. Erlin made nine starts at the beginning of the season, going 3-5 with a 4.53 ERA. Tonight's matchup will be the second of his career against the Phillies. He first faced them in June of last year and gave up three runs (two earned) and four hits in 6 1/3 innings at home, but didn't factor into the decision.
Going against Erlin will be Kyle Kendrick, who hopes to continue the strong finish to his season (and possibly his career with the Phillies. In his last start, he kept Miami to just one run in 6 1/3 innings. In his last five appearances, he's gone 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA. He pitched against our Friars once this season prior to tonight, allowing just two runs (one earned) through six frames.
Game time for this series finale is set for 6:10 PT.