The San Diego Padres wrap up their three-game series in Detroit against the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon. The Padres sit below the Atlanta Braves in the National League wildcard standings but firmly in a playoff spot at the moment. The Tigers, meanwhile, are in the bottom tier of teams in the American League and are just ahead of Oakland with the second worst record in the American League. The pitching matchup on Wednesday will be veteran right-hander Yu Darvish (9-4, 3.28) of the Padres taking on lefty Tarik Skubal (7-8, 3.88) of the Tigers. First pitch is scheduled for 110pm EST.
The San Diego Padres remain entrenched in the NL playoff picture, in second place in the NL West Division and just behind the Braves in the wildcard standings as well. As the trade deadline nears, the Padres will likely be buyers as they most likely will look to strengthen their everyday lineup even with the eventual return of all-star SS Fernando Tatis Jr. looming. After taking two of three from the NL East leading New York Mets over the weekend, the Padres were upended on Monday night by the Tigers, 12-4 as the light-hitting Tigers pounded Padres pitching. On Tuesday night, the Padres were one strike away from victory before a bloop single tied the game in the 9th inning at 3 and forced extra innings. In the 10th, a hit batsman and an error loaded the bases for the Padres. After a strikeout, Luke Voit was hit by a pitch driving home the go-ahead run. With two out, Jorge Alfaro singled in two runs to give the Padres a 6-3 lead that they wo uld not relinquish. Alfaro and Voit each drove in 3 runs in the win.
Profar Delivers ?? pic.twitter.com/Vs26DrEyq6
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 25, 2022
The Padres road show continues on Wednesday and they hope to have their bats ready to go. The Padres are ranked just 18th in runs per game this season, 16th in batting average and just 26th in slugging percentage. The return of Fernando Tatis Jr at some point this summer will surely help the lineup but a few added pieces would be welcome by the Padres lineup as the trade deadline approaches. On the mound on Wednesday afternoon will be Yu Darvish. Darvish has 14 quality starts out of his 18 starts this season and has slowly watched his K/9 ratio rise as it sits at 8.5 heading into this matchup. In the month of July, Darvish has gone 2-1 in four starts in July with a 3.33 ERA.