After a sweep of the Rockies and an off day in Philly yesterday, the Padres will begin their second-to-last road trip of the season as they open up a series against the Phillies this afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Andrew Cashner will get the start in game 1 and is working on nine days' rest as the Padres try to limit the right-hander's innings in the final month of the season. In his most recent outing, he threw seven strong innings against the Dodgers, giving up just one run on seven hits in seven innings of work while throwing a career-high 119 pitches, but came out with a loss due to the lack of offense from the Padres. He hasn't gotten a win in over a month despite some solid pitching (0-3 with a 2.18 ERA in his last five starts), but he's hoping to put an end to that trend tonight. In six prior outings against the Phillies - all relief appearance - Casher has pitched a total of five innings while posting a 1.80 ERA.
Hopefully the Padres can put some run together to back Cashner tonight. They'll be facing another young righty, Philadelphia's Tyler Cloyd, for the first time. He'll try to continue a string of great outings from Phillies starters, who have collected 27 strikeouts and posted a 2.45 ERA over their last three games. Cloyd, in his fourth stint with the big league club this season, is making his first appearance with the Phillies since August 24th. He pitched five scoreless relief innings, giving up just two runs but walking five, during an 18-inning marathon that ended in a loss. His last start was four days prior to that when he served up five runs in six innings of work against the Rockies. But he had posted just a 1.45 ERA in three starts during his callup back in June.
These teams last faced each other in a series at Petco Park from June 24th-26th with the Phillies taking two of the three games. See if the Padres can even up the season series today. First pitch is set for 4:05.