The Padres returned to Petco Park on Monday to begin their final home game of the season.
They enter the week 1½ games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the race for the NL’s top wild-card spot, 3½ games ahead of the Braves and Mets in the race for the final playoff spot in the Senior Circuit, and with a magic number in the single digits: 8.
However, the Padres still have 12 games left in the schedule, and so no one in the home locker room was celebrating this spot before the start of a three-game series against the Houston Astros.
“It’s crunch time,” Padres third baseman Manny Machado said before the first pitch on Monday at 6:40 p.m.
In other words, there is no time to give the regulars a rest, as the Padres (85-65) did when they completed a sweep in San Francisco on Sunday.
Back home for Darvish Day. pic.twitter.com/Fa27ORBvod
– San Diego Padres (@Padres) 16 September 2024
Fernando Tatis Jr. is back in right field and at second after hitting a pinch-hit home run, his fourth blast in the last five games. Luis Arráez goes into the game with a 13-game hit streak and will act as DH as Donovan Solano moves from third base on Sunday to first base on Monday.
Kyle Higashioka the game will begin behind the plate.
The Padres did not announce any roster changes before the game, but a familiar face was back in the locker room:
Right-handed Sean Reynoldswho allowed three runs in one-third of an inning in his last appearance with Triple-A El Paso on September 13.
Before that, Reynolds had three strikeouts in 2⅔ hitless innings.
Reynolds was sent to El Paso on August 31. In his first eleven innings in the major leagues, he had 21 strikeouts and five walks (0.82 ERA).
Here’s how Houston (81-68) will line up for Game 1:
https://x.com/astros/status/1835821169456410633
The pitching duel on Monday
Astros RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-12, 4.72 ERA)
The 24-year-old rookie has 158 strikeouts in 131 ⅔ innings in his first year in the major leagues. He has a 2.14 ERA in his last four starts, although he did allow nine runs — three earned — in two-thirds of an inning at Cincinnati on Sept. 4. Arrighetti has a 5.22 ERA in 14 road starts this year.
No Padres batted against Arrighetti.
Padres RHP Yu Darvish (5-3, 3.52 ERA)
He is making his third start since returning from the suspended/injured list and has thrown 63 pitches in his last two games (5.87 ERA). Darvish has a 3.64 ERA in 15 career starts against the Astros, the last in 2021 (5 IP, 4 ER) with no decision.
Here’s how Darvish fared against the current Astros:
