The Padres close out their 2013 home campaign today following last night's run parade. With the victory in game 3, they've captured at least a split in the four-game set, but today they'll go for the series win behind Robbie Erlin. The rookie southpaw is in his fourth major league stint, during which he has gone 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA in four starts. The first of those four starts was against this Diamondbacks team on August 28th. He pitched a very strong game that night, keeping Arizona to just one run on six hits through six innings of work while walking two and striking out two. The most impressive outing of his big league career, however, was his most recent one. He tossed a career-high 7 2/3 scoreless innings against the Dodgers, allowing just four hits and issuing one walk while collecting a career-high-tying seven strikeouts.
Erlin will have to find a way to shut down Paul Goldschmidt, who is batting .417 during his 15-game hitting streak coming into today's contest. The first baseman leads the NL in RBI as well as home runs, five of which have been hit during his streak. Goldschmidt has yet to face Erlin in his career, having taken the night off last month when Erlin pitched in Arizona. But he'll try to lead his team to just its third win in ten tries at Petco Park this season.
The Dbacks are on a quest to finish their season above .500 and they need at least two more wins in their remaining four games to do so. Today they'll look to Trevor Cahill in his last appearance of the season to try to help them get one of those wins. The San Diego native is making his seventh career start against the Padres. He has a 2-3 record with a 2.72 ERA in his previous six overall and is 1-1 with a 1.31 ERA in three outings at Petco Park. It was here where he made his only start against the Padres this season, going 5 2/3 innings and giving up two runs while striking out a career-high ten batters, but he suffered the loss with only one run of support from the Dbacks offense. Though the first half of Cahill's season was frustrating to say the least, the right-hander has been nails since returning from the DL in August. He's made eight appearances (seven starts) since coming back on August 17th, going 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA in that stretch.
The Padres need two wins to match 2012's win total. See if they can finish their 2013 home stretch on a high note and get one of those wins this afternoon. Game time on this getaway day is set for 3:40.